Bottom Cleaning

Sounder · **Posted:** Mon Apr 18, 2011 8:29 pm

After my first season with the boat in 09, I took the boat to the dealer to clean the bottom. After I went home $300 lighter, it looked good. This year, I didn't really want to spend the money. Per someone's suggestion here, I put it away with the dirty lines, thinking it may be easier to clean once it dried out. So, I got some Mary Kate on/off because I read about it here.

Well, further reading suggested that I first try toilet bowl cleaner. Yeah, right... but it's only $3 to give it a shot. The boat didn't have any real growth, just the ugly brown stain from sitting in the water all summer. I tried a little spot. Lo and behold, clean white gel! Today I did the whole bottom. Took about two hours. I put it on a sponge and rubbed around, let it sit a few mins, then wiped again with the sponge. Almost completely white. Then, as it sat with the blue goo on it while I did the rest, gradually it all became totally white! I can't believe how well it worked! I did the whole bottom in about two hours, not working too hard, and used about half of the bottle. Then, a good rinse, and the boat looks like new!

Thanks to this forum once again for great advice! I saved at least $250 this season alone! And, I'm going to return that bottle of Mary Kate's! All you guys are great! Although... the other ideas I got ended up costing money I wouldn't have spent without your crazy suggestions... like $200 spent on "mood lighting" with LEDs throughout.

I'm so inspired by the results, I might just go clean that toilet. Hey, what am I thinking? Time for a brew!

cabwizard · **Posted:** Mon Apr 18, 2011 10:24 pm

lol great story I use CLR works great too immaculate hull... Cheers on the brew

rem9607 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 7:40 pm

Sounder wrote:

After my first season with the boat in 09, I took the boat to the dealer to clean the bottom. After I went home $300 lighter, it looked good. This year, I didn't really want to spend the money. Per someone's suggestion here, I put it away with the dirty lines, thinking it may be easier to clean once it dried out. So, I got some Mary Kate on/off because I read about it here.

Well, further reading suggested that I first try toilet bowl cleaner. Yeah, right... but it's only $3 to give it a shot. The boat didn't have any real growth, just the ugly brown stain from sitting in the water all summer. I tried a little spot. Lo and behold, clean white gel! Today I did the whole bottom. Took about two hours. I put it on a sponge and rubbed around, let it sit a few mins, then wiped again with the sponge. Almost completely white. Then, as it sat with the blue goo on it while I did the rest, gradually it all became totally white! I can't believe how well it worked! I did the whole bottom in about two hours, not working too hard, and used about half of the bottle. Then, a good rinse, and the boat looks like new!

Thanks to this forum once again for great advice! I saved at least $250 this season alone! And, I'm going to return that bottle of Mary Kate's! All you guys are great! Although... the other ideas I got ended up costing money I wouldn't have spent without your crazy suggestions... like $200 spent on "mood lighting" with LEDs throughout.

I'm so inspired by the results, I might just go clean that toilet. Hey, what am I thinking? Time for a brew!

HELP

Im about to start leaving my boat in FRESH water about 8 months a year, taking it out monthly to spray the bottom down. Is it crazy to not paint the bottom for this kind of use? only real issue I worried about is blistering, everything else is just cosmetic and can be cleaned. Whats your thoughts?? I will go a couple months and take a look at the bottom and make a decision from there, I guess.

Winter Sux · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 7:49 pm

Keep it gel coat. Once a month cleaning will keep her nice. The slime still grows on bottom paint and maintaining it is a royal pain.

ric · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 8:33 pm

My boat lives on the dock. Every 2-3 months it gets a sponge of lysol toilet bowl cleaner. My lake is tannic from trees and it turns it from brown back perfect white within a few minutes. Wear gloves, it hurts!

blue, not green. Costs $3 and contains the same acid as the $15 hull cleaner from west marine.

rem9607 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:28 pm

Thanks guys!! yall ever check or get blisters on your boat bottom? Thats the issue Im worried about. I know the rate of blisters usually goes with quality of manufacturer, but a couple months with no bottom paint can bring them on. You have any truth to this? Im going of word of mouth.

ric · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:43 pm

Bottom paint doesn't stop blisters. Only an epoxy based barrier coat will.

rem9607 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 12, 2014 9:58 pm

ric wrote:

Bottom paint doesn't stop blisters. Only an epoxy based barrier coat will.

good to know, you have any issues with blisters? I know its a big issues for marine surveys when trying to sell your boat. looked at boats with except able amounts of blistering and others with rashes of blisters.

ric · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 12:17 am

No boat will be blister free unless it sits in storage it's whole life or barrier coated/bottom painted from the factory.

JeffLW · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 12:05 pm

My boat sat in the water 6+ months a year for 8 years before I bought it. No epoxy just ablative paint. Surveyer found no blisters in the hull.

I like the bottom paint. Alot less work than hauling and cleaning every month or two.

ric · **Posted:** Mon Jan 13, 2014 12:30 pm

JeffLW wrote:

My boat sat in the water 6+ months a year for 8 years before I bought it. No epoxy just ablative paint. Surveyer found no blisters in the hull.

I like the bottom paint. Alot less work than hauling and cleaning every month or two.

Depends on if was built by someone who hated their job or loved their job also. My neighbor purchased a Regal deck boat and within 3 months of sitting in my lake it had more blisters than a teenagers face. It's now repaired, coated, and bottom painted.

My goal for this summer since I leave mine in 24x7x365 is bottom painting with VC performance Epoxy. It's white, waterproof to protect against blistering, and can be polished to a gloss. Provides no anti-fouling which I don't need, just protects the hull from blisters.

Mark T · **Posted:** Sun Feb 23, 2014 12:37 pm

ric wrote:

My boat lives on the dock. Every 2-3 months it gets a sponge of lysol toilet bowl cleaner. My lake is tannic from trees and it turns it from brown back perfect white within a few minutes. Wear gloves, it hurts!

blue, not green. Costs $3 and contains the same acid as the $15 hull cleaner from west marine.

I use The Works toilet bowl cleaner Sams Club or Menards for $ 1.50 quart, and put into a pump sprayer, just don't do on a windy day!!
Depending on grime, my boat ( sundowner 235 ) takes 2-3 quarts to clean.
Careful if doing on your concrete drive, pre wet it, or you will have an acid etched boat shadow when done. Mine took 2 years to go away...

JeffLW · **Posted:** Sun Feb 23, 2014 3:13 pm

Does the toilet cleaner do anything to the paint or carpet on your trailer?
I want to try this on my water line just above the bottom paint. I get some staining there that is a PITA to clean at the end of the season.

Alan_G_298Vista · **Posted:** Sun Feb 23, 2014 6:32 pm

JeffLW wrote:

My boat sat in the water 6+ months a year for 8 years before I bought it. No epoxy just ablative paint. Surveyer found no blisters in the hull.

I like the bottom paint. Alot less work than hauling and cleaning every month or two.

Our original 248 was slipped for 6 years, May to October without bottom paint, and never had any blistering. At the end of every season we would get it acid washed to remove the discoloration below the water line.

On our 298, we slip it the same as our previous 248, but it's bottom painted with antifoul paint. Like Jeff, I do like it much better because it doesn't hold any algae so always looks good. We had the bottom paint redone right when we got it 3 years ago, and we plan to do it again this year so I feel it lasts quite well, not much of a hassle at all.

RaveOn · **Posted:** Fri Feb 28, 2014 4:37 am

Try Natural marine easy on bottom wax. This product doesn't clean the hull but u apply it once it's clean to help reduce the water staining.

www.iFourWinns.com

Bottom Cleaning

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