Anti-fouling wax

May 28, 2015
275
Catalina 385 Long Branch, NJ
Does someone want to retire rich? Invent an anti-fouling wax for use between the edge of the bottom paint and the top of the boot stripe. This wax would be impervious to sea water and wouldn’t wear off.

Just spent my day cleaning the sea water staining primarily from the heeling in the slip due to prevailing winds.
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,319
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Does someone want to retire rich? Invent an anti-fouling wax for use between the edge of the bottom paint and the top of the boot stripe. This wax would be impervious to sea water and wouldn’t wear off.

Just spent my day cleaning the sea water staining primarily from the heeling in the slip due to prevailing winds.
A quick, easy, and inexpensive way to clean the scum from the waterline is to use Muriatic Acid. Buy it at the HW store, under $10 a gallon at a big box store. Took less than an hour on my 36' boat.

Dilute the acid by 50%, brush on with a cheap chip brush, give it a quick scrub with a bathroom scrubber (amazon link), and rinse with lots of water. Of course wear gloves and old clothes or old foul weather gear. The acid may leave holes in cotton jeans and shirts.
 
Nov 12, 2009
238
J/ 32 NCYC, Western Lake Erie
Toilet bowl cleaner (hydrochloric acid based, I think) works without diluting, and if you buy it at the $ store is even cheaper. Just like Dave said, spray it on, scrub with a toothbrush, rinse. It also removes tannin if you've done the ICW.
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,319
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
The active ingredient in toilet bowl cleaners varies according to brand. Often they contain bleach which is sodium hypochlorite. In addition they have added other products to help clean the toilet bowl.

Muriatic Acid is simply Hydrochloric Acid at 30% solution and water. Diluting it with water makes it go a little further and makes it a little less aggressive.

A better comparison to Muriatic Acid is Mary Kate' ON-OFF this is another acid based cleaner designed to clean waterline scum. The active ingredients are hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid and it costs somewhere around 8 times the cost of straight up muriatic acid.
 
Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
A better comparison to Muriatic Acid is Mary Kate' ON-OFF this is another acid based cleaner designed to clean waterline scum. The active ingredients are hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid and it costs somewhere around 8 times the cost of straight up muriatic acid.
O&O is very thin and runny, and purly wicked. FSR is much better for this application (pi!) :). It's a gel and is more costly than hardware store acids, but it works and lasts a long time. I apply it with an automobile squeegee on an extendable stick like a boat hook, and then just hose it off.
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,319
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Good idea. (I'm talking to you, scientists.) In the meantime, I dissolve a tablespoon or so of this in a small pump sprayer to erase waterline stains with minimal effort: https://www.amazon.com/Savogran-10501-Wood-Bleach-12/dp/B000VBGH82
Basically, the methods here, FSR, wood bleach, Muriatic Acid, Mary Kate On and Off, and most toilet bowl cleaners are basically acids which dissolve the dried organic matter and bleach the surface.

FSR, and wood bleach are both Oxalic acid, the same acid in Bar Keepers friend. They are just in different forms, FSR in some gel and wood bleach as a dry powder. O&O is a combination of hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid and a few other things. Muriatic Acid is hydrochloric acid. Toilet bowl cleaner (at least the one I looked up) is bleach with some fragrances and other things to help clean things.

I would not bother using TB cleaner, it is just too expensive. O&O is also one to avoid because phosphoric acid breaks down in to phosphate which is a potent fertilizer, we don't need more of in our waterways as it promotes growth. I haven't tied FSR on the waterline although I have used it on other parts of the boat, because it is a gel it is easy and neat to use. Although at $60 a gallon it is a little rich for my budget.

The $10 a gallon Muriatic Acid works well and when diluted it costs about $5 a gallon or less than a dollar a season. The disposable chip brush costs more than the MA. MA also has other uses. It very good at cleaning mortar and cement off bricks and stone and makes short work of clearing calcium deposits from clogged fittings in the sanitary system.

 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
The active ingredient in toilet bowl cleaners varies according to brand. Often they contain bleach which is sodium hypochlorite. In addition they have added other products to help clean the toilet bowl.

Muriatic Acid is simply Hydrochloric Acid at 30% solution and water. Diluting it with water makes it go a little further and makes it a little less aggressive.

A better comparison to Muriatic Acid is Mary Kate' ON-OFF this is another acid based cleaner designed to clean waterline scum. The active ingredients are hydrochloric acid and phosphoric acid and it costs somewhere around 8 times the cost of straight up muriatic acid.
the phosphate helps with anything that might contain a metal cation. It is also the same way oxalic acid functions.
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Does someone want to retire rich? Invent an anti-fouling wax for use between the edge of the bottom paint and the top of the boot stripe. This wax would be impervious to sea water and wouldn’t wear off.

Just spent my day cleaning the sea water staining primarily from the heeling in the slip due to prevailing winds.
I have actually thought about this.... and considered dissolving napthalene (mothballs) along with some canning wax into a hexane soltuion and spraying it on the bottom of my boat. BUT! then your boat would smell like an portable toilet.... so your neighbors would probably complain.... and no want wants to hang out with toilet-boy. I imagine there are some potent herbacides you could dissolve into a wax solution but you would really want to do the long term studies on those to make sure you are not killing yourself and/or doing some real long-term dammage to the aquatic areas you inhabit.
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,319
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
I have actually thought about this.... and considered dissolving napthalene (mothballs) along with some canning wax into a hexane soltuion and spraying it on the bottom of my boat. BUT! then your boat would smell like an portable toilet.... so your neighbors would probably complain.... and no want wants to hang out with toilet-boy. I imagine there are some potent herbacides you could dissolve into a wax solution but you would really want to do the long term studies on those to make sure you are not killing yourself and/or doing some real long-term dammage to the aquatic areas you inhabit.
I don't think you have to be that exotic (and smelly). Pettit Hydrocoat Eco is a copper free ablative paint that uses Econea to prevent the growth of barnacles and other underwater fauna and Zinc Pyrithione to ward off slime and algae.

And as a side benefit, you can use any of the Zinc Pyrithione to take care any dandruff you might have.

Pyrithione Zinc: Uses in Skin Care Products, Benefits ...
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
I don't think you have to be that exotic (and smelly). Pettit Hydrocoat Eco is a copper free ablative paint that uses Econea to prevent the growth of barnacles and other underwater fauna and Zinc Pyrithione to ward off slime and algae.

And as a side benefit, you can use any of the Zinc Pyrithione to take care any dandruff you might have.

Pyrithione Zinc: Uses in Skin Care Products, Benefits ...
Yeah... you are probably correct. People have reported good results with painting their props with cold galvanizing compound (Rustoleum). Zinc might be a good choice.
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,319
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Yeah... you are probably correct. People have reported good results with painting their props with cold galvanizing compound (Rustoleum). Zinc might be a good choice.
The ~$10 can of Rustoleum cold galvanizing paint is about the same stuff as Pettit's $30 a can Propcoat.
 
Oct 2, 2008
3,807
Pearson/ 530 Strafford, NH
I’ve been using lemon juice from the dollar store, diluted 2 or 3 to 1. Works great from a garden sprayer as you motor around the boat in your dinghy. Cheap, effective, non-harmful to you or the environment.

I’m not going to quit my day job, and you can afford to do this every week if you like.