i have a buddy who says acetone will knock off that filmy stain build up on the hulls. True? i have tried soft scrub and greased lightin'. suggestions?

acetone won't harm the gellcoat, paint and decals are another story.

Or use oxalic acid bleach. It's commercially available under the Star Brite label as "Hull Cleaner"



sea ya

tami

Try using snobol toilet cleaner. Its cheap and simple to use. Just wipe it on and leave it alone for about 5 min. and rinse. Not sure what kind of film you have. My hulls are white and they get a orangeish color after a while. The snobol makes them look like new. My other boat was painted white imron and it worked fine without harming the paint. Be carful though, use gloves and don't breath the fumes.....acid. Oh yea, it works great on toilets!



Mike

On-Off from West Marine works great, you will need to use gloves and wax your hulls as soon as you finish the cleaning.

If you have already used soft scrub then not much else will hurt fiberglass. I have used just about everything out there with varying to little success UNTIL I got the nerve to try snobol toilet bowl cleaner. For $1.39 at wally world it has worked better than anything sold at West Marine, E&B, Wally World, etc. Wipe it on, let it sit for a little while then hose it off. Then you must put on a couple of good coats of wax or you will be doing this again. I use the Teflon wax and love it on my P19 which looks as white as an egg!

Or can it be used on colored hulls also? Will it fade colored hulls?

i tried acetone last nite. it doesnt work. i am talking about the 'over the years' build up stain. i will try snobol tonite. and then a wax. thanks for the suggestions y'all.

If you use toilet bowl cleaner on your sailboat hulls.............................................



....you might be a redneck!









Seriously, sounds like a good technique, I'll be trying it on my ancient N6.0na, but I will miss all those stains. Maybe ol Bill should have used it on that dress!

I use a mixture of water, about 10% clorox bleach, and some dish soap. just rub on and keep it wet with the solution for a few minutes and hose off....works like a champ on the tiny black specks.

If you have a real stubborn stain you can try MEK (methyl Ethyl Keytone). It is available at any hardware store. USE GOOD GLOVES!!! The stuff is toxic. I have used it on gelcoat numerous times. I've never tried it on paint.



Mike Hill

H20 #791

I used FSR from West Marine. It worked fantastically and didn't take long. By the time I was done rubbing one hull, the other was ready to be rinsed. I didn't wax afterward. Low and behold, after Ruff Riders, all the stains were back. I guess I get to do it again now...



Shannon Galway

P19MX

FSR works ok, but Snobol works much better. I've never seen anything work as good with the tannin stains.



Steve

P19+spi 969

There is another Ox-acid cleaner available @ most hardware stores called ZUD. It works great

...I use a combo of things to do my annual hull cleaning at haul-out time on my Hobie 33



...one step is to treat the hull with Muriatic Acid from my pool chemicals.....costs about $2.00 to do 60+ feet of hull ( 33 ish * 2 sides)...



......anything organic will be dissolved,..and be gone on the rinse...



.....WEAR GLOVES, EYE PROTECTION and MASK!.......have runnng water hose available in case of getting some on skin,....stand UPWIND when treating hull (...fumes..)



...just be careful and you will be fine........or forget it if handleing the product makes you feel uneasy..





Bruce



St. Croix

what does the snobowl do to decals???????

It had no effect on the P19 decals on my boat.

Speaking of decals.. anyone have a good way of getting rid of them? The pinstripes on my h17 are pretty ... well... not so much stripes.. more like dotted lines, and I think it would look alot better if I just got rid of them.... my buddy recommended a pinstripe eraser for cars, but I don't know how the heat buildup from the rubber friction would fare with the gelcoat.

try a razor blade. Hold it carefully and get it as flat as possible and watch you don't cut your gel coat. It works really well and I have done it many times to remove decals from boats.



Steve

a bit of zippo lighter fluid on a rag will remofe the glue without damaging anything else