The Skipper's Blog

Brent Henderhan asked:

I have recently purchased a new tri-toon and I’m looking for a product to keep the pontoons looking new and shiny. I live in Ohio and will be keeping the boat in the water during the summer. I have one of your brochures and was wonder which product I should chose.  I see the Alumetron and the VS721, do I use both?

Answer:

Hi Brent,

Applying these protective coatings when your boat is new, before it’s put in the water, is the best time to do it. Even a few days in the water can stain the aluminum and if you leave it in for the season, then you have bio-fouling removal as well as stains and streaks to deal with. Too many people use strong acids, not intended for use on aluminum, to remove the marine growth and that etches the aluminum and turns it white and streaky. Then you have a restoration project on your hands, which is time consuming and expensive.

You need to use both products, Alumetron 1^st and then VS721. This combination can last up to 10 years and comes with a 3 year factory warranty.

Alumetron bonds chemically to the aluminum so it can be used below the waterline as well as above. VS721 is a low surface energy coating that ads durability to the Alumetron to reduce scuffing from fenders and makes the pontoon easy to keep clean and also functions as a foul release coating below the waterline to reduce fouling attachment. Alumetron is a one-time application and VS721 needs to be re-applied annually. It’s a wipe on, wipe off product so it’s easy to use.

Because of the chemical bond, it’s necessary to make sure the pontoons are perfectly clean before applying Alumetron. Even brand new boats have contaminates on the aluminum; welders’ smut, machine oils, hand prints, road film, road salt, dirt, etc. and this has to be removed. You can use Boat Clean Plus and a Marine Power Mitt to clean the pontoons if they already look clean, but if you see any contaminates, then use Alumabuff with a Marine Power Mitt.

The cleaning process is similar; wet the pontoon, spray a fine mist of Boat Clean Plus on the surface and scrub it with the mitt and then rinse clean or if you’re using Alumabuff wet the surface, put some Alumabuff on the mitt and scrub and rinse clean. Be sure to always scrub with the grain (horizontal ) to avoid the possibility of leaving scuff marks. When clean and dry, you can apply the Alumetron.

If your boat is on a trailer, you can lift it off the bunks to get to the bottom of the pontoons, using the instructions in the Ask the Skipper blog: https://www.auroramarine.com/main/ask-the-skipper/how-to-lift-your-pontoon-boat-off-the-trailer-bunks/

Here’s a link to our How To apply Alumetron video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzqTJmJ6n8U&t=60s

And, here’s a link to our Pontoon Calculator that will tell you how much of each product you will need: Pontoon Calculator.

Here’s the results that Bill got on his new tritoon: https://www.auroramarine.com/aurora/gallery/gallery-bill-tritoon.php

Thanks for your question,

Captain Aurora

Richard Kittar

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