stumbled on some hull cleaner that worked great

ok. thought ide get some feedback on this. i went to the wash house last week to try and clean my hull. the discharge i fish has some dirty foamy bubbles and really gets a foul line on a boat quickly. 1 trip turns it brown. well my hull is 24 years old and was already filthy. scrubbing got the top scum off but the set in stains were there to stay. so i thought.

i got to the car wash and prepared some change. as i began to feed the slot i seen a grey bottle laying on the floor left by a litterer. this time i thank him. i pick it up to see if it had cleaner in it. about an inch left. said eagle one chrome wheel cleaner. i sprayed it on the hull on the side that catches all the froth thinking maybe it will help remove the gritty line of grime.

i turned around and stuck the quarters in. as i soaped it up i went to other side and got it all soaped and turned on foam brush. as i scrubbed the side i sprayed the lil bit of cleaned on my jaw dropped. i seen what looked like white spots all over it. as i wiped it back it was bare shiny aluminum. like the inside of a pop can. i turned the dial to rinse. and sure enought nmy boat looked funny. it had all these brilliant clean spots on one area. i immed dropped the wand and went to the store and bought a bottle. it said on directions not to use on POLISHED alumimum. that was it. now it contains , sulfuric acid, hydroflouric acid, phosphoric acid, and oxalic acid. thats it. 4 acids. any way i seen an all wheel cleaner too but i wanted the same result no less of an effect. i sprayed it in small spots and rinsed within a minute and rinsed well. and repeted on another area. i was so impressed but still had a few dark spots on bottom. i got a second bottle. $4.

the next day i sprayed it on small spots at home and scrubbed lightly with a green dish washing pad, like a scotch brite. the entire hull is now shiny aluminum. so i go fishing thursday. and same thing. i get the dark line. but bottom stayed clean. i tried to wash the line off with soap. no dice. the spray lifted it and it rinsed away. ive treated it 3 times and see no pitting or any damage to the aluminum. it didnt hurt my paint on upper or the decals.

whats are your guys thoughts experiences in stuff like this?

before pics.

Re: stumbled on some hull cleaner that worked great

this is what i got now. and i got some boat polish tonight to try and keep the scum from setting in so bad. my boat since i restored the interior this spring and came here and got every little quirk fixed was lookig real good. now i got exterior all cleaned. its like its 10 years younger. even re done my id numbers as you can see in the before after pics.

Re: stumbled on some hull cleaner that worked great

You are actually etching the aluminum, too many applications of the acid will give it a dull, white looking surface.

Re: stumbled on some hull cleaner that worked great

Alan_Scott said:

You are actually etching the aluminum, too many applications of the acid will give it a dull, white looking surface.

Click to expand...

Not to mention pinholes sooner or later

Re: stumbled on some hull cleaner that worked great

Now that it's clean, can you spray a clear coat over it to keep the aluminum that condition?

Re: stumbled on some hull cleaner that worked great

I think I'd keep it away from the trailer. I've used toilet bowl cleaner (typically oxalic acid) and it didn't play well with my galvanized trailer.

Re: stumbled on some hull cleaner that worked great

well these are some of the things i was looking for. i didnt want to do any damage so i thought ide ask. so now that i got it so clean what kind of products should i use to KEEP it clean so i do not have to use this stuff next time.

Re: stumbled on some hull cleaner that worked great

What works absolutely perfect for cleaning boat hulls is a stuff called JV's Best. It is all environmentally friendly, and takes everything off beautifully. Works on fiberglass and aluminum.

My old boat had this horrible water line mark that I could not get rid of using anything. A friend of mine told me about this, and I tried it out. Unbelieveable results! The water line was completely gone. Just spray it on, let it soak for a few minutes, and then spray it off. No scrubbing or anything.

Re: stumbled on some hull cleaner that worked great

i will look into that JV's. ya this stuff was great. spray on rinse off. no elbow grease required. but i figured the acid wasnt real good on them.