Repairing/Resurfacing Scuff's in Aluminum Hull

[Fish Fry Guy]

Hello Everyone, I have a 96 Lund Rebel, 16 foot aluminum boat. Structurally everything is great, however, I do have some unsightly scratches/scuffs in the hull due to loading mishap's (hull hitting the bolts on the roller guides). These scuffs arn't too deep but I would like to pretty them up to look as close to new again. Do any of you know how to do this? Any product I could buy and use to fill the scuffs and resurface? Or of any repair shops that offer these service? There is no leaking due to the scuffs and no ill effects to the boats operation as far as planing out or anything. They just make my wife feel a bit uneasy as she was spoiled by boating in my father-in-laws sweet Ranger's of the boating world rigs her whole life. Thanks in advance.

[Steve Bakken]

Aluminum is soft and easy to work with. We've actually done restorations on antique boats with damage like yours and literally polished them up to a chrome-like finish. You'll need to start with 80 or 180 grit on an orbital sander depending on how deep the scuffs are. Then just keep moving up in grit one size at a time till the prior grit is sanded out. When you get to about 800 grit, move to a buffer with rubbing compound. It's not a quick repair, but it works really well.

[Fish Fry Guy]

Thanks for the reply. So you gradually buff out the scuffs with the sand paper? Should I have any concern that the overall thining of the aluminum may make for a weeker metal? Or are we talking minimal here? The scratches are as deep as say two or three fingernail widths. Not sure on how many MM's but minimal. I'm not sure the overall thinkness of a Lund hull though.

[Steve Bakken]

Think of it as taking the hard front cover off of a dictionary. That's about how much metal you remove.