cleaning my pontoon

hey everyone, i have just bought a 2000 playbouy 1622. it has been sitting in the water for 5 years hasent been moved in 2. so needless to say there is alot of slime. i have a gallon of murtic acid. will this work? any advice on getting this thing cleaned up would be helpful. thanks a bunch

Re: cleaning my pontoon

Power washer to start. Be careful if the toons are weak you could blow through them. I never liked working with acid. It was better to eat LOL.

Re: cleaning my pontoon

I used toon-brite and it worked fine for me,

Re: cleaning my pontoon

I use 75% muratic acid 25% water mix. Spray on with a garden sprayer and then powerwash off. It will get that slime off there.

Follow up with toon-brite or napa aluminum brightner to make the toons brighter in appearance.

Re: cleaning my pontoon

The muriatic acid should work, but be careful. The fumes are very strong just by themselves. The actual acid will burn you pretty good.

Re: cleaning my pontoon

Can you leave a boat on the trailer to use some of these spray on type cleaners? I would like to do this at a car wash but have been concerned about the effects on the trailer and the carpet trailer bunks.

Re: cleaning my pontoon

I've never done one, so I'm assuming things.
I would think you could leave it on the trailer. The acid wash shouldn't hurt the carpet or wood, but it will cause any steel to quickly rust.
This would include your trailer or any steel bolts holding your bunks on. Pre-wetting the areas of concern would help.
Good Luck!

Re: cleaning my pontoon

The muratic acid solution is the best way to go, but I'd be afraid to give you a recipe i.e. 10% solution, etc. It's pretty dangerous stuff.

I would go to a marine store and get some of their acid based aluminum cleaner and use it. Or, the NAPA aluminum brightener is also very popular stuff. It's all spray on with a yard sprayer, let it sit 5 minutes and shower it with fresh water--no scrubbing. Then repeat if needed.

But I'd start out at the quarter car wash blowing off every bit of crud you can. I'd probably use a bleach solution first to see if it helps.

When you're over, check the toons to see if they're sealed and water free. Leaving any boat in the water scares me a little. I just wouldn't want to buy a used boat to find it has water in the toons.