Boat Wash!
- Thread starter Brian D
- Start date
I would suggest being very careful of Simple Green and any other cleaner/degreaser that has petroleum products in it. It ruined my port lights, causing them to become completely crazed over the course of one summer after I used it to wash my boat. Many others have experienced the same. If you go to their web site, they say that it is not suitable for acrylic. Many others have reported the same. https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/simple-green-is-not-simple-it-is-evil.187665/
I may be coming in late on this discussion, but I've been using Roll-Off on the deck and topsides in the spring before the wax goes on. It will take wax right off, so I only use it to clean off the winter storage grime and old wax in the spring. Then, for to duration of the sailing season, I have been using StarBrite Non-Skid Deck Cleaner on the deck and cabintop, and generally water only on the topsides. Though I do occasionally wipe down the transom with a little of the deck cleaner on a sponge if the spiders mess it up too bad. I clean the deck weekly and I think that helps keeps to topsides clean too. I don't seem to get the dirty streaks on the sides late in the summer that I see on some boats.
I wouldn't say I "like a dirty boat." I just sold this one. In fact, I'd say I've tested more products than most and know more about cleaning chemistry than most (chemical engineer). I just believe in do-no-harm and I believe in sailing. This boat is over 20 years old and the upholstery is original. The upholstery was cleaned only once, and the boat was wash just a few times each year. More important to me, she was kept mechanically perfect.
Yes, some of us are THAT girly; not I but, some.
I agree with the dangers of pressure washing. It's a good initial blast across the hull when you first buy, getting light growth off the bottom when you haul out, cleaning zebra muzzle sludge from your trailer at the ramp but, dish soap (anyone remember 20 mule team borax?), bleach and lots of water with a brush. Use a buffing wheel on spots that are too hard otherwise. Wax after to make the cleaning last.
For cloth cushions, I'd go with oxi-clean. In fact, I think oxi-clean would do wonders on most parts of a boat.
- Will (Dragonfly)
But if one is satisfied after one use, it is grounds for continual use until a better product if found. Yes? So I believe that to be a qualification, if not an insignificant one.
Precisely. The previous commentary though the thread about testing multiple products, and attempting to qualify their use is of little to no value at all to the thread. What actually works, and why, and given the geographic diversity here, it always comes back to the contributing factors, the largest of which, Brian, you hit upon. Whatever works.
Please. You are reaching without any information about me, my background, or the commercial product testing I have done. In fact, there are many experienced chemists on this forum, some more experienced with cleaning chemistry than me, but they stay quiet about their experience.
Did I boost up any specific product, other than a brief mention of Boat Zope, with which I have no relationship? It's just a good product I like, though most deck cleaners work well if they soak. But by no stretch is it the only product needed to clean a boat. In general you will need a surfactant type (bird crap and such), something acid (black stains, ICW smile, rust), something with anti-mildew and algae properties (both wet-and-forget and borax were mentioned), something mildly abrasive, something with bleaching properties (borax, bleach, oxiclean, though each has different strengths), a solvent (fender marks, adhesive residue), and something for soft vinyl. It would be easy to write a chapter about each. There is no single silver bullet, nor would it be a good thing, based on what we know about chemistry.
And arn't we just having a fun water cooler conversation? By now it should be clear that many products work, and that important lesson is to match the chemistry and method to the soil type and surface compatibility. Most of this high school chemistry. It's not nearly so much a regional matter as identifying what the dirt is and selecting chemistry that will remove it without damage to the surface.
Really? Try not to give yourself too much credit.
Unfortunately your ancient history, holds some, but not a lot of weight in 2017, and very, very little north of the 49th. It is a very different environment up here with very different stresses.
Yeah, didn't you know? We have a whole different way for electrons to go around protons now. We can even make them orbit between valences. I hear their about to come out with synthetic electrons that are self-driving and interact (react?) with Google maps.
- Will (Dragonfly)
Everybody needs to believe in something. I believe I’ll have another beer.
I never knew any argumentative chemists, and I am one. There’s no single solution. No need for another Chem 101 lesson. What we all want and need is this:
https://www.google.com/search?q=bik...AUIEigC&biw=1024&bih=661#imgrc=V8ZaJENBT1YA9M:
https://www.google.com/search?q=bik...AUIEigC&biw=1024&bih=661#imgrc=V8ZaJENBT1YA9M:
Good question...but who needs a discount? I wouldn’t even care if the boat had water spots when they were done.
single solution or simple solution. Maybe we need a suspension? To compound this problem, there are multiple elements to it.
ah geezz, i can't stop. It's like there's a magnetic attraction, a bond, one might say.Sorry!
- Will ("not a chemist", Dragonfly)
Too funny, You forgot emulsions and immiscibles. Sweeeeet emulsions!single solution or simple solution. Maybe we need a suspension? To compound this problem, there are multiple elements to it.
Sorry!
- Will ("not a chemist", Dragonfly)
... and that make thinwater (multi-hull sailor) the CATalyst!
ok, I'll stop. - Will ("autopoietic", Dragonfly)