Here's a cheap product for cleaning your boat.

ProDave

Well-known member
Joined
5 Sep 2010
Messages
15,660
Location
Alness / Black Isle Northern Scottish Highlands.
Visit site
Like most at our club, when I lifted our boat last week, there's yellow staining around the hull just above the waterline.

It stubbornly resisted the pressure washer.

So I've been wondering what to clean it with.

This morning I was in Aldi (to buy something else) and noticed they have 1 litre bottles of "Caravan Cleaner" for £2.99 so I bought one.

It cleans the yellow staining off a treat and restores my hull back to nice shining white with no effort, just wipe it on with a soft cloth, rub a few times then rinse off with clean water. (painted GRP hull by the way)

So worth buying some if you have an Aldi near to you.

EDIT:

What's in it?

"Contains amongst other ingredients:
Amphoteric surfactants <5%
EDTA <5%
Perfume

www.mykal.co.uk"

Well at least it will make your bot smell nice then.

I can't identify from their website which product it is.

Anybody know what those ingredients are?
 
Last edited:

VicMallows

New member
Joined
25 Nov 2003
Messages
3,794
Location
Emsworth, Chichester Hbr, UK
Visit site
Why would you pay £2.99 for a litre of solution when that would buy enough oxalic acid crystals to last you the rest of your boating life?

Still a lot better than £10.99 or whatever in the chandler.


Vic
 
Last edited:

DanTribe

Well-known member
Joined
8 Jan 2002
Messages
5,467
Location
Essex
Visit site
Quote
"Well at least it will make your bot smell nice then."

I think it will need something stronger than that.:D
 

Bav32

Member
Joined
26 Dec 2009
Messages
201
Visit site
+ 1 for the Aldi caravan cleaner.
Used for a couple of years; great stuff.
Dilute for general cleaning and concentrated to bad stains.
And at a fraction of the price of other well known fibregalss cleaners
 

Elessar

Well-known member
Joined
10 Jul 2003
Messages
10,012
Location
River Hamble
Visit site
Oxalic acid, after several applications, may just start taking the gloss off paint, especially one pack.

My GRP guy, who is a whizz at matching colour and making bad things disappear, goes all a quiver when you mention Y10 or any oxalic acid based solution.

I always thought it was good, he sees it a a last resort, an only if you must type product. Not just on paint.
 

ProDave

Well-known member
Joined
5 Sep 2010
Messages
15,660
Location
Alness / Black Isle Northern Scottish Highlands.
Visit site
Well I cleaned my whole topsides today (previously I only tested it on a small area)

I used about 1/10th of the bottle, diluted about 5:1 and that was eneough to clean the whole boat.

Using it diluted rather than neat (as my initial test) just means you have to rub it on, wait a couple of minutes and rub it off, perhaps you need to rub a little harder than using it neat, but still an easy job.

When I finished, the leftover I diluted further and used to clean the front of my Caravan.

So that's boat and caravan cleaned for 30p Bargain.
 

ffiill

Active member
Joined
5 Sep 2007
Messages
3,283
Visit site
Jif/cif/tescos cream cleaner or even better 5 litres of non branded-works just as well as on your bath or sink!
 

GrumpyOldGit

Member
Joined
30 Oct 2011
Messages
777
Location
Brightlingsea, jewel of the East Coast
Visit site
Your Gelcoat guy uses Oxalic himself, the point is if YOU use it he will not get anywhere near as much polishig back work. The Oxalic acid cannot hurt Gelcoat, try pouring it on your fingers, leave it ten minutes and Hey Presto, clean, undamaged fingers. He is scaremongering to keep his work safe !!!
 
Top