As some may have heard, I am thinking about buying another 1966 Barth (24ft) and restoring it - but having a hard time finding anyone that can help me with either painting it or polishing the aluminum (or half and half). One guy said it would be $28k! I am in St. Pete Florida but would be willing to travel to get this done, anyone know where to bring it? for a reasonable price?

Zephyrhills, Florida had a mobile polishing person. His name was Big Dawg. When I stayed at Emerald Pointe he did my wheels, bumpers, and the entrance door jamb for a couple hundred bucks. Big Dawg told me he has polished several Airstream Campers.

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Also check Barth Coaches Sold. One of our members just sold a Barth Coach he paid to have shined up.

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Polishing is labor intensive so you may want to shine up your camper yourself.

Try this thread: (a few years back but some nice results)

https://www.barthmobile.com/eve...061/m/9921094213/p/1

Several comments there. Lee polished his toaster to perfection and has some good advice. (MUCH WORK!)

GOOD LUCK.

So if you are looking to practice your polishing skills and would like a vacation getaway in northern Minnesota in the Greatwoods my 72 would love to be polished I’d let you stay in it while you were polishing it to get some practice. I wouldn’t make that offer to just anybody. Wife says I cannot make that offer without telling you that there’s no running wateR. I keep telling her there is running water you can run to the well as many times as you want. :-) :-) :-)

I bought a rotary polisher and tried to polish my last Barth and it started pretty well, but I did not get a good polisher because it should have a button that you hold while you polish and once released, will stop... like other power tools. Well mine did not when it came out of my hand, hit the barth hard then bounced back at me, hit my head and caught me under the arm... I had a short sleeved t shirt on - then hit my foot. Head was fine, I was wearing goggles - foot was fine, had on sneakers (ripped bit) but under the arm was NOT fine - took several layers of skin off and hurt like hell. I still have a scar from it, not to mention the willingness to pay someone else to do it... the things you do for love (of a Barth)!

Ouch! Never had a tool get that out of control. Could have been much worse. Good luck finding someone.

What if it had been a chain saw!
....comment that it left a scar.. maybe you are not as new to Barth as you are to "barthmobile"??

quote:

Originally posted by Dick Dubbs:
What if it had been a chain saw!
....comment that it left a scar.. maybe you are not as new to Barth as you are to "barthmobile"??

Dick I used to have a ball cap that had a saw kerf half way through the bill. I got tired of being reminded how stupid I was. It is gone. Hopefully I am smarter.

Have you ever wanted something smaller? Probably only at polishing time. I understand the comments about polishing the lumium but every year the 35 Commander wants attention. Fortunately it is under roof so most of the oxidation is the topsides and not the hull except for every 3rd year. 35'X13' plus the sides above the hull gets to be larger by some large factor since passing 60 a long way back in the rearview mirror.
The rewards of the efforts are the comments on what a great sculpture and how it appears so new.
Buff on O' King of Shine!

Tim, how about a picture of the boat I almost got to ride in.

quote:

Originally posted by Mary Ray:
Tim, how about a picture of the boat I almost got to ride in.

Sending to your email addy. Of course the avatar is a shot taken when went to Lake Michigan with it in 2005.