Best way to clean hypalon (Tinker)

[lyralicious]

We bought an ancient Tinker Traveller for peanuts at a recent boat jumble and I am starting the renovation project...

The hypalon skin was originally yellow but has gone a grungy grey colour; it also has lots of stains. I have noticed that the yellow comes through if I use an abrasive on it (an accidental discovery during my sanding of all the wooden areas)!

Can I get the colour back using a light abrasive without damaging it? If not, then what is the best method of cleaning it?

Cheers

 

[Csail]

Do a search on here, this question came up a few days ago. Can't remember what the best solution was though.

 

[jerryat]

Well I certainly wouldn't abrade it, as all you would be doing is reducing the effective thickness of the material and, with old dinghy, very likely increasing potential porosity in the material.

I'd leave it well alone (except for a good wash off with something like CIF) and enjoy it for what it is - 'an ancient Tinker Traveller for peanuts!' /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[lyralicious]

I've tried a search, using every combination of words, but have come up with nothing relevant so far... I'm obviously doing something wrong /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif... does anyone have a link to that recent thread?

 

[FWB]

Try these people

 

[sarabande]

ask the Tinker Owners Association.

http://www.tinkerowners.co.uk/

 

[VicS]

As Dylan says one of the inflatable boat cleaning products from Polymarine

 

[roam]

we sent our dull yellow tinker rib to PAM in marmaris - the dinghy and liferaft people.
it needed an internal leak and one of the valves repaired. what we had not anticipated was that they would clean it as well.

i've no idea what they used but you now need sun glasses to look at it!

if i see Zafer, i'll see if he'll divulge the secret.

 

[Bajansailor]

Leave it grungy - less chance then of someone 'tiefing' (as we say in the West Indies) or nicking it.
Tinkers used to be (still are?) very desirable tings to tief out this way, and I know of a few that went walkies.

 

[demonboy]

I think Queenie is being a bit fick cos as csail suggest this has already been discussed. And guess who started the last thread? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Jerrycat - you say don't abrade it, which is furry muff, but you then go on to suggest using Cif. Surely Cif is an abrasive?

 

[spark]

S1-Extra manufactured by Kemilux and used for cleaning bilges, galleys, etc. on fishing boats.
Brought my tubes back from grungy to bright yellow with very little effort.

I used it slightly diluted with a green scratchie (nylon pan scourer) and worked over a small area at a time, washing off with a hose very frequently to avoid any damage to the tubes.

It's so good at dissolving dirt I fear it might dissolve the hypalon if you left it too long. You don't need to rub very hard with the scratchie.

Comes in a 10 litre container and you'll only need half a litre or so for your Tinker but it's good for cleaning lots of other things.

 

[lyralicious]

Sounds good, but can you buy it in Turkey?!

 

[properjob]

As others have said Polymarine cleaner is very good. I used about half a spray top 500ml plastic bottle to make my old Tinker Tramp look like new.
It really is very good and a 500ml plastic bottle is only £7.65.

 

[lyralicious]

I'm gonna have to find this Polymarine cleaner somewhere in Fethiye... wish me luck!

 

[jerryat]

>> Jerrycat - you say don't abrade it, which is furry muff, but you then go on to suggest using Cif. Surely Cif is an abrasive? <<


Hi DB,

There are at least two sorts of CIF (SWMBO has both in the cupboard!) one being the well known relatively 'harsh' abrasive type, the other is a sort of creamy stuff which, so far as I can tell, is almost completely non-abrasive. It certainly feela like it anyway!

There well be more variants, but I'd use the 'soft' version which will hopefully remove the stains mentioned without damaging the Hypalon fabric. I use the 'soft' stuff on my Avon to remove oil marks and the like, and it's excellent.

I must admit when I read the OP was thinking abrading it, that he might have in mind scouring pads, Scotchbrite pads or worse, hence my comment!

 

[demonboy]

OK, I got ya.

 

[lyralicious]

Thanks to all for their input. In case anyone's interested I had this from the horse's mouth today (MD Henshaw Inflatables, makers of Tinkers and lots of other inflatable products):

"As far as cleaning the original Yellow Hypalon is concerned, the best thing to use is a kitchen sponge/scourer (well worn) and CIF with obviously a lot of elbow grease. You will find that with a lot of scrubbing the colour should be restored somewhat. Alternatively a good scrub down with Bostik Thinners if you are able to procure some locally would also be very effective."

I'm glad he said that because Cif + gentle scourer is exactly what I've used and the colour has shone through beautifully!