How to clean my fenders?

'Astonish Cleaning Paste', just give them a quick wash first to remove any oily residues or obvious stains, then rub in the paste in and wash off. It appears to get into all the small nicks clean out the crud.
 
Start with detergent and water. Next step is to try oxalic acid then if needed try methylated spirits then petrol or even acetone or similar for grease. Acetone might soften the material so don't leave it on too long. olewill
 
Plus1 for Astonish which is cheap in a pound store and has many uses on board. Atlternative buy fender cleaner or cage a few samples to try out. some seem to just buy fender socks though which might be only solution maybe?
 
Anything abrasive, like magic sponges or Barkeeper's Friend will leave a rough surface that will rapidly attract dirt again, unless you polish it after cleaning.

After the black rubber pontoon edges at A Coruña marina left our fenders pretty much black, we just gave up and sail with dirty fenders. Hopefully the slight hobo look discourages potential thieves and they go for one of the shinier boats (with fender socks!) instead ;-)
 
Yngmar said:
Anything abrasive, like magic sponges or Barkeeper's Friend will leave a rough surface that will rapidly attract dirt again, unless you polish it after cleaning.
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Bar keepers friend power cream doesn't seem abrasive. I use it on any stains on GRP and leave it to do its work .
Its active ingredient is oxalic acid .
Bar keepers friend power spray is good stuff too - really good at dissolving/softening limescale.
 
Many years ago we were obliged to raft to a scruffy old boat in St Malo. His fenders were filthy, so, before leaving we inscribed a message on them in indelible ink, something on the lines of 'these fenders are disgusting'.
 
johnalison said:
Many years ago we were obliged to raft to a scruffy old boat in St Malo. His fenders were filthy, so, before leaving we inscribed a message on them in indelible ink, something on the lines of 'these fenders are disgusting'.
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I'm guessing he had a good laugh.

If they were a serious problem, why didn't you flip them up and use your own? It would have been simple to explain your actions, if asked. Seriously, if they are rubbing dirt on the boat or wearing the gelcoat they need cleaning. I was just funning.

I've found that anything and aicd cleaner, like CLR, won't take off, won't come off on the boat. If it is goo from the plastic aging, they are done for.
 
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Dissolve a dishwasher tablet in a bucket of hot water and sponge them carefully. Use good gloves and goggles and beware of splashes as it's pretty heavy duty.
Jim
 
When I got my new boat last summer the fenders were dreadful. I was going to bin them. Anyway needs must and I simply sprayed some Kitchen spray bleach on them and wiped them vigorously (a couple of mins each). they came up like new. They have stayed bright and clean.

Steveeasy
 
I don’t really want to use anything abrasive. We have a lot of black mud here, so the smoother the surface the better. Otherwise it just gets in to the scratches.....
I’ve had grubby fenders for ages but will be repainting in the next few weeks so I’d like to try to keep things clean, at least for a while

Thanks for all the tips.

Graham
 
Wash with upvc window-frame cleaner and then turn the fenders upside down (undersides won’t be nearly as uv damaged as the tops).
 
T-cut works very well on typical plastic fenders and doesn’t leave any appreciably rough surface. Certainly our t-cut white fenders haven’t dirtied again any faster than any other. Rub with t-cut then wipe down with a soapy sponge as you probably don’t want the t cut on your gelcoat.
 
gdallas said:
I don’t really want to use anything abrasive. We have a lot of black mud here, so the smoother the surface the better. Otherwise it just gets in to the scratches.....
I’ve had grubby fenders for ages but will be repainting in the next few weeks so I’d like to try to keep things clean, at least for a while

Thanks for all the tips.

Graham
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The bleach idea sounds like the best tip to me. I have used neat bleach on old formica and it came up like new.
 
It is a bit abrasive but Pink Stuff cleans most things brilliantly.

https://www.homecareessentials.co.uk/products/stardrops-the-pink-stuff-500ml/stx516060

Supper market own brand cream cleaner is less abrasive and works well.

Not very well known, not advertised in the media and so very cheap. Sugar soap works well too.

I'm quite sceptical of expensive cleaning products and often find the cheap household stuff works really well. On dirty engine parts I use oven cleaner. After all they are just lumps of metal which have had oil, grease and cack backed onto them, just like an oven. Use with care on alloy though.
 
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