What's the best way to clean diesel exhaust soot?

[patrickkidd]

i recently had an engine exhaust leak near the transom of my Catalina 30 and now most areas in the lower cavity of the boat, from the transom to the engine compartment, are covered in diesel soot. What is the best way to clean this stuff off of wood, fiberglass, and the engine?

Thanks!

 

[Rich Stidger]

I have no personal recommendation, but another sailor told me that On and Off did that job for him.

 

[Doug4bass]

I have had great luck with Meguiars cleaner wax. Maroon bottle...but then again I go after it regularly.

 

[Captn Scotty]

I clean this stuff up on a regular basis and the best thing I've found for diesel soot is Fantastic with bleach.

 

[Justin_NSA]

try toilet bowl cleaner. Seriously. It cleaned up some really nasty stuff on my waterline that other products wouldn't touch. I then used MaryKate On-Off to do a hull wash per Mainsail's instructions.

 

[Jerry Clark H356 SV Persi]

I had a bad soot problem while on a cruise due to a worn MaxPop which over pitched my prop. I had a mechanic in Mobile change my injectors and troubleshoot the problem. Mad a lot of soot on the transom and my generator, fiberglass. He used Purple Power and it is wipe on, leave a few minutes and wash off. You can get it at WalMart.

 

[Stu Jackson]

and now most areas in the lower cavity of the boat, from the transom to the engine compartment,

The way I read this is INSIDE the boat.

If so, On&Off would be the very last thing I'd recommend. It is caustic, even on the outside of the boat.

I'd start with Simple Green, then TSP and work my way up to FSR (which works like O&O but much easier on the user!). FSR has oxylitic acid in a gel. So you could get some oxylitic acid from a hardware store, too, but the gel is easy to use.

Then clean with water/Simple Green.

 

[Rich Stidger]

The way I read this is INSIDE the boat.

If so, On&Off would be the very last thing I'd recommend. It is caustic, even on the outside of the boat.

I'd start with Simple Green, then TSP and work my way up to FSR (which works like O&O but much easier on the user!). FSR has oxylitic acid in a gel. So you could get some oxylitic acid from a hardware store, too, but the gel is easy to use.

Then clean with water/Simple Green.

Oops, you are correct Stu. The OP is talking about INSIDE the boat. Now I agree with you.

 

[MattObjects]

I had good luck removing soot inside the boat (from a malfunctioning kerosene stove) using Clorox "Scrub Singles," which I believe are meant for tub and toilet bowl cleaning. These are basically disposable scotch-bright pads pre-loaded with a cleaning compound. They cost under $5 for a box of 12. Though some scrubbing was required, these were effective at removing soot while gentle enough not to remove the finishes (paint and Cetol, mostly) on the surfaces I was trying to clean. Might be worth a try before moving on to harsher chemicals.