I would not bring steel wool near any boat, ever. Wne used, it sheds many tiny
shreds of steel. If you cleaning of them isn't perfect, and it won't be, the
remaining shreds will form rusty specks in and on your paint.
Instead, use wet/dry abrasives or scotchbrite.

Doug Kanter wrote:

"HiTech Redneck" wrote in message
...
Can anyone suggest the best way to clean an aluminum boat before painting?

My intuition says to use the finest steel wool you can get - the kind you'd
use on polyurethane between coats if you wanted it REALLY glossy. But, push
harder on aluminum. If it's so dirty that you feel some sort of chemical is
needed, I'd start with something made for cleaning aluminum alloy wheels,
follow with soap & water (to remove anything that might mess with the
paint's ability to stick), and then finish with steel wool.

Instead, use wet/dry abrasives or scotchbrite.

Or bronze wool. Just as good as steel wool but without the rusty "fallout".

Agreed. How about bronze wool? There are also various cleaners/primers for
aluminum, but I can't think of the names right now. Really stay away from
steel wool.

--


Keith
__
If you turn the wheel towards shore, the houses get bigger. If you turn the
wheel away from shore, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep turning
the wheel, then they get bigger again.
"Jim Conlin" wrote in message neronze
...
I would not bring steel wool near any boat, ever. Wne used, it sheds many
tiny
shreds of steel. If you cleaning of them isn't perfect, and it won't be,
the
remaining shreds will form rusty specks in and on your paint.
Instead, use wet/dry abrasives or scotchbrite.

Doug Kanter wrote:

"HiTech Redneck" wrote in message
...
Can anyone suggest the best way to clean an aluminum boat before
painting?

My intuition says to use the finest steel wool you can get - the kind
you'd
use on polyurethane between coats if you wanted it REALLY glossy. But,
push
harder on aluminum. If it's so dirty that you feel some sort of chemical
is
needed, I'd start with something made for cleaning aluminum alloy wheels,
follow with soap & water (to remove anything that might mess with the
paint's ability to stick), and then finish with steel wool.

Keith wrote:
Agreed. How about bronze wool? There are also various cleaners/primers for
aluminum, but I can't think of the names right now. Really stay away from
steel wool.

Never put *any* copper alloy in contact with Aluminium in a marine
environment, if you wish to avoid accelerated galvanic corrosion. A
copper penny dropped in the bilges is as good as making a hole as a
broken mercury thermometer and only a little slower.

Knowing that, do you *really* want to leave small particles of bronze
embedded over the whole of the outside of your hull? :-)

If you are a cheapskate like me, you'll head down the supermarket and
pick up a couple of packs of those fancy panscourers Vileda make. They
are a cut above the green ones as the nylon is loaded with an abrasive.
They are silver-grey in appearance and non rusting. I am also a fan of
their 'gleaner' which is a pot scourer made from stainless steel
turnings. It is a very effective way of removing calcified deposits off
any metal or paint or varnish off sound hardwood. Watch out, its
extremely aggressive and if you dont want to risk scoring the wood
underneath you either need to be much more cautious as you get near to
the bottom coat or need to soften the paint/varnish with a chemical
stripper first so you dont have to press so hard. Dont try it on
gelcoat unless you need to clean up a surface you are patching over :-)

--
Ian Malcolm. London, ENGLAND. (NEWSGROUP REPLY PREFERRED)
ianm[at]the[dash]malcolms[dot]freeserve[dot]co[dot]uk [at]=@, [dash]=- &
[dot]=.
*Warning* SPAM TRAP set in header, Use email address in sig. if you must.
'Stingo' Albacore #1554 - 15' Uffa Fox designed, All varnished hot
moulded wooden racing dinghy circa. 1961

Finally, some one that talks Canadian...LOL
"Abe Coates" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 13:58:05 GMT, "HiTech Redneck"
wrote:

Can anyone suggest the best way to clean an aluminum boat before painting?



I once used naval jellie. My father in law told me about it. They used it
to clean helicopter props. I think I got it at
Canadian tire.

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 21:15:53 GMT, "Calif Bill"
wrote:


"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in
message
.. .
On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 17:36:46 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:


"HiTech Redneck" wrote in message
...
Can anyone suggest the best way to clean an aluminum boat before
painting?

My intuition says to use the finest steel wool you can get - the kind
you'd
use on polyurethane between coats if you wanted it REALLY glossy. But,
push
harder on aluminum. If it's so dirty that you feel some sort of
chemical
is
needed, I'd start with something made for cleaning aluminum alloy
wheels,
follow with soap & water (to remove anything that might mess with the
paint's ability to stick), and then finish with steel wool.

If you are going to do that, try Never Dull with the extremely fine
steel wool - available in all fine Wal Marts everywhere.

Do not use steel wool. You will have very fine little slivers of stell
to
rust, embedded in the aluminum. They normally clean the sheriff's
aluminum
boat with an acid wash.

I didn't think of that.

Kewl.

Me neither. I'm glad I suggested steel wool for someone else's boat before
mine. :-)

Maybe something gentler, like Bon Ami or Barkeeper's friend?

"Jim Conlin" wrote in message
...
I would not bring steel wool near any boat, ever. Wne used, it sheds many
tiny
shreds of steel. If you cleaning of them isn't perfect, and it won't be,
the
remaining shreds will form rusty specks in and on your paint.
Instead, use wet/dry abrasives or scotchbrite.

Doug Kanter wrote:

"HiTech Redneck" wrote in message
...
Can anyone suggest the best way to clean an aluminum boat before
painting?

My intuition says to use the finest steel wool you can get - the kind
you'd
use on polyurethane between coats if you wanted it REALLY glossy. But,
push
harder on aluminum. If it's so dirty that you feel some sort of chemical
is
needed, I'd start with something made for cleaning aluminum alloy
wheels,
follow with soap & water (to remove anything that might mess with the
paint's ability to stick), and then finish with steel wool.

(Gould 0738) wrote in message ...
Instead, use wet/dry abrasives or scotchbrite.

Or bronze wool. Just as good as steel wool but without the rusty "fallout".

I woudl stay away from it as you could start nasty corrosion issues by
depositing bronce particles onto your hull

Matt

Preparing an aluminum boat for painting is the same as in the aircraft
industry. Go to your automotive supplier and buy some Aluma-Prep 33 and
Alodine1201. This is an acid etch which will deep clean the surface. Use a
scotch brite pad and thick gloves. Scrub the surface and you will see
black residue coming off the surface. A light amount is what you are
looking for...too much black is called smutting and means the solution is
too strong. Rinse with water and look for the water to sheet off with no
breaks in the surface. Where the water breaks, there is contamination and
the paint will not stick. After the surface dries, sponge on the 1201
Alodine until the surface turns a light gold. Now you are ready to prime
and paint. I suggest you use products by Axon Aerospace
www.axonaerospace.com. Here is a link describing the procedure used on
aircraft. http://axonaerospace.com/EP2Y1standard1.html

If you don't follow these standards, you are susceptable to filliform
corrosion and paint adheasion failure.

On Tue, 23 Nov 2004 13:58:05 GMT, "HiTech Redneck"
wrote:

Can anyone suggest the best way to clean an aluminum boat before painting?


Please bear in mind that I don't know anything about aluminum (or
aluminium) boats. However I do know that aluminum is maleable, and
whatever you use to abrade it, i.e. metal wools, glasspaper,
sandpaper, even Scotchbrite, will leave tiny shards embedded in the
surface.
Some time ago I owned an auto detail shop and we always cleaned
aluminum wheels with a proprietary wash obtained from car dealers. The
best one came from Jeep.