Boat is winterized

I've been holding out, thinking I might get out on the water again, but finally gave up yesterday and winterized my motor. I'm fortunate to have a 3 car garage that is deep enough to put the boat up in front of the cars, so I can work on cleaning it up in the warmth of "conditioned air". Anyone know of a good way to clean the brown scum off the bottom of the hull? I bought some "StarBrite Hull Cleaner", hearing it was one of the best. It hardly does anything. There has to be something out there that will cut that stuff.

Ranger, I may take you up on that offer for ice fishing. That water has to be "darn hard" before I get on it though.
jim

If you have an aluminum boat, get some of the scotch brite pads, and dishwashing detergent, and give it a good scrubbing. May have to go at it a couple times depending on how much scum ya got.

I forgot to mention, it's a fiberglass boat. I tried to keep up on keeping it clean the first part of the summer, but finally gave up. Getting on the lake 2-3 times a week seemed more important than cleaning it all the time.

Zapp. Its an acid and the only thing that will take off the Saylorvillle, Redrock scum off fiberglass.

I did give up on the normal hull cleaners, and tried some "crust buster" that I had. It's a Conklin product that does have some acid in it. I diluted it about 50/50. It does a nice job. I clean, then rinse it off with a lot of water.

Thanks for the response, makes me feel better about using what I have.
jim

NAPA sells a jug of cleaner called "Jupiter" for @ $3 a gallon. Turns aluminum brand new looking by just spraying on and rinsing it off. Doesnt do a thing for fiberglass though.

Darn fiberglass anyway! Next year I'm going to try to stay on top of keeping it clean. I don't think it was real clean when I got it. I may be fooling myself though, getting on the lake as much as I do, I probably will fail in that "new year's resolution".

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Originally Posted by gabowman

NAPA sells a jug of cleaner called "Jupiter" for @ $3 a gallon. Turns aluminum brand new looking by just spraying on and rinsing it off. Doesnt do a thing for fiberglass though.

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Does it turn the aluminum white or just clean it. I have an aluminum dump semi trailer might have to try it.

For $3, if you don't get a good answer, would still be worth trying, and if it's not what you want, sell to a guy with an alum boat :)

gabowman~~ Would this product "Jupiter" be under any other name? Stopped by local NAPA and they don't carry it here.

go to dollar general and get some mean green works on my boat lone pole

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Originally Posted by gunner_1911

Ranger, I may take you up on that offer for ice fishing. That water has to be "darn hard" before I get on it though.
jim

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You need to take him up on the offer, ice fishing is a blast. What res. have you been fishing to get all the scum this year ?

been fishing Big Creek. Probably averaging 2-3 times a week, so was out there a lot. I did pretty good at wiping the top portion of the boat down after getting off the lake, but didn't do too good at the bottom half. Lots of times that I headed out there, I would have limited time, so didn't do much clean-up after getting off the lake. I only live about 3 miles from the dock, so had lots of opportunities to get out for short periods of time. Figured that fishing, and cleaning fish was more important than cleaning the boat. I think I made the right decision :). I have the left side cleaned up. It looks pretty good. I'll do the right side soon.

jim

Wow, it took me a while to do the right side, but I found something that really works good, and it's cheap! I tried some white vinegar, about 50/50 mix with water. Applied with a rag, came back about 5 minutes later, and it was coming off with a bit more elbow grease. This was much better than any of those expensive "so called" hull cleaners.

jim

post us some pictures to see

It's in the garage in front of the camaro right now. Wouldn't be too good of a picture. I can get one next time I pull it out, or at least away from the wall