Can I protect my pontoons with Alumetron during the winter?

Skipper September 30, 2009 Ask The Skipper

Rob McKenzie asked:

My neighbor pulled his 6 year old pontoon boat over the weekend and his pontoons looked brand new and he hardly had any growth on the bottom. What he had just wiped off. I’ve been scrubbing for 2 days now and still can’t get my toons clean. He said he used your products to get his clean and then put Alumetron and VS721 on them. I want to do the same. I’m really fed up with all this scrubbing and my pontoons still look dull and stained.

My question is can I put the Alumetron and VS721 on now or should I wait for the spring. I got most of the algae and stuff off the bottom, except under the bunks and I want to make them bright and shiny again. How do I do that? Also, how long does it last?

Answer:

For your convenience, I’ve highlighted the hyperlinks. Click on the hyperlink to get more information about the selected product.

Yes, fall and winter is an excellent time to brighten, restore and protect your pontoons. That way you’ll be ready to launch in the spring, rather than rushing around trying to get everything done to get your boat ready. A lot of dealers are now offering to restore and protect their customer’s boats with Alumetron.

First you need to get the rest of the marine growth off your pontoons. (Getting Under the Trailer Bunks to Clean the Boat Bottom).

Use Algex to clean the growth off. No scrubbing. Just spray it on, wait ½ hour and rinse clean.

If you have dark water stain, you can brighten the pontoons by spraying Alumabrite CBX on the pontoons and rinsing clean. This will take about 5 to 10 minutes per pontoon. After you need to wash and degrease the aluminum with Boat Clean Plus, rinse and allow to dry.

If your pontoons are white or streaked from chloride salt during winter transport or etched from the use of acid for bottom cleaning (not recommended), you need to buff them back to the original mill finish with Alumabuff and a Linear Buffer. With this proprietary buffing cream / cleaner, you can restore your pontoons in about 1 hour per pontoon.

You can now wipe on 4 coats of Alumetron and let cure for at least 96 hours, depending on ambient temperature and humidity.

The last step is applying one coat of VS721 below the waterline and wiping off the haze. Shouldn’t take you more than an hour or so. This will protect your pontoons against oxidation and staining over the winter if it’s stored outdoors. Before you launch, put on a 2nd coat of VS721 and you’re ready to launch.

You will need to wash the bottom every fall and reapply 2 coats of VS721 every year but the Alumetron should last you up to 10 years, if it’s protected annually with VS721.

Thanks for your question,

Captain Aurora