green stuff ????what to use???

[chet pruszynski]

The 1979 hunter 37 i own is kept in melbourne fl and is starting to grow green stuff on the decks( I know i don't spend enough time on the boat to keep the north side from moving)....No really, i clean the boat every few weeks with a brush and some soap and bleach but it keeps coming back. The gel coat has a crackled look to it and i am guessing that the mold and mildue spoars are getting in and causing the problem. my queation is what should i clean it with and after i clean it what should i protect it with. The non skid is due for a redue in the late spring and my main concern is the white areas on the cabin sides and all the other areas on deck that are not non skid

 

[Steve Dion]

Don't know that is a lot you can do!

Chet:I don't know that there is a lot you can do to prevent the moss and mildew from growing when you are getting enough rain to make your lawn grow (on the deck). The only thing I would suggest is that you increase the bleach content of your scrub down mixture and see if that helps. We have a similar problem during the winter months. The more you get to the job of scrubbing her down the easier it is. I use the West Marine Non-Skid cleaner which does an ok job (still not great). Let it sit for 5-10 minutes and moisten the deck and scrub it down again, then rinse her off.Once you re-do the non-skid (I would suggest that you look at using gel coat non-skid), you can treat it with something like Island Girl which makes clean-up much easier. I suppose that you could try it now and see if help, but it may be a waste of time and materials.

 

[Mark Smith]

I had the same problem (in Melbourn)

I bought my boat in Melbourn and had the same problem, I used bleach in the soap (a couple of times) to kill the mold. It stopped when I moved the boat from Melbourn. ???? Something in the air?

 

[Jim WIllis]

What you have is algae!

I am very familiar with Melbourne as I used to do product demo "shows" at the West Marine there.There is so much mildew etc in Florida that I went back and added mldew/algae inhibitors to our products (about1997.If you were not going to be redoing the non-skid, I would have recommended our new non-skid kit that seals the surface against the algae spores.As it , I would just add bleach to your boat soap or use something like Ajax that contains a bleach (as you have been doing, essentially).Also on your smooth gelcoat, you will have microcrevices or "pores" that will fill with chalk and other stuff that is ideal for growth mildew or algae.In this case, if you are not going to paint it or replace, you may want to consider our system for gelcoat (available on this site in the chandlery - try minikit A if a white boat, MKB for beige etc),I know this works in the San Francisco area to repvent algaue and mildew.Acrylics like Newglass, Poliglow are also a possibility but, if used over white gelcoat, I would insist on a warranty against yellowing. I have no experience of such products over algae.Hope this is of some help. Unfortunately, Marc has gone as Manager of the Melbourne store (used to be at the San Pedro CA WM store before that) , otherwise I would ask you to give him my regards. Does anyone know where he went?ThanksJim WHope this if some help