Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Hello all, Newbie here.

Been wanting a toon for a while now.

When I was told "It just came in on trade in & the interior is shredded, you need to look at it."

I thought I don't need another project I've got way to many and blow it off.

The next time I was at the marina & someone told me again to go look at it, I figured what harm could it hurt to look. You can guess how that turned out.

No trailer but they let me use one to take it home. So now it sits on blocks in my driveway. Ya What fun.

Owned a few boats over the years, but my first toon, so I have a million questions.

Check the first pic is that a black bottom coating of some kind or growth? It rubs off fairly easy when wet..

It's amazing how someone can let a boat look like that, but it goes to show you what no maintenance will do.

I'd say with the correct soap and the pressure washer, it should come clean.

What kind of shape are the seats in?

The black on the toons, I'd say is just algae growth, unless it was in salt water, then it could be bottom paint. Pre-soak and wash, then it might need an acid wash after that.

The seats are in amazing condition IMO, with Plastic bases also. It had a play pen cover that had torn down the middle so the seats were protected, mostly.

Well what ever the black stuff is most of it comes right off with a wet down & the pressure washer. Been over the carpet twice now & the toons once. I've been through 6 tanks of gas with the pressure washer nearly 1000 gals of water so far. No soap or scrubbing yet. Need to go over the carpet one more time. Then scrub the seats & put them back into place.

I am leaning towards the shark hide or Algex for the tubes at this time. However that may not get done until ...........???. This is what just the P.W. did for it, no cleaner or scrubbing
Round 1: Worked from the outside to the center. Just seemed like the thing to do. As it gave me a clean spot to stand on- The water coming off the carpet was GREEN-GREEN-AND GREENER I wanted to try Biokleen black streak remover but could not find any locally so I used Starbright black streak remover from Westmarine. - That stuff worked very well.

The pressure washer seemed to have done a really nice job on the toons. My pontoon boat is buoyed and after years of neglect I tried to clean them with the various chemicals with little success. I should try a pressure washer!

Be careful with pressure washers. They can punch a hole in carpet fairly easily.

Be careful with pressure washers. They can punch a hole in carpet fairly easily.

Black streak remover is not good stuff. You're not scrubbing black streaks on a boat bottom.

Now it's time to go to a boat dealership and purchase an acid based pontoon/aluminum boat cleaner. NAPA also has an aluminum cleaner that's about the same. Some people use HVAC coil cleaner too.

You spray it on with a yard sprayer, let it sit 5 minutes and then hose it off with clean water. The rest of the green grunge should pretty much disappear. The finish may come out a little dull, however.

If you need to scrub on it, Scotchbrite pads do a good job. Some people use Awesome (Dollar General) and Mr. Clean Magic Erasers.

Last step would be to use a dual action polisher with a wool bonnet and a high quality aluminum/metal polish. You may not get it to a mirror finish, but it'll be plenty shiny enough.