Bottom Help!!

A

Aquaholic101

Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2005
RO Number
17202
Messages
233
Boat left in the water for a week because of lift problems, finally fixed the lift and the bottom of my once beautiful, clean and never painted bottom was full of barnacles. Scraped them off used Starbrite bottom cleaner, Off, etc but still have the barnacle stain (a little ring) that I cant get rid of. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated
 
I'm guessing no bottom paint because of lift. If so, try muriatic acid. Brush on, let sit, rub with 3M pad, rinse off. Start with 50/50 acid/water. Go strongr if needed. Wear rubber gloves & eye protection. Don't breathe fumes; do up wind if possible.
 
I agree with acid. They do make a muriatic acid substitute that works just as well but is not as dangerous to use. Sorry, can't recall the name right now.
 
Try Marykate's "On and Off". Thats a hydrochloric acid based product that seem to clean any thing off of anything including skin off of hands. Great stuff, be careful.
 
I assume the lift is galvanized. If so wet it down before you let any acid drip on it & rinse it off as soon as any does. Muriatic acid is cheap & effective. It does not like anything ogranic, metals with zinc in them & alloys in general. Use with care.
 
don't laugh before you start using acid try simple green.Can buy it in any supermarket. If it can get the stuff off my Raritan bay dipped boat bet it gets off the stuff on your hull.
 
quote:
Originally posted by rbmitchell

Try Marykate's "On and Off". Thats a hydrochloric acid based product that seem to clean any thing off of anything including skin off of hands. Great stuff, be careful.

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Aquaholic, that stain (around here) is called "mangrove stain" or "mangrove mustache"

Had it a long time ago when I had my Maxum and Grady-White.

The ary Kate works great, but please do heed the gloves and eye protection here, that warning is meant to be heeded.

It will also put a nice WHITE stain on an aluminum lift or trailer.

Going to the XMAS parade(s) this year?

RWS
 
He's not trying to get the stain off. It's the remains of the bases of the barnacles he's trying to remove. For the tanic acid/"mangrove stain" stain, use one of the blue acid based toilet bowl cleaners. Works great and are very cost effective.
 
quote:
Originally posted by RWS

quote:
Originally posted by rbmitchell

Try Marykate's "On and Off". Thats a hydrochloric acid based product that seem to clean any thing off of anything including skin off of hands. Great stuff, be careful.

Click to expand...


===========================

Aquaholic, that stain (around here) is called "mangrove stain" or "mangrove mustache"

Had it a long time ago when I had my Maxum and Grady-White.

The ary Kate works great, but please do heed the gloves and eye protection here, that warning is meant to be heeded.

It will also put a nice WHITE stain on an aluminum lift or trailer.

Going to the XMAS parade(s) this year?

RWS

Click to expand...

Its not the stain its the ring from the barnacles. I will try the acid. I heard it may cause blisters so I am a little concerned about that. But damn my bottom was spotless.
We will be at the boat parade. Will you be there. Love to hook up. We are usually near the markewr by Harpoons. lat me know if you are going..
 
Used acid on hulls for years and never seen it cause blisters. I wouldn't worry about.
 
Never seen it cause blisters on boats, but it WILL hurt you - bad. If you don't use it for anything else, use protective equipment with it (
muriatic acid or On/Off).
 
Concentrated Hydrochloric acid is not all that good for the gel coat. A friend borrowed one of my boats, and let it in the water a bit too long. He used HCL on it--you cannot really tell on the white, but the gel coat stains more readily now. But on the dark green stripe, where the acid was on it, is badly discolored, and will not compound out. I would avoid the HCL.
 
Once you get it all clean, it would be a good idea to give it a heavy coat of wax and buff.
 
When your boat is on the dry that muratic acid is also good for cleaning the barnacles off the prop.

G
 
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