GRP Cleaner- Brilliant

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ditchcrawler

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I have tried the usual products(Y10 etc) to remove the yellow stains etc from the hull but yesterday I used Ensearch GRP cleaner.It is really good.Garth Cooper of the opposition mag used it on an old dinghy that I saw at an East Coast 50 event .I bought some from the chandlers here at Suffolk Yacht Harbour and yesterday I brushed it on the hull by the waterline, left it fifteen minutes and hosed it off Result-brilliant white GRP.It was so good that the rest of the hull above it looked yellow so I increased the area and did about 3 feet up from the waterline.My hull was badly yellowed at the waterline which happened when in Holland this summer.I know about oxalic acid but do not want to get involved in mixing and paste etc.It is not cheap at £21.95 a bottle but it really does the job.It was reviewed in Sept PBO.www.ensearch.co.uk
 
2 tablespoons of oxalic acid in 1 pint of water done the whole of my 20ft speedboat over a couple of days taking my time but as soon as you brushed it on removed yellowing as soon as applied.done a couple of meters at a time and rinsed regularly.repolished one side at a time and that included the whole hull under too.500g of acid on ebay for £2.50 and will probably last me the next 10 years.now thats what i call good value.removed a couple of rust spots too that normal polishing wouldn't.
used aquabuff 2000 which is waterbased on a polishing mop to cut any fine marks out spraying water mist out of a mister muscle style container and then polished with autoglymm.absolutly perfect results.
 
ditchcrawler said:
I have tried the usual products(Y10 etc) to remove the yellow stains etc from the hull
Click to expand...

You obviously have not tried Harpic (toilet cleaner)!
Can be had for £1 a bottle, which is considerably cheaper than anything from a swindlery.

Wipe it on neat (rubbing hard is unnecessary), leave for 10 mins, then wipe off with damp cloth.
 
dingdongs said:
2 tablespoons of oxalic acid in 1 pint of water done the whole of my 20ft speedboat over a couple of days taking my time but as soon as you brushed it on removed yellowing as soon as applied.done a couple of meters at a time and rinsed regularly.repolished one side at a time and that included the whole hull under too.500g of acid on ebay for £2.50 and will probably last me the next 10 years.now thats what i call good value.removed a couple of rust spots too that normal polishing wouldn't.
used aquabuff 2000 which is waterbased on a polishing mop to cut any fine marks out spraying water mist out of a mister muscle style container and then polished with autoglymm.absolutly perfect results.
Click to expand...

The cleaning process above probably cost less than 5 pence and as said "will probably last about ten years" why should someone spend over £20 for the same results when stated that they understand about oxalic but can't be bothered to mix it?

One other point after looking at the ensearch site, only pointing it out because it's wrong and scare tactics annoy me.
Under the tab; all over boat cleaner ...there is an article with the heading "An end to abrasive cleaning damage"
within the text there is this line:
The gelcoat forms the outer skin of the fibreglass. It also gives the fibreglass its attractive smooth, shiny finish. This gelcoat, though, is only a few microns thick – in fact the thickness of the gelcoat tends to vary depending on the quality of manufacture
For a start there are 1000 microns in a mm are these experts seriously suggesting the average fibreglass gelcoat is a few microns thick? thinner than a human hair? erm.. :confused:
Dingdongs... what you have done is perfect, took your time, correctly cleaned the surface, corrected the profile with polishing and applied a protective finish.
In your methods you would have removed a few microns in re-levelling the surface profile, so are you down to the fibreglass now and as suggested
"faced with having to paint your boat to keep it looking respectable"?

They probably have a good product, if you dont mind spending the extra so you dont mix anything, just wish the scare tactics were not there.


Apologies for a mini-rant I will crawl back in my cave..
 
B&Q Patio Cleaner has a slightly weaker composition to an Aussie gel-coat cleaner that is in gel form. B&Q liquid is 8% hydrochloric acid and the Aussie gel is 10%.

I use it neat (8%), applying it with a long handled soft bristle broom, leave for 10 minutes and then hose off with fresh water. All stains gone.

I also apply it to the wood rubbing strake to remove algae, and clean the wood. Brush on, leave for 10 mins. and hose off.

To polish the hull afterwards, I use either a cheap car polish (usually Lidl's special) or Mer.
 
philip_stevens said:
B&Q Patio Cleaner has a slightly weaker composition to an Aussie gel-coat cleaner that is in gel form. B&Q liquid is 8% hydrochloric acid and the Aussie gel is 10%.

I use it neat (8%), applying it with a long handled soft bristle broom, leave for 10 minutes and then hose off with fresh water. All stains gone.

I also apply it to the wood rubbing strake to remove algae, and clean the wood. Brush on, leave for 10 mins. and hose off.

To polish the hull afterwards, I use either a cheap car polish (usually Lidl's special) or Mer.
Click to expand...

their brick cleaner is sulphuric, and works well too, good on 'scale' on props as well........... I tend to use TFR for algae, and haven't used any acid products on the wooden bits at all - each to their own.
 
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