Whats the sequence for cleaning the hull?

[peter2407]

Looking at various cleaning products but what is the order for chemical clean, cut, polish and whatever else? TIA.

 

[richardbrennan]

Depending on the state of the hull; initially wash it down and then there are three basic steps:

1 Compounding to remove light surface scratches and oxidation.
2 Polishing to bring out the shine and remove any swirl marks left by compounding.
3 Waxing to protect the surface particularly against UV light.

If you have particularly deep scratches you may need to sand these out, but this would come under restoration rather than cleaning, and if the hull is in reasonable condition you may not need to compound it.

Everyone will have their own favourite products; I have had good results with the 3M range.

 

[peter2407]

Thanks. Would I do the stained areas first with a gel based cleaner? Also, any views on using a regular car type polisher - fixed rather than variable speed at 3000 rpm?

 

[Marine Reflections]

Richard has the Compounding, polishing and waxing stages down perfectly.
Many prefer the 3M products on these stages, but using what you have or what you prefer is fine.


Just to add my 2p's worth

You wouldn't want to start compounding stages if the surfaces are contaminated with dirt / grit or if they still have a wax finish or old sealant still on the surface. These can be classed as 'contaminates'.

All contaminates need to be removed so you are actually working on the surface itself.

For example, water spots that have built up can't be removed by simple washing, they would need a descaler to remove them from the surface. Viakal, cola, vinegar etc are some of the more gentle descalers available.
Likewise, previous wax layers, grease, oil stains etc, could be removed with acetone. Either product would be useless for the other.

In most cases, It's important to clean the hull with a couple of different products to make sure you are getting all the contaminates.

Clean
Compound
Polish
Wax

Each stage could be broken down into several other stages depending on the surface.

 

[jac]

Interesting.

So what you are effectively saying is:
Wash with viakal
Wash with acetone
Compound
Polish
Wax.

I've previously used the off the shelf boat cleaning products from starbrite et al then compounded, polished and wax. Never had a brilliant finish but have put that down to lack of time, rather than anything else.

In your expert opinion, do those commercial cleaners do much or are we better off with two separate ones and will they remove the usual waterline crud that the commercial cleaners do seem to shift ???

 

[johnalison]

It depends on the state of the hull. The white part of my HR still has much of its original gloss, so my routine is to clean with a gelcoat cleaner and, if necessary, whiten with something like Y10, though I use Yachticon anti-gilb. I might then polish or go straight to waxing, followed by a wax sealant. The blue line now needs buffing first. I find this easier to do by hand.

 

[robmcg]

Just stand back, squint and tell yourself it looks shiny!

 

[richardbrennan]

I would bow to Marine Reflections professional view regarding the initial cleaning. As far as your queries are concerned; if you are talking about the oily stains along the waterline on white hulls, then by all means use Y10 or some other similar product or home brew to remove it. Polishers really need to be slower on fibreglass, I think 800-1200 rpm is about right. Get the lightest you can, I have a Rupes which weighs less than 2 kg, but they are expensive, Silverline also appear popular on the forum.

 

[Marine Reflections]

Interesting.

So what you are effectively saying is:
Wash with viakal
Wash with acetone
Compound
Polish
Wax.

I've previously used the off the shelf boat cleaning products from starbrite et al then compounded, polished and wax. Never had a brilliant finish but have put that down to lack of time, rather than anything else.

In your expert opinion, do those commercial cleaners do much or are we better off with two separate ones and will they remove the usual waterline crud that the commercial cleaners do seem to shift ???

Kind of, yes, but if you have no water spots then viakal etc would be pointless, a wipe rather than a wash with acetone to get down to the raw surface.

Off the shelf cleaners like Starbrite hull cleaner etc are good, they do a general clean, de-grease etc, but again they won't touch water spots as it is a different animal. It would be like using water to remove lipstick, where only a spirit will work, or using spirit on something that is water soluble.

Imagine a hull with rubber marks from a pontoon fender, but also with water spots from dried pontoon water and also green sludgy dirt from rubbing against a lock etc.

We could attack these with water, a spirit, a weak acid (say vinegar) and a cleaner solution.

If we were to use just one of the above, say water, then only the water soluble contaminates will break their grip.

The green sludgy dirt should be removed by the cleaner, but the rubber marks and the water spots will remain.
We could wipe the surfaces with acetone and this will rid the rubber bump marks and rubs, but will fail on the green sludge and the water spots.
The vinegar on its own would remove the water spots, but again would fail on the green and the rubber marks.

So you can see how a normal clean with solution in a bucket as a main agent for prepping falls short. It's not that it won't work as it will, but as the cleaning agents are specific, they work better on one thing rather than struggling it to success on another where it won't or will at least take more effort.

So on the above, - water to wash down all the big bits that are soluble, followed by water and a cleaner to remove more stubborn soluble, follow this with a water spot remover if you have water spots with something like vinegar, once all the above surface contaminates are off, you are then free to wipe with acetone.
Now it may seem like extra work, but with this approach (contaminate specific) you are actually saving yourself a bit of elbow grease as the cleaners are targeting just what they work best on.
Also, if the goal is to get completely down safely to the raw surface before correctional polishing, then it is what is required (for this example) to gain first class results.

Of course we could keep adding to the contaminate examples such as rust runs, overspray and even Crustaceans and again these have their own specific cleaners.

Sometimes you are better off just using a PH neutral cleaner in with the wash and this will deal with all, usually when the surface is in a first class condition, it is very specific to each circumstance.

Just trying to stress the importance of a raw, clean surface prior to polishing works, as it rewards at each further stage.

There are more effective products than those mentioned of course, they are used just as an example of different types working against different contaminates.