How strong is it. I’ve removed oxidation DS with a 4gpm machine which is 10-1 but had to hit it a few times. 4 to1 should do easily.
Racer,
Appreciate it, see you around town in your ace of truck!
We 2 step with HF on a daily basis, its quite safe if done properly. I wouldn’t recommend it on a weekly wash though, its to much imo, more of a biweekly or mthly wash to maintain its luster and shine.
Zephyr products, 3 stage polish is all we use , seal it with Zephyr pro 40 for and added protection. works wonders sir
Is it worth using the Pro 40 if it’s going to be sitting in the water 7 months or so out of the year? Would be nice to protect the shine some. How quick are they with shipping?
Pretty damn quick, I wouldn’t waste my time if it were underwater though imo.
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My pontoons had some of that really hard scale where it sat below the waterline. Even using a scouring pad wasn’t taking off. I ended up picking up some Star Brite Ez-On Ez-Off Hull and Bottom Cleaner. When spraying it on it would only react or bubble on the scale and not on the aluminum. It smelled exactly like Muriatic Acid. It worked really well but it took numerous applications. I’m talking probably 30 or so spray sessions. Still easier than any other method. Once I run out of the small container I had I pulled out the Muriatic Acid. I mixed about 3 to 1 and worked about the same as the Star Brite Hull Cleaner. It was still taking numerous applications. You could tell it was working though because you would see it turning brown from eating away the scale. I finally got sick of messing around and mixed some Muriatic probably around 1 part Muriatic to 1 part or maybe even 1/2 part water. That scale starting coming of almost instantly It ate right through it. I could also tell it was reacting with the aluminum a little. Although, it would only take about 5 to 10 seconds to eat through the scale so I just rinses right away. I’m not recommending to go that strong with it on aluminum at all because it’s definitely not the safest way. Just experiment with it and keep it as diluted as possible. You don’t want it reacting with the aluminum but rather only the scale. I got impatient though and really don’t think it was on there long enough to do anything to the aluminum. It was definitely the way to go. I got 100% of the scale removed and then brightened the toons. I didn’t mess with the inside but I did do about 4’ in on each end.
After brightening with the Purple Power Aluminum Brightener I pulled out the air sander and hit it with 2000 grit and then 3000 grit. I’m going to follow up with some cutting compound I have using the dual action buffer. It sounds like a lot of work but it only takes a few passes with the sander to take the white haze off. I bet two hours of sanding and polishing and both sides will be done. Maybe not even 2 hours. It makes a big enough difference to where it’s worth it. The scale line doesn’t seem to be shining up as good as near the top but still a heck of a lot better than it was. You could probably just skip the sanding discs and go right for the polishing compound. At the very least I would go over them with the green scouring pads or maybe even give steel wool a try. It really takes away the white haze from the AB.
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Throw out your old aluminum pontoons and replace them with SS pontoons, they’ll shine like your prop @marinegrunt.
And muriatic acid is a great aluminum cleaner as well , It’ll take all the scale off and emulsifys lime/ dried concrete. great tool to have sir.
Yeah, the stainless pontoons would probably cost 10X more than what the whole 24’ pontoon boat cost me…lol. The thing never leaves our local little 96 acre lake so not that big of a deal. They would be pretty neat though.
I always keep Muriatic on the trailer. I’ve never used it on aluminum before until yesterday for the scale. It didn’t shine it up near as good as the Purple Power Aluminum Brightener though. It ate through the scale fast though.
Lol , i get ya SS is expensive and heavy, muriatic is a life saver for us sometimes but leaves a streaky undesired shine, we HF over top of that to give it a nice semi luster. You get a hankering for shiny stuff go get you the Zephyr starter kit for under a $100 , its worth it grunt
I think the muriatic did leave some streaks. Too bad I can’t HF around here to save my life. I have some stuff with sulfuric in it and it’s stronger than hydroflouric but HF is more corrosive so maybe why it works better on aluminum…Actually, I just read up on HF and it sounds pretty wicked. By acid strength Hydrochloric is even stronger but HF has more stable compounds that result during the reaction. That’s why it can dissolve glass or even other stronger acids. I’m sure there’s a lot more to it than that. I would call our chemist in but then I’d just get confused…lol
Where do you get your HF @Hotshot. I think you said you road trip to the voodoo state but is it a truck washing place, chemical supplier, etc? There is another truck stop I about a half hour away off the interstate but not sure if they’d have it
How much would it take to do two 24’ pontoons? I can order it online but it’s pricey. I don’t mind if it only takes a gallon or less.
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Like 4 gallons or less, find a local fleet washer. Hell get you squared away. farm stores carry HF as well, I get mine in Louisiana.
We don’t have any fleet washers around here @Hotshot . I searched the internet and it brings my website up first just because I have fleet washing listed somewhere in it…lol. Plenty of farm stores here but no HF. We have a Landa Dealer and they sell some fleet washing or car wash chems but they don’t list HF. Think that’s something they can get? I’m beginning to think this HF stuff is just an old wives tale or some joke you rubber scrubbers have.
I did get the pontoons cleaned on the boat the other day. I used Superior Aluminum Brightner…only thing the local parts store had. It did a great job…these pontoons were hideous…looked terrible. However, I forgot to take the before pictures…trust me, they were bad. I am done with it, I am not going to buff them as I am pleased with how they look…just want to see it hanging in that boathouse…SOON. They are not done with all of that yet…hopefully it won’t be much longer.
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They shined up nice , good job.
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