Best Way to clean up an old aluminum canoe

[esox07]

OK, time for an update. We got some awesome February weather so I pulled out the canoe and decided to clean it up and prep it for polishing. Well, I used TSP and a hand scrub brush to clean it up and it went great. It looks, and smells, a ton better. But, partly because the clean up went so well and partly because I lost my enthusiasm for doing a full polishing, I decided to skip the polishing. At least for now. I forget who suggested the TSP, but thanks to whoever it was. It worked great.

Here are some before and after photos.

 

[jbcurt00]

Clean and ready for use. Great, congrats

 

[Watermann]

Looks super clean now :thumb:

 

[esox07]

Yah, I am probably going to leave the fish stickers on as well. "Character" they call it. I guess when you get right down to it, what's not to like about Fish Decals on a canoe? Oh, shoot, I just realized that I need to get the registration stickers and numbers on it.

 

[DeepCMark58A]

If you polish it again, try Simichrome there is no product that works as well. It also leaves a protective film on the aluminum.