Best stuff for cleaning boat exterior?

[s.d.willie]

I picked up some Meguiar's boat wash from Walmart but I was curious if I could use some type of aggressive scouring brush to get the sides of my boat clean.
Its a 16' Larson Flyer fiberglass so was curious what will remove the scum from the sides of the boat. A regular car wash brush did not do the trick. I was thinking a scouring type of pad like the green ones you clean your sink with but was looking for input. Will probably try to get my hands on a power washer as well.
TIA.

 

[chevymaher]

I used the kitchen pad the green side to clean the years of leaf stains off of mine. It definitely did the trick. Mine was so sandpaper feeling it actually made it shine a little. I sanded and buffed then so I wasn't worried what it did. I just wanted the stains off before I ground them in buffing. It didn't hurt the Gel Coat.

 

[s.d.willie]

I used the kitchen pad the green side to clean the years of leaf stains off of mine. It definitely did the trick. Mine was so sandpaper feeling it actually made it shine a little. I sanded and buffed then so I wasn't worried what it did. I just wanted the stains off before I ground them in buffing. It didn't hurt the Gel Coat.

Thanks. Its funny I have seen videos of people using toilet bowl cleaner which is cheap and acidic but effective but not so sure about going that route since it would probably strip the wax off it.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Oxalic acid....as found in sno bowl toilet cleaner

 

[ondarvr]

Anything you do will strip the wax off, and wax doesn't stay on boat that long anyhow.

​Toilet bowl cleaner will take care of many of the stains, but won't make it shine, if you want shiny it's buffing compound time, maybe even a little sanding depending on how bad it is.

 

[09TNRT]

No Title

I used Meguiars Ultimate Compound on mine with a wool pad and it made it look a 1000 times better. It may not look brand new, but it looks good enough it could be a couple year old boat.

 

[09TNRT]

Oh and I used Bass Pros brand of cleaner wax with a hand applicator to get rid of any water line stains before I buffed.

 

[chevymaher]

I used Meguiars Ultimate Compound on mine with a wool pad and it made it look a 1000 times better. It may not look brand new, but it looks good enough it could be a couple year old boat.

I used Meguires ultra cut and ocean polymer wax. Mine was so wasted I had to sand with 600 1500 3000 on the color first. On the white I only used the 1500 and 3000. But it did return it to a non faded new appearance. Mine had registration numbers and stickers. That made the fading show when they were removed.

 

[09TNRT]

Forgot to mention I had to use a magic eraser around the engine compartment to remove the greasy finger prints. I thought they'd just wipe off like my car or truck, nope lol. I had to scrub, it was crazy how fast that gel coat sucked that grease up.

 

[cleanupcobra]

You need to pick up some cleaner wax. I would highly recommend starting there before anything else because that is safe and you will not remove any clear or gel coat from your hull. I use Starbright Cleaner wax with PTEF and that works miracles. You can find it at walmart for about 13 bucks for a bottle. Depending on how shiny you want your boat to be, I'd use a blue sponge as that will not leave scratch marks, but a green scouring sponge could leave fine scratches. You can also use a buffer, or they make drill attachments that will work as well. This cleaner wax will remove oxidation, scuffs, and also restore shine to your hull.

 

[09TNRT]

+1 on that, the bass pro cleaner wax I started with had that PTEF or whatever in it. Works really well, I think it was 9-10 bucks a bottle or something. I was surprised at the cleaning ability it had with just a hand microfiber applicator pad.

 

[s.d.willie]

You need to pick up some cleaner wax. I would highly recommend starting there before anything else because that is safe and you will not remove any clear or gel coat from your hull. I use Starbright Cleaner wax with PTEF and that works miracles. You can find it at walmart for about 13 bucks for a bottle. Depending on how shiny you want your boat to be, I'd use a blue sponge as that will not leave scratch marks, but a green scouring sponge could leave fine scratches. You can also use a buffer, or they make drill attachments that will work as well. This cleaner wax will remove oxidation, scuffs, and also restore shine to your hull.

I see Amazon has it as well and cheaper than Walmart. Will have to check it out. I have a buffer with 6" pads so it will be nice to give my arms a rest. Thanks for all the tips guys.