Aluminum scuff marks on hull

[Carl Thunberg]

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for removing alumininum scuff marks from my hull. I searched the archives on this and came up empty. I have a 14-foot Starcraft aluminum boat that I use to ferry equipment and crew out to my mooring. Despite my religious use of boat fenders, the boats inevitably still make contact, and every time they do, I get an aluminum scuff mark. I started out the season with a beautifully waxed hull. The scuff marks look horrible and ruin what is otherwise a beautiful boat.

Switching to a different tender is not really an option because of my unique mooring circumstances. I need to motor about 1/2 a mile in very turbulent waters to get to my mooring. A smaller tender would be dangerous, and a comparably sized inflatable is way outside my price range. My temporary fix is to put pipe insulation over the gunwales of the tender. That has helped, but I still have the scuffs I need to deal with. Thanks in advance.

Carl

[bhartley]

I would buy Pfaltzgraff stoneware cleaner (check for an outlet mall or at Macy's). I use this to remove utensil marks from china (lots of china and lots of marks). I would test an inconspicuous area first, but it does wonders on dishes that look like you've drawn all over them with a pencil. I'll send you a little if you can't find any and want to try it out.

Bly

[winthrop fisher]

star brite black stirk remover works the best...

[Oswego John]

Hi Carl

I don't have the name of a product that will do the job, but I can tell you something that might lead you in the right direction to solve your problem.

Many years ago, we were living in a house that had anodized aluminum storm doors and triple track storm windows. Several times I had commented to my wife how scuzzy they looked. I tried using a certain cleaning compound that was touted to do the job. I tried it and after long hours of hard work, The miracle cream didn't do the job.

I came home from work one day and my wife wore a grin bigger than the Cheshire cat's. It seemed that during the day, a lady salesperson drove by and noticed the shabby conditions of our windows. She talked to my wife and offered to give a demo of her product. My wife was impressed with the demo and bought a bucket of the product.

I started early Saturday morning and a little after noontime, I had cleaned the entire house's windows and doors. It was amazing. It removed the scuzz and left the aluminum gleaming. You applied the stuff with a damp sponge, walked away to let the chemicals do their thing, and then wiped it off and then rinsed. It was amazing.

After that, we tried it on my brother's and my mast and boom. The stuff was just short of miraculous. So what is the name of this great aluminum cleaner? Duh! I can't remember. When the original bucket was getting low, I tried to buy some more for myself and other sailors. I called the phone number on the saleslady's business card and wrote to the address on the bucket, all to no avail. I struck out.

If any of the readers can turn me on to the cleaner, I'll buy it in a heartbeat. I guess that you can condense all this rhetoric into merely stating - try using aluminum cleaner.

O J

[Carl Thunberg]

You've been very helpful. I don't want to show up on the Casco Bay cruise with a scuzzy looking hull. Now, a scuzzy looking helmsman, that's fine