Normal or not?

[ResQ]

I just got my boat in July. I have not had any experience with a non painted aluminum hull. Just Jon boats. The bottom of my boat had some of this on it when bought it (noticed it after I got it home). What is it? Corrosion? Oxidation? Cosmetic or pitting? What causes this? I keep fantastic care of my boats. Dry all the time and cleaned with salt away and soap every salt trip, soap after every fresh trip. Normal or not?

[G-Man]

Untreated aluminum oxidizes in no time at all, some alloys are worse than others. You have to towel dry it if you want to prevent those white spots. The other option is to treat it after cleaning/polishing with a product like Sharkhide.

[sickbayer]

shark hide is a waste in my opinion especially if you have to reapply every year. what you can do is either is water elbow and scotch pad followed by flitz polish or a lot less elbow and use aluminX and then polish. was way cheaper, as the quote was from a boat dealer to apply it.

[ResQ]

So is this normal? Is it damaging or just an eye sore? What do they treat the aluminum with to prevent this? Anything that lasts?

[sickbayer]

ya it normal, just depends how you wanna keep up your tub.

[ResQ]

Is it something to cause concern? Just oxidation or will it eat the aluminum? I see a lot of larger aluminum boats that see almost pure salt and they dont have this. And I am sure they dont treat their hulls with anything?

[ResQ]

Hey Sickbayer, I just looked up the sharkhide stuff. It actually looks awesome! I may give that a try. Just buff the hull with a scotch bright pad then put on a couple coats. It says it lasts 3-5 years in marine applications. And its only 50$.... http://www.sharkhide.com/mpinfo.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[sickbayer]

Ya the price I said is for a shop to do it, that was the quote I had for my 20'er. And I couldn't exactly flip it our in the yard. If you got the time and muscle guess it could be the bees knees although i am not convinced.

[ResQ]

700$ for a 50$ quart?! Wow. That does sound like a horrible deal.

[sickbayer]

No that would be them lifting it of the trailer and applying the product. I think it was 3rivers who gave me the quote, I just polished mine once a year and it stayed nice.

[hewesfisher]

No need to worry about the bottom IMO. I used Sharkhide on the sides of our boat before it ever went in the water, and reapply once a year. Still looks like new.

[ResQ]

I think I am going to get some sharkhide and use it on the bottom. Try to get most of the bottom anyways. I will see if there is any way I can lift it to get over where the bunks sit.

[sickbayer]

No need to worry about the bottom IMO. I used Sharkhide on the sides of our boat before it ever went in the water, and reapply once a year. Still looks like new.

ANy chance you could take a couple of pictures of the sides, not that I don't believe you or anything but proof is in the pudding right?

[ResQ]

Just like the bottom pic. They are clean and shiny! Not a blemish on them. Just the bare aluminum bottom.

[hewesfisher]

No need to worry about the bottom IMO. I used Sharkhide on the sides of our boat before it ever went in the water, and reapply once a year. Still looks like new.

ANy chance you could take a couple of pictures of the sides, not that I don't believe you or anything but proof is in the pudding right?

Sure, boat's 80 miles away, so next time I'm where the boat is. I don't care about the bottom, can't see it when in the water anyway, but the sides do matter to me. FWIW, I wouldn't say it looks new if it weren't true.