Boat Cleaning

[backtroller]

I Was Wondering What Is The Best Way To Clean Your Boat I Bought A Cheap Boat Cover From Walmart To Cover My Boat For The Winter When I Took The Cover Off This Spring It Looks Like There Are Grease Stains On The Side Of The Boat Couldn't Get It Off With Soap And Water Any Suggestions On How To Get It Off

[cagrove]

Backtroller,
Usually the best thing to use is a pressure washer (a wand type car wash works great). Everybody uses different things but I use a little liquid tide and a soft scrub brush for my cleaning. Just some thoughts. Use the search feature on the tool bar above and you should show plenty of ideas. Good luck.

[fl81turbozx]

Acetone works when all else fails.....wouldn't make a habit of using it though

[CRIMAR30]

Cargrove, are you saying one of those do it yourself carwashes? That soap doesn't hurt the boat?

[Jan from Humboldt]

I use simple green or Bon Ami and sometimes some of that soft scrub stuff thst has bleach in it.

The best thing is to get one of those little electric 1600 PSI pressure washers (I got mine at CostCo for $130.00) and it keeps the boat real nice.

Once you get them clean it only takes a strong squirt from a hose most of the time to keep them nice.

I come back sometimes with dried fish blood spattered all over the boat (Salmon are bloody like Albacore) and that's where the P Washer really shines.

[cagrove]

Originally Posted by CRIMAR30

Cargrove, are you saying one of those do it yourself carwashes? That soap doesn't hurt the boat?

Yes...a do it yourself car wash does a great job and the soap doesn't hurt anything. (Just stay away from the whitewall cleaners) The only thing you don't want to put on your boat is any petroleum based cleaner. Simple Green works well as does Bon Ami, SoftScrub, etc. Mostly, though, just the pressure from the water takes out 99% of the grime. I hope this helps.

[woodNfish]

>>The only thing you don't want to put on your boat is any petroleum based cleaner.

As far as I know your boat is inert and even petroleum-based cleaners don't harm it. I use acetone to wash down areas I want to stick registration stickers and the like. And gasoline spills around the fill cap don't soften the plastic. Polyethelene is pretty tough stuff.

woodNfish

[fl81turbozx]

I heard Magic Eraser's work well also, wouldn't be surprised, those things work on anything

[TeriL]

I use Clorox Clean Up with bleach. Works great!

[woodNfish]

There are some good ideas in here and I lan on using some of them. I am going to buy an electric power washer when they go on sale this Fall. I had a gas one, but could never get it to start easily and got rid of it.

I've seen pictures from this site of peoples bilges that are clean and white, mine are blotchy and stained like lildew or something. I open them to dry them out and have tried cleaning them, but nothing has worked. I can get them to look better, but not white. Any suggestions?

Also, does anyone know how to remove tar from the polyethelene? A fishing buddy had tar on his shoes 4 years ago and I have never been able to get the tar off my gunwales.