Removing baked-in seagull poo

[Bobc]

Arrived at the boat to find it, shall we say, painted. It's been sat like it in the hot sun for a few weeks so even after cleaning it all off, I have orange/pink stains in the gelcoat and some very solid light brown residue that is set like concrete.

Any advice on how to get this lot off please.

Ta

 

[sailorman]

perhaps a bleach solution or teak cleaner

 

[Skipper_Christoph]

Stains can be removed with oxalic acid. Cheap as chips if bought in form of crystals from ebay or the like. Advice can be found in many threads in this forum

 

[tjbrace]

Cillit Bang cleared the bird poo stains on our boat.

 

[johnalison]

We get a lot of seagull/pigeon/starling guano. My method is to wet it and leave it five minutes, when most of it will come off. Repeat the process using a stiff brush on the fibreglass but not the teak. Often this will leave a yellow stain which is hard to remove. If you just leave it a few days in the sun it will disappear. I prefer not to use cleaners for this regular task as I don't want to clean the wax polish off the bits I have done.

 

[VicS]

Cillit Bang cleared the bird poo stains on our boat.

But which ?
It's a brand name
There are many products in the Cililt Bang range

 

[Fantasie 19]

But which ?
It's a brand name
There are many products in the Cililt Bang range

View attachment 99307

The Limescale ones seem to have Oxalic in so they would be my choice....

 

[VicS]

The Limescale ones seem to have Oxalic in so they would be my choice....

Why would you specifically choose a cleaner containing oxalic acid rather than another organic acid or sulfamic acid , phosphoric acid or even hydrochloric acid.

Is an acid based cleaner the best choice anyway? ..... What's the chemical composition of seagull droppings ?

 

[richardbrennan]

I have found that Milton or similar home brand products are effective in removing the residual stains.

 

[matt1]

Force 4 Bird Muck Remover | Force 4 Chandlery

Worked for me

 

[Never Grumble]

funnily enough I had some orange stains which I think were bird poo and I scrubbed and scrubbed they didn't come off. next time I went to the boat they weren't there ... most bizarre. perhaps the white deck was bleached by the sun?

 

[johnalison]

funnily enough I had some orange stains which I think were bird poo and I scrubbed and scrubbed they didn't come off. next time I went to the boat they weren't there ... most bizarre. perhaps the white deck was bleached by the sun?

Like wot I said.

 

[Never Grumble]

Like wot I said.

yep exactly

 

[tjbrace]

But which ?
It's a brand name
There are many products in the Cililt Bang range

View attachment 99307

I will check the package when next aboard. I’m sure it contained bleach as my navy blue shorts now have pink patches?

 

[Bobc]

Ok folks, thanks for the comments and suggestions. Here is some feedback:-

Tried Oxalic acid (quite a strong mix) - nada.
Tried a solvent cleaner - nada
Tried Cilit Bang limescale remover - nada
Tried Viakal - nada

What worked in the end, was putting boiling water on it, leaving it 5 mins, then scrubbing with a stiff scrubbing brush and Cif cream cleaner.

 

[xyachtdave]

..... What's the chemical composition of seagull droppings ?

It's made from stolen fish and chips and if they're lucky the occasional ice-cream.