Spirits of salt, excellent for barnacle/worm residue

MissFitz

MissFitz

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If anyone is looking to get barnacle/worm residue off anything, can highly recommend spirits of salt. Did a fantastic job of getting fairly extensive residue off my gel coat & also my varnished rudder - & only £3.50 from Robert Dyas. Need to avoid breathing in strong fumes & getting on clothes (my green T-shirt is now green with red spots) but otherwise top stuff.
 
Also available as 'brick cleaner'. I find white vinegar effective as well as being cheaper and safer. And you can put it on your chips at the end of the day.
 
MissFitz said:
If anyone is looking to get barnacle/worm residue off anything, can highly recommend spirits of salt. Did a fantastic job of getting fairly extensive residue off my gel coat & also my varnished rudder - & only £3.50 from Robert Dyas. Need to avoid breathing in strong fumes & getting on clothes (my green T-shirt is now green with red spots) but otherwise top stuff.
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I tried it on my hull a couple of years ago for exactly the same reason .... to remove worm casts and barnacle "foot". It did remove the calcium but my hull is coppercoated and as the acid ran off down the hull I noticed that the liquid was bright green. I decided that I seemed to be removing my expensive coppercoat as well as the casts so I stopped that pronto. :ambivalence:

Richard
 
Spirits of salts is very potent . I used it once and found the chemical reaction very aggressive.

For limescale I use Harpic which is far less potent but softens the limescale so it can be scrubbed off and rinsed with plenty of water.
Harpic Power Plus Original 750ml

Best not to leave the product on any longer then necessary. Cant speak for barnacles as I have not had any on the boat.

Harpic in action recently
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MartynG said:
Spirits of salts is very potent . I used it once and found the chemical reaction very aggressive.

For limescale I use Harpic which is far less potent but softens the limescale so it can be scrubbed off and rinsed with plenty of water.
Harpic Power Plus Original 750ml
Click to expand...

The active ingredient in Harpic Power Plus Original is hydrochloric acid, it's just a more expensive way of buying it...
 
MartynG said:
Spirits of salts is very potent . I used it once and found the chemical reaction very aggressive.

For limescale I use Harpic which is far less potent but softens the limescale so it can be scrubbed off and rinsed with plenty of water.
Harpic Power Plus Original 750ml

Best not to leave the product on any longer then necessary. Cant speak for barnacles as I have not had any on the boat.
Click to expand...

pvb said:
The active ingredient in Harpic Power Plus Original is hydrochloric acid, it's just a more expensive way of buying it...
Click to expand...

Harpic Power Plus now contains 5 - 10 % HCl although in the past it may have contained formic acid as the main ingredient

Reckitt Benckiser Product Information Website
 
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Re MartynG photo of 2 stern drive legs. I note both with counter rotating props. As a sail boat sailor I can't not comment that that must be one heck of a petrol guzzler (if it is petrol Vee 8 engines) and certainly high performance.
Interesting I had a friend who had just one of thse volvo penta stern drive vee 8 engines. A local boat builder did a deal to remove the engine and replace with a modern fuel injected outboard of similar claimed horsepower on a extension engine mount. The result was more speed quieter and less fuel consumption. With also the advantage that the engine could be tilted out of the water when moored. But just to avert criticism re fred drift yes brick cleaner is great but be careful. ol'will
 
pvb said:
The active ingredient in Harpic Power Plus Original is hydrochloric acid, it's just a more expensive way of buying it...
Click to expand...
I used a bottle and a half of Harpic . At £1 per litre bottle its hardly expensive ....... and readily available as B&M is on my route to work.



William_H said:
Re MartynG photo of 2 stern drive legs. I note both with counter rotating props. As a sail boat sailor I can't not comment that that must be one heck of a petrol guzzler (if it is petrol Vee 8 engines) and certainly high performance.
Interesting I had a friend who had just one of thse volvo penta stern drive vee 8 engines. A local boat builder did a deal to remove the engine and replace with a modern fuel injected outboard of similar claimed horsepower on a extension engine mount. The result was more speed quieter and less fuel consumption. With also the advantage that the engine could be tilted out of the water when moored. But just to avert criticism re fred drift yes brick cleaner is great but be careful. ol'will
Click to expand...
The engines are kad32 diesels.
 
VicS said:
Harpic Power Plus now contains 5 - 10 % HCl although in the past it may have contained formic acid as the main ingredient.
Click to expand...

The hydrochloric acid widely sold throughout Europe at supermarkets or hardware shops (country dependent) is around the same strength.

Note that it says 20% on the bottle but this is the dilution rate from concentrated HCl solution. Actual concentration is around 6%.
 
MartynG said:
Spirits of salts is very potent . I used it once and found the chemical reaction very aggressive.

For limescale I use Harpic which is far less potent but softens the limescale so it can be scrubbed off and rinsed with plenty of water.
Harpic Power Plus Original 750ml

Best not to leave the product on any longer then necessary. Cant speak for barnacles as I have not had any on the boat.

Harpic in action recently
[/url
Click to expand...
Very impressive!
 
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