Alloy Polishes

[Courageous]

Whilst my boat was laid up on the hard last winter some kindly soul let go the back stays and then looped them over and around my boom. Over the following month or two running up to my subsequent visit the wind (which is of a mind to blow hard there) had led the stays to set about chafing at the anodising. I don't think it's worn through but has left some visible dark?shiny patches. Anyone any ideas as to a product or a proceedure which may put a smile back on my face?

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[pissativlypossed]

The Anodised surface is not a coating, anodising actually alters the composition of the molecular structure on the surface of the aluminium. If you polish the offending area you will make the blemish more apparent. The only way to restore the finish is to have the boom totally re anodised, you will find this not a practical proposition, as you will have to dismantle the lot then have it all electro polished and then reanodised, this is not only time consuming but also likely to be expensive.

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[boatmike]

Not really. what you have probably done is burnish the anodising. You might find you have actually deposited some stainless onto the alloy so cleaning with a light abrasive like VIM might help but it might also weather back to a dull surface like the rest in time.

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[Courageous]

Ok thanks guys....... to vim or not to vim that is the question??? Would hate to burnish it even more! Should I open another bottle then...?

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[boatmike]

The anodising layer is far too hard to be damaged by Vim/Ajax. You wont burnish it further either. Try on a small area. The worst you can do is clean it!

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[Evadne]

I was idly reading the supplement that came with October's (last month's) PBO the other day, "100 of your questions answered". It mentions a product called Aero - somethingorother for polishing anodised masts (sorry, I didn't write it down 'cos I thought I'd remember it, but failed). Says your local mastmaker or rigger may stock it.


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