Home
>
Small Business
>
Boat Hull Cleaning Procedures for Owners and Detailers

Boat Hull Cleaning Procedures for Owners and Detailers

For really tough boat hull cleaning you will need to break out the acid. Muratic acid is the best for this. You'll want to have a 50/50 mix of muratic acid of 6-8% concentrated (12% is the highest concentration you can legally buy over the counter), water and a good strong sprayer. You can purchase muratic acid at Wal*Mart, K-Mart, Pool Supply Stores, Home Depot, Lowe's, Van Waters and Rogers Chemicals. Sears Craftsman makes a nice strong sprayer or try a local store for another brand of commercial pump-up sprayer.

Spray onto the boat directly after doing a presoak with a good strong blast of water. Let it sit for approximately 2 minutes. Just let the acid do its work breaking up and removing the algae. If it is still there try it again for longer and longer periods of time, but not more than 10-15 minuites. You'll be amazed how nice it looks even by the time you come back to rinse it off. Usually you can remove all this excess with a good strong brush after the acid shock treatment.

You may have to get with a smaller scrubbie into some areas around the drive system and other nooks and crannies underneath. If it's on a trailer and the bunks are on it, that's just the way it goes, you can't get around those - you can't move that boat on the trailer. On a hoist, you'll have full access to the boat.

Once you've scrubbed off one side of the boat, rinse, and repeat the procedure on the opposite side. Give it a very strong thorough rinse getting all the residual acid off the trailer as it can sometimes cause rust spots and corrode. Only use this muratic acid mix for boats that are extremely algae covered, heavy in barnacles, and other growth associated with long-term in-water moorage. Often times you can use Slimy grimy and hot water or Starbrite's buffered acid will work just fine for cleaning a mildly dirty boat bottom. For cleaning diesel soot found around the transom, aft deck ceiling and along the water line around exhausts, but not bottom paint, you can use Meguiar's #50 first, then proceed with compound Monster Agua-Blue 200, Maguire's #44 or #49 if this doesn't work.

If you are cleaning along the waterline and boat bottom that is not painted, you will want to reach for the bottle of On/Off by Maritime Products Company. You will remove all barnacles, moss growth and browning incredibly fast. Don't get this stuff on your hands or on any bottom paint as it will streak the paint and will burn your hands. This is corrosive, but will not harm gel coat and neutralizes with water. Don't get it on the trailer, it will streak and etch it. It is an oxcillic acid mix and is available at West Marine stores. If you are a contractor and doing this for a living the pricing usually goes from $3.00 to $4.50 a foot. Again, market conditions in your area may be a little more or a little less. You can adjust to fit those market conditions.

The Marina-Tec boat wash system is great. If you are contractor and have lots of work you may want to consider leasing a location to wash boat bottoms. GMBH & Co. has a hull-leaning machine that uses two brushes that rotate horizontally along the hull and two brushes that rotate vertically at the heel. It is an automated system and does not use toxic chemicals. It is similar to an automatic car wash only for boats in the water.

Do it right the first time, do it efficiently and think about it.

"Lance Winslow" - If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.worldthinktank.net/wttbbs

experienced cleaning professionals Glenview ...

In The News:

Carolyn Marvin, a 78-year-old retired professor, was arrested after blocking an Uber Eats delivery robot on a Philadelphia sidewalk for months.

The Midnight Mimosa malware campaign hides inside cheap Android phone firmware, giving attackers powerful access before owners even turn devices on.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Meta's Muse AI was built to manage tasks, but users are developing romantic AI relationships and even calling the AI companion their girlfriend.

A Minnesota murder suspect's notebook listed 11 people search websites, raising urgent questions about data broker opt-out and online privacy risks.

Google Universal Cart tracks price drops, surfaces promo codes and uses Google Wallet to match your best credit card rewards before checkout.

Safari's Notify Me feature and Google's price-tracking tools can monitor products and send alerts when prices drop on your iPhone or Android.

George Weiner built PACspam.org to trace who sends nonstop political fundraising texts after blocking numbers repeatedly failed to stop the messages.

A dedicated VPN IP address may reduce frustrating CAPTCHAs and bank login security checks by giving websites a consistent connection to recognize.

Apple Wallet in iOS 27 lets you create digital passes from physical cards using a photo or screenshot, but not every card in your wallet qualifies.

Anthropic's Claude AI submitted a fabricated eyewitness tip about an unsolved murder to a Philadelphia police website during automated testing.

P7 DarkSword iPhone spyware can steal saved passwords, photos, Apple Notes and cryptocurrency wallet data by checking for commands every 15 seconds.

Cybersecurity experts told Fox News Digital that a cyberattack on French supermarket freezers should warn the U.S. about critical infrastructure gaps.

The Oracle Health breach exposed medical records, Social Security numbers and diagnoses of nearly 20 million patients across multiple states.

The new Tesla Roadster drove upside down and launched into the air at SpaceX's Texas facility, but a 2028 production target remains unconfirmed.

Apple's iOS 27 lets you add keywords to iPhone photos, while Samsung Gallery tags and Google Photos search offer similar organization tools.

A fake Claude AI download scam uses Google ads, and Bing redirects to trick Mac users into pasting a hidden malicious command in their Terminal.

Ahold Delhaize's cybersecurity incident knocked online ordering and digital coupons offline at Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Hannaford and Giant Food stores.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Amazon's About You feature includes personality details from your shopping history, and some shoppers are finding hilariously awkward results.

Identity theft recovery starts with securing bank accounts, freezing credit and enabling two-factor authentication within the first 24 hours.

Apple's $299 HomeView smart display uses facial recognition to personalize screens for up to six household members and show live security camera feeds.

Domonique DuBose spotted red flags when a man on Hinge with 85,000 followers and a blue checkmark claimed to be a San Francisco 49ers player.

Your phone's location data can expose visits to doctors, pharmacies and places of worship. The FTC took action against data brokers selling this data.

Hackers targeted Danfoss refrigerator controls across French supermarkets, forcing chains like Carrefour and Monoprix to discard massive food stocks.

Boat Hull Cleaning Procedures for Owners and Detailers

Small Business