Re: 1974 starcraft 16 ft super sport
Don't clear an aluminum boat after it's polished. Use Shark Hid or a similar protectant. Quite a few have used it & to be best of my knowledge, none have any complaints.
You do need to keep the hull clean, and occasionally reapply the Shark Hid. I think InMotion left his Jupiter in the water for almost 4months, the Shark Hid didn't need to be reapplied, and the hull cleaned up really well.
Depending on the condition of the hull, how you strip the paint & if you want a HIGH mirror finish, just shiny or flat. That choice is often dictated by the hull's condition once stripped.
If you abraid the hull sanding off the paint or scratch it using a wire brush to detail the paint off around the rivet heads, it will take A LOT more work to get a mirror like finish. And significantly more time.
No matter how you choose to get the paint off, I'd start w/ the least aggressive means of paint removal & work toward harsher, more abrasive methods. Taking an extra day or 2 to get the paint off, could save you several weeks of sanding out any extra scratches & swirl marks you cause.
InMotion has been using an environmentally safe paint stripper that works AMAZINGLY well. Unfortunately he's in Canada & we can't find a source in the states or even a very similar US equivalent. Still working on that. How close are you to the border & do you ever head north for business or pleasure? If so you might try to find a Home Hardware store where ever you are in Canada. Look for this stripper:
Safe Strip by Nutura:
InMotions video about using it:
Using plastic scrappers & brushes, he's almost down to a high mirror finish in 1 application & removal of the stripper. He'll give you brief details on the other paint removal methods & then how well the Safe Strip works plus a time line for using the stripper.
