Boat surface finish. Boundary layer.

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swampratt

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I have been researching different surface finishes. I have read about it before and incorporate a rough finish in my porting of cylinder heads in the intake runners.

Boat hull or Pontoon finishes I have not experimented with..I just kept them clean and went fishing.

But I have a 20 foot Pontoon with brown buildup on the toons where the water line is at. and rough mineral buildup that I need to remove.

Acids do not remove it and vinegar with scotch bright removes it as does plain water and scotch bright or 600 wet sand and plain water.

SO I will be removing it with plain water as I do not like the thought of acids of any kind on my aluminum.
I will start with 600 wet sand and finish with 1500 then some buffing wheel or terry cloth and hand buff and slick it up. That was the thought anyway.

Got me thinking of boundary layer and many times a hull will be faster with 600 grit.
But rough surface may allow contaminates to cling or build up on the pontoons after a few trips.. So polish or not to polish.
Is it so slow it will not make any difference is boat speed anyway?
What do you guys do?
 

FreeSpiritBalloon

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I have read about sailboats using a layer of ablative paint that will come off with the crud with what looks to be fairly easy scraping. You would have to reapply after a couple of scrapings. There are different kinds for fresh or salt water. Just don’t know if it’s worth the expense.


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MacFromOK

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Be aware that bare aluminum oxidizes rapidly, so be prepared to prime/paint (or whatever) immediately. You might even want to do it in sections.

Just a thought. :drunk2:
 
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doctorjj

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I haven’t researched it in a while but on the Scream N Fly message boards I remember seeing where various surfaces, smooth, waxed, sanded, etc. made no discernible difference in speed of bass boats.
 

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