Aluma Brite boat cleaner

[Hammer Dog]

Do not waste your money.

I washed the toons with soap and a pressure washer applied the product and it did a poor job, very splotchy results and had to apply 4 times till I gave up. Going to look for another product to finish this up right.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Aluma Brite boat cleaner

A lot of guys swear by air conditioner coil cleaner, don't know where you get it or how to put it on so hopefully someone chimes in with that info.

I have tried toon Brite and several; other products at work and got kinda the same result, anything acid based will do that

 

[Okieboatguy]

Re: Aluma Brite boat cleaner

I personally would stay away from the chemical stuff, I found a good polishing wheel and a day can get the 'toons looking like mirrors.

 

[wvcatfish]

Re: Aluma Brite boat cleaner

get some never dull. stuff works great

 

[beavertrapper70]

Re: Aluma Brite boat cleaner

I just cleaned my toons today. They were nasty. I used Muratic acid, and it got all the junk off, but it took 4-6 applications on some areas, and I still need several more in a few areas. I know lots of people on here say it eats the toons, etc. I spent some time talking to folks who run marinas, and they all used muratic at some point. Most use other products now due to EPA and safety issues with Muratic.
I have not found anything that brightens the toons, and it seems most acid based products leave a white stain. The Blue coil cleaners left stains on my boat last year, and it worked, but not as well as Muratic Acid. And the coil cleaner cost twice as much. As far as I know, the only way to make them shine is Elbow grease. And lots of time.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Aluma Brite boat cleaner

NAPA has an aluminum cleaner that's also very popular on pontoons. Coil cleaner works as well, but needs to be diluted.

After cleaning, your best to polish the hulls. I researched the auto detailing websites closely about aluminum polishing.

I got a Porter Cable dual action (D/A) polisher/sander and a 6" wool bonnet. Went to Advance Auto Parts and bought White Diamond metal polish--the good stuff. I tried Mothers' Aluminum polish, and consider it a poor product.

You put two dime size dollups of polish on the wool bonnet, place the bonnet on the toon and start the polisher. In a 2' x 2' section, you go up and down, right and left for about 90 seconds. It'll make a black oxide paste, but at the end of 90 seconds, the black stuff will turn to a powder and mostly disappear in the air. You remove the remaining black with a towel.

After you get used to using the polisher, getting a shiny appearance is pretty easy and fast. Some will clean the toons with lacquer cleaner and apply Sharkhide to maintain the shine. I found that getting the toons clean enough not to get black smudges from the welds and creases in Sharkhide is just too much work.

I can now polish my the outside of my two toons and the nosecone of my center toon in maybe 1 hour. It's just not a bad job if you learn how to handle the polisher and use the proper polish.

 

[Hammer Dog]

Re: Aluma Brite boat cleaner

I sent an email to the company and got this email today. Gotta give it to them for customer service. Will see how the other stuff works.

Sorry to hear of your poor results with our Aluminum Boat Cleaner. We have lots of customers who swear by this product. Not sure why you had such poor results.

I am sending you a gallon of our Aluma-Brite Aluminum Cleaner free of charge for you to try. Apply with a sponge. Scrub lightly in straight horizontal lines with super-fine scotchbrite or a scratch free dishwashing pad. Should take care of the problem.

Let me know.

Mark Kalish - President
EnviroTech