Bleach Water Solution For Cleaning Topsides Good or Bad....??????

[thesaintlyone]

Seen a couple of vids on youtube recently for bringing back the white than white to the top of boats using a bleach with water solution which seemed to clean quite well!!!!

Is this a good idea or not does the bleach affect the boat surfaces to any extent later on down the line have used Cillit Bang limescale and shine to great effect cleaning up dirty hulls so just wondering if this is a good idea

Regards

 

[VicS]

Seen a couple of vids on youtube recently for bringing back the white than white to the top of boats using a bleach with water solution which seemed to clean quite well!!!!

Is this a good idea or not does the bleach affect the boat surfaces to any extent later on down the line have used Cillit Bang limescale and shine to great effect cleaning up dirty hulls so just wondering if this is a good idea

Regards

An acid cleaner like CB L&S is good for removing acid soluble deposits and krap absorbed into them. I suspect waterline brown stain is organic matter, such a decayed vegetable matter, absorbed into a carbonate deposit

Bleach is good for bleaching anything bleachable and for killing anything living such as algae. A rinse with diluted bleach will kill algae, although the green colouration may not go immediately.
It wont affect the GRP

If you mix CB Lime and Shine with household bleach you may well gas yourself with chlorine.

 

[thesaintlyone]

Thanks for clarifying that it wont harm GRP!!! is it better to just use bleach on its own or add some water (definately wont be mixing it with CB)

Regards

 

[rob2]

Bleach will give immediate effect of removing the discolouration, but it doesn't remove the deposits which will become stained again quite quickly. An acidic cleaner usually removes the deposits (eventually) so although the finish may not be as white as the bleached effect it will stay clean much longer. There are, however some organic deposits which being acid based themselves will not respond. If you come across these, I'm told that oven cleaner should shift them.

Rob.

 

[VicS]

Thanks for clarifying that it wont harm GRP!!! is it better to just use bleach on its own or add some water (definately wont be mixing it with CB)

Regards

Other than for any very stubborn staining I'd dilute it somewhat. 5 times at least but 10 or even 20X if its effective.

 

[pvb]

Bleach will give immediate effect of removing the discolouration, but it doesn't remove the deposits which will become stained again quite quickly.

This is an important point. I can't see that simply bleaching will achieve much long-term. A better result will be obtained by using oxalic acid on discolouration, then compounding (if required), polishing and waxing.