Polished Aluminum

[Carpe]

Hi,

I want to polish my tinnie to make it easy to wash off after each outing.

I can remember seeing something about using pig fat ?,

but can't find the article.

I saw a tinnie near Roseville bridge a few weeks ago that looked pretty good.

Anyone got any suggestions ?

or know where I can find more details.

Thanks,

Carpe

[johnno]

carpe

Personally

If you polish it ,The heat and glare of the boat will get you burnt to a crisp

and probably dehydrated at worst.

[Flightmanager]

G'day Carpe ,

While highly polished aluminium looks great , keeping it that way is a lot of hard work. Salt will attack your shine , and a full polish after each trip is not something I would look forward to . Don t know how you would go polishing it and then applying a coat of clear lacquer , it might work !!

Ross

[Dory]

From my limitted understanding, each time you polish bare alum you remove the small layer of oxide thats built up. This oxide apparently does provide some limitted protection to the metal so I dont think its a good idea to do this regularly. I keep mine nice and dirty

[OneMoreFish]

too true.... the oxide can't oxidise any further.... you remove it you provide a fresh surface to be oxidised.....

the only way to "polish a tinnie" is to use an acid etching solution on small sections at a time then wash it off after a short period (or it will keep eating)

This removes a layer of oxide and removes some light scratching.... Then you need to hand buff it as you go with a cloth or buffing wheel....

But honestly... either paint it... or forget it.... tinnies are not for beauty ... they are a workhorse.... they look great when brand new but people buy tinnies because you can knock them about ...

If you want a pretty boat...buy a fibreglass.... but when the expensive repair bills start rolling in and you have to wrap it in cotton wool.. dont say I didnt tell you so....

BTW... dont paint the underside... unless in pale blue or you will scare crap out of the fish...

Edited January 22, 2007 by OneMoreFish

[squizzytaylor]

I have done my tinnie once and it was suprising how well it came up and how easy it was to do, used Autosol and initially tried a buffer with a soft pad but got far better results by hand, once polished I gave the boat a coat of car type polish and the shine was kept for about 7 months, would I do it again....not unless really bored. All up took about 2 hours to do the lot. (I only did the sides and transom outside).

GT