BLINGING OUT (Polishing) my 99 Crestliner Fish Hawk,,,Cosmetic Restore

[MikesOcean]

This was suppose to be a weekend project that took almost 2 months with work and family as well in the mix. I purchased this boat about about 2 years ago and have enjoyed it very much.
There was really nothing wrong with the boat, I just wanted to clean it up and have it look nicer for me. I was originally going to strip the paint off and repaint again. But after some thought, I realized that I love the way fixed up aluminum boats looks when I am out in the ocean. Soooo, Why not? I figured this couldn't be too hard, right? Well....not so much hard, Just tons of elbow grease. I'm 90% done, just have a few touch ups to do. Even thou my motor is 2 stroke it has been running great, and I can't justify at this time putting $ on another one when this one has been doing great for me.

This is how the boat looked before I did anything!



The first thing I did before I started this project was change all the bearings.


Then I started something that I thought was just going to take a couple days!! haha
I used Jasco to remove the paint! (Don't let this stuff touch your skin..OUCH)

As you can see the paint starting to bubble


And with it almost completely off!


Here is a Pic after a million hours of wet sanding


At this point I stopped the outside and decided I will continue after I fix the inside up.

I started by painted storage lids.


I put new carpet and painted side walls.


The boat had dirty painted wood at the bow where the trolling motor went and had electronics so instead of putting new paint on wood I wrapped it with stainless steel sheet metal with 90 degree cuts.


I loved the way this looked so much, I had to wrap the side console in stainless too. So I Did! Then I started to the dash board which was almost completely hopeless.
So here it is before I did anything!


and here I started taping off




side view with stainless steel console


So now back to the hull! I knew I had to do a full acid wash on the aluminum before I blinged (polished) it out for it to turn out good!
Heres a pic after the acid wash.


What I did with this hull, I will NEVER repeat this whole process over again nor would I recommend anyone doing this with all the crazy work involved. It looks totally BAD *****, but the upkeep will probably be unrealistic with me rather wanting to fish then polish!!

Before I started the whole process of polishing, I did a sample polish at the stern of the boat.


and a close up pic. (Notice the mirror affect)


FINISHED PRODUCT!!!


Thanks for Reading!
MikesOcean

[Cadillyak]

Quality work for sure. You can tell the job was done right! Wish I had that type of persistence.

[fishinone]

Wow, bling it on!

That looks great Mike but I think you're nuts.

[OC ANGLER]

bad *** turned out great ! now do the trailer and everything will be lookin nice :)

[flybynight]

Heck of a good job..now go catch some fish.

[christopherstellar]

I love how there are starbucks cups all over the floor! The power of coffee is amazing, great job bro!

[cutbait]

That looks great.

Like Ron I thought you were nuts but now it looks SHARP!.. Your hard work paid off on that thing.

Looks bad to the bone brudda

[DockRat]

Wow, bling it on!

That looks great Mike but I think you're nuts.

X2

That stainless can burn you on a hot day.
DR

[MikesOcean]

X2

That stainless can burn you on a hot day.
DR

X3. I think i am nuts too! Probably will just let it oxidize. I hear you on the stainless steel. I am going to put a clear coat on it. I think that will help quite a bit.With all the outside work I kinda regret doing all this work. Well it will look bling for just a little bit. If anyone wanted to do this, I am sure I would discourage them.

@oc angler. I did want to do the trailer too, I'm just burnt out of working on this and I want to fish! Haha maybe later!

[tree]

gorgeous job!