Boat Hull/cabin exterior cleaning

[Hawk4661]

Ahoy mates...A friend of mine from Louisiana tells me that they clean there fiberglass boat decks with bleach/water dilution. I'm sailing in inland fresh water only.Can others here share ideas for different /best for boat cleaning/waxing.
I'm having difficulty removeing the "dirt" dark gray muck by mild "Dawn"detergent and lots of elbow grease?
"Serenity" needs help soon before going out in public sailing.....

thanks and fair winds to all.

 

[Steve Dion]

You may want to try some non-skid cleaner. One of the main ingredients is oxalic acid. If the non-skid cleaners are not quite strong enough, you can just purchase oxalic acid in bulk. It is a crystal that disolved in water and can help clean the non-skid.

The oxalic acid can be combined with deck soap.

 

[Sublime]

I use starbrite deck cleaner. It also protects the deck from weathering and is nonslip.

http://www.amazon.com/Starbrite-Non-skid-Deck-Cleaner-Protector/dp/B003CYTNPY

My boat was neglected when I got it. I used this plus a scrub brush and the deck went from grey back to white.

I think they make a hull cleaner too.

 

[Forrest15112]

I ordered Island Girl products from this site several years ago and learned a lot about gel coat. Bleach and oxalic acid are rough on gel coat and will get it clean at the expense of damaging the gel coat. I have found their Pink cleaner to be effective as a basic wash mixed with water or direct for stubborn spots. I will be ordering some more of their products soon, but appears to not be available here anymore.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

The best hull cleaner I have used is called Zing. Don't drink it. I like Starbright's Nonskid Deck cleaner too, because it works. For over the counter products I also like Meguair's. For professional products, 3M makes some good stuff.

 

[owner23.5]

Ive had real good luck using soft scrub with bleach , squirt a little on the deck, including the non skid areas brush it a bit and then rinse, take off all the spiders ,bird crap as well as the black stuff whatever that is. be careful as I had it leak through the hatch once and bleached a small section of my sofa cushion.

 

[carboman]

i use 50/50 water and this amonia i get from publix supermarkets called soapy amonia. stuff works great on pelican crap and other tropical bird nastiness!!

 

[esterhazyinoz]

I also sail in 'fresh' water but our river is a bit salty. Having a daysailer which I launch and retrieve every time I go sailing, this is what I do to keep my boat clean: use a liquid car/boat/RV wash (e.g. Meguiars 54 Marine/RV Gel Wash). I do this no less often than every second launch. I use one of those microfibre 'hairy' mops on a long pole that sees the job done in a few minutes. Because my boat was new I have only waxed so far ( I use Autoglym Liquid Hardwax - the stuff that the boatyards use on their boats for sale - lasts a long time in the weather and nothing sticks to the hull surface for a long time - also very easy to wipe on, wipe off). If your hull has a bit of staining or a bit of oxidation you should use a polish first (e.g. Meguiars 45 Marine/RV High Gloss Polish which is designed to keep gel coat in good order) and then wax. If your staining and/or oxidation is more severe then you might want to compound first, then polish and then wax.
Once you get your boat clean it doesn't really take that long after each sail to keep her that way. Also a clean hull is a fast hull!

 

[Bobbi Ullinger]

The quickest way that I've found to clean the no-skid is with a pressure washer. This does a quick and thorough job.

 

[Captnkev25]

I'm with Rob. I brought my pressure washer down and did my entire C25 with it in about an hour and a half at the start of the season then poured a bottle of Starbrite NonSkid cleaner into a new household spray bottle and redid the whole thing just to get the PTFE protection. I also believe the Starbrite has a Teflon like ingredient that helps repel new stains. The spray bottle is really handy now to just use on stubborn spots when doing my after sail rinse down.

 

[tkaser3210]

Used Scrub Free with bleach (super market product) this spring on entire boat, inside and out. Works like magic. Used soft brush on outside, followed with pressure washer rinse. Removes all traces of mildew, especially on non-skid areas.

Used it inside all interior lockers to remove mildew and "funk" - worked great. I keep a bottle on-board all the time now.

 

[Jeff]

I've been using Tide laundry detergent w/bleach for years. I fill up an old pancake surup bottle that has the push/pull top. I squirt it directly on the deck and scrub with a deck brush. Works great! You need to be careful though while using it. It's a bit slippery until you rinse.

 

[C Jones]

I used to use 1 cup of Roll Off and 1 cup of bleach with 2 gallons of water it worked great but got kind of costly washing the boat twice a week. A friend suggested 6 oz. of dawn and 1 cup of bleach with 2 gallons of water. This works as good or better on spider poo and dirt. It does not hurt the gel coat as it has 3 coats of wax on the topside. Best guess per wash is $0.75

 

[Jayhawk]

OxyClean

Ahoy mates...A friend of mine from Louisiana tells me that they clean there fiberglass boat decks with bleach/water dilution. I'm sailing in inland fresh water only.Can others here share ideas for different /best for boat cleaning/waxing.
I'm having difficulty removeing the "dirt" dark gray muck by mild "Dawn"detergent and lots of elbow grease?
"Serenity" needs help soon before going out in public sailing.....

thanks and fair winds to all.

Try this, I go to Dollar General get a gallon of 409 or Mean Green (all purpose cleaners) then pour it in my 1 gallon lawn weed sprayer, pump it up, spray and let it set 10 minutes. Then lightly scrub with a deck broom and finish it off with my small power washer. If I haven't made it to the lake in a couple of weeks and it needs a good cleaning I spray the boat with water, replace the above cleaners with a hand sprinkling of "Oxyclean" , scrub and rinse. I'll save you the trouble there is no substitute for OxyClean.

 

[Deucer]

Try this homemade cleaner: mix a half cup each of distilled white vinegar and baking soda, and a cup of ammonia, into a gallon of warm water.

I've used it with about as much success as anything.

 

[inarathree]

I have used Barkeepers Friend (oxalic acid), soft scrub w/bleach, and liquid toilet bowl cleaner for the green slimy stuff around the water line. Anything with oxalic acid will clean any deck/hull of mildew and black stuff. On the last three boats I bought that is how I did my initial cleaning to bring them back to white. After that a good polish/wax (per Maine Sail). For routine upkeep/washing, I have used most of the cleaners mentioned above, but I do like the Tide (or any laundry detergent) one. If there are any spots that dont clean up with that, I pull out the Barkeepers Friend, and make it go away.

 

[BillyBud]

While on the subject of boat cleaning, any suggestions on how to restore the heavy oxidated fiberglass surfaces that are exposed to sunlight? My '86 Hunter 23 has that white caulky film that rubs off with your finger.

Thanks,

 

[inarathree]

BillyBud do a search for Maine Sail. He has an article, that even if you only half follow will result in excellent results. Sorry about the low light,but you can see chalky vs Maine Sail area. I was skeptical at first, but next summer (when people in FL pull their boats out for maintenance) I will be doing the full Maine Sail treatment. On a 22' boat it should take a long weekend, but she will look like new.