I need some know how help cleaning the aluminum boat

I tried washing the boat today it is looking so bad. Well I tried bleach, mean green, and degreaser with no luck. I was using a pressure washer and let me say that stuff is hard to remove. Talking about the ugly stain(scum) around the bottom of my boat. I even tried the maximum pressure nozzle that they say will take the paint off a car with no luck. Well I know someone always has some trick up their sleeve to fix anything. What is the way you all take the scum off the bottom of your aluminum boat? Is there a product on the market that works on this? Thanks for any help.

Attachment 217353Attachment 217354Attachment 217355

Don't know if you ever watch Ship Shape TV but they were demonstrating a cleaning product by Starbrite that is made to clean aluminum. If it works half as good as it did on the show it is impressive stuff.
Ultimate Aluminum Cleaner/Restorer - Star Brite 87764 - iboats.com

Did you use a turbo nozzle on your pressure washer? My 3800 pound John Deere will cut the paint off garage doors but my 1700 pound electric won't.

Get a gallon of alumibright from napa. Cut it 50/50. Spray it on with a garden pump sprayer. Spray it on and scrub that's pretty nasty looks a few years on. I clean mine once a year. Looks like a new penny. DON'T put it on car windows or headlights it will fade it. The scum will run off that boat as fast as you can spray it. Might take you a couple cleanings.

I was using a 5 1/2 hp 2,200psi Brune briggs & stratton pressure washer. It works good with the green nozzle to wash cars and trucks and the red nozzle is good for cleaning the tires but it is too much pressure for the paint and decals on a vehicle. I once removed a Dodge decal from the door panel on my old truck with the red nozzle. That 3,800 John Deere should cut paint off anything. This is like a stain that is in the aluminum. Catsup or tabasco sauce will remove tarnish from a penny in a few seconds. I was thinking maybe some one had a homemade formula that works like the homemade copper and silver cleaners.

If you don't mind using a little elbow grease steel wool and mag wheel cleaner

There are other methods but they are very aggressive and I don't want to be the one to recommend them, but a quick google search will show you

Contact me. I have a buddy that can get you a product that will make it shine like new money.

Text me at 870-635-0202. I'll share his contact with you. My friend is in the auto paint business and this is a custom made product.

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Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine

Contact me. I have a buddy that can get you a product that will make it shine like new money.

Text me at 870-635-0202. I'll share his contact with you. My friend is in the auto paint business and this is a custom made product.

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I sent you a PM. I don't know how to text and don't think my phone will do it(text) anyway. Bad to say I am 60 + years old and never texted the first time.

I use Clorox Cleanup and a green Scotchbrite pad. A little scrubbing and the boat looks like new. Let the Clorox set about 30 seconds before scrubbing. Hope this works for you.

Magic Eraser works great on my glass boat .

A Mr. Scrubbie and a can of bathroom cleaner works for me.

I recently hired a buddy with a steam cleaner to clean up my 16 foot enclosed trailer so I could get it ready to sell. His equipment wouldn't take the black streaks from the roof off the white sides. He tried a couple of industrial cleaners he had with him...no go. He asked me to run to the Dollar Store and buy some "Awesome" cleaner. I bought 3 half gallon jugs for $3 each. We put it in a garden sprayer and went all the way around the trailer, soaking any discolored areas. He came right behind with the steam cleaner. 2 passes around the trailer and it looked like brand new. We were both amazed but he had been told the "Awesome" was really awesome. It worked for us and I only used a little over 1/2 gallon.

Scrat, I'm like Mrducks. I used Awesome on mine and it cut it when nothing else would touch it. Just sprayed it on with the spray bottle let sit for about 30 minutes then used car wash brush and water with some Awesome in it. Cleaned up like new.

Product at dollar tree called LA's Totally Awesome Attachment 217384

Thanks for the how to ways to clean aluminum boat. After Church this evening I stopped at the old dollar store and bought some of the awesome cleaner. I will try it when I get a chance and let everyone one know if and how it worked. This was the cheapest thing to try first 2-64 oz. bottles were less than $5.00 I am going to put it in a pump up sprayer and lay it on heavy then let it set for a while then see if it needs scrubbing or just pressure washing off. If this doesn't work I will be trying the other ways that was mentioned. Thanks again everyone for the help.

PMed you my number.

Sounds like Awesome will work just fine, I found some cleaner at Walmart that cleans hulls, works like a charm it comes in 32 oz bottle and runs about 8.00, but my boat is fiberglass, think I'm going to try Awesome next time

The best thing to clean boat hulls with is oxalic acid...It is very easy to use on fiberglass boats, it will work just as good on aluminum boats also but you need to be careful and NOT let it sit too long cause it will etch the aluminum. you must keep it off galvanized trailers also, just wet down the trailer prior to applying to hull.

oxalic acid is muriatic acid, it is also in most toilet bowl cleaners and many other products made to remove hard water stains

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Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine

Contact me. I have a buddy that can get you a product that will make it shine like new money.

Text me at 870-635-0202. I'll share his contact with you. My friend is in the auto paint business and this is a custom made product.

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I would like to know also, as I have an aluminum dump trailer.

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Originally Posted by wilbur

I would like to know also, as I have an aluminum dump trailer.

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Find a local pressure wash supply co. Get some aluminum brightener from them. Mix about 1 cup per gallon of water, brush on a section, let stand a few minutes then rinse real good. If you let it sit and run you will end up with streaks down the side.

Ok I tried the Awesome today. Well I mixed it the whole bottle 64 oz. to 64 oz. of water sprayed it on and waited then took the pressure washer and washed it off after about 10 minutes. It only took a little of the stain off. So I resprayed it and took a car wash brush and scotchbrite pad to it and Wow! it took that scum pretty good and did not have to scrub real hard to get it off. I was amazed that it did work as good as it did after the bleach not cutting the scum off the other day. A car wash brush knocked off quite a bit of the scum also. So I would think that a boat that was not real dirty like mine they could just use the awesome and a car wash brush and keep their aluminum boat clean each year. This took me less than a hour and well here are the after pictures.
Attachment 217611Attachment 217612Attachment 217613

Boat looks good to me. Like mentioned earlier oxalic acid will cut that stuff right off with very little scrubbing at all.

Almost looks white now. [emoji4]

Those acid based products are bad about that. You can polish the shine back in it with the product I told you about.

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Originally Posted by BigRiverMarine

Almost looks white now. [emoji4]

Those acid based products are bad about that. You can polish the shine back in it with the product I told you about.

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Tell me Bill I would like to know. Please. Pretty Please.

Bill Thanks again I am still waiting for Crappy1 to PM me the information on that polish. And I thank crappy1 for taking the time to PM it to me also. Congratulations, I seen where you all placed in the top 10 in the tournament also.

Thanks for the info tried the awesome on my white lowe and it was so much easier to clean than what I was doing. I will be keeping it around.

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Originally Posted by ripnlips

Thanks for the info tried the awesome on my white lowe and it was so much easier to clean than what I was doing. I will be keeping it around.

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I plan on keeping a spray bottle of Awesome and a soft brush in my new white Excel. Sort of like learning to sharpen a knife. Best way is to never let a new knife get dull, sharpen it before. Same for a new boat that is white. Never let it dry dirty.

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Originally Posted by wilbur

Tell me Bill I would like to know. Please. Pretty Please.

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PM Crappy1. He has the contact info.

Thanks Bill. You mean Crappie1 from Michigan?

How does it do on painted aluminum ? Attachment 273479

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Originally Posted by wilbur

Thanks Bill. You mean Crappie1 from Michigan?

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No...he means Crappy1 from Mississippi

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The Simply Awsum works good on painted aluminum

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