Removing hull's yellow stains, plus polish and wax

[Juan]

Hi guys,

my boat has some yellow stains across various sections of the hull. Do you have any suggestions of a product to remove these stains?

I would like to polish and wax the hull, but it seems that I need something different first to remove these stains. Also what kind of polish and wax do you normally use?

Thanks,

Juan

[Kevin Henderson]

Hi Juan,

Some people may give me a hard time on this suggestions but I have to tell you, I have become a real fan of of using Mr. Clean magic eraser.  I'm not certain about your specific stains or scuffs but in general for scuff removal they clean up most anything. 
Now the down side...   when you use the magix eraser, it also does a great job of removing the wax from the area cleaned.  However if you follow with a bit of wax it works great. 

As for wax.  I personally like using the 3M marine products.  The 3M one step has a cleaner that helps to remove some light oxidation.  But you can also use the liquid wax as well. 
Hope that helps.   

[mregan]

If the yellow stains are rust/tannin.  MaryKate On/Off works really well.  I use the gel.  Wipe on with a brush, wait a little while then hose off.

[Mike and Joanne Stimmler]

mregan.... does the gel work on metal? I seem to remember a thread discussion about cleaning turnbuckles with a gel, possobly Stu. If anyone remembers the name of the product used for cleaning turnbuckles, I'd appreciate the info.

As for cleaning stains on fiberglass, you need to be stingy with abrasive polishes and compounds because they leave micro-scratches in the surface of the fiberglass which then is more prone to stain and collect dirt and eventually dulls the gelcoat. If you have to use abrasives, make sure you finish with a good coat of a quality wax to protect the finish. My 2 cents.

Mike

[Ron Hill]

Juan : Don't use any product that is abrasive or you could do irreparable damage to your gelcoat.

I always use FSR (Fiberglass Stain Remover) - look in West Marine or Defender.  It is a gel and contains Oxalic acid.  Does a great job and can be applied with a sponge. 

Then you'll have to fill the pores with a wax.  I like 3M cleaner wax, 3M Liquid or a paste wax. 

A few thoughts 

[waterdog]

My dock neighbour suggested Lysol Toilet Bowl cleaner.  Apply out of the squeeze bottle, brush to cover, rinse.  Very fast and effective.  A fraction of the cost of anything "marine".

[mainesail]

Oxalic is always cheap and works well but I prefer to use a gel to try work hard to keep the acid off the anti-fouling bottom paint. Acids will eat the copper right out of the bottom paint if not used carefully. This could potentially make the one or two inches above the waterline basically useless at repelling growth, if you cleaned your boat in-water then loaded it for cruising. If you do it out of the water, without a drip skirt, you could ruin a lot more of the paint.

The hull of our boat is always waxed and I really don't get to much if any tannin staining. A good coat of wax can go a long way to minimizing these brown stains. I did however leave my inflatable in the water for a few weeks and got enough staining to illustrate the process.

This is easy and is safe for gelcoated hulls. While I have used acids on LPU paints I don't suggest it unless you are really, really, really careful.

To clean waterline stains I use MaryKate On & Off Gel. This is a massive improvement over the regular non-gel On & Off or basic Oxalic. It's also a lot cheaper and stronger than Davis FSR stain remover but works similarly. There are a lot of products out there that contain acid and will work but the On & Off Gel is one of my favorites. It also has much less "acid" odor than the regular On & Off. This is a great step to do before waxing a boat and it will whiten up most any old tannin/rust stained gelcoated hull.

Always wear rubber gloves, this stuff is acid, and use cheap chip brushes to apply. This whole process on my inflatable takes less than 10 minutes and requires no rubbing and NO ABRASIVES!!!! .

Simply apply with the chip brush and watch it eat away the stains. Regular oxaic acid, or oxalic acid crystals mixed with hot water will work too, and is cheaper, but, it is thinner and can drip and run and can eat the copper out of bottom paint. The gel stays put for the most part with considerably less dripping.

Before:

The Products:

During:

All Finished:

[Kevin Henderson]

Juan,

Everytime I read something like this thread when Ron or some of the wise sages chime in I feel completely stupid.  
Ron's recomendation of the FSR is a GREAT idea and one I will use from now on. 
I was wrong about the magic eraser.

At least I got the 3M wax right..

[Stu Jackson]

1.  Do NOT use On & Off UNLESS it is the GEL recommended by Maine Sail.  The liquid On & Off is plain NASTY.  It "ate" part of my transom boat name and did a number on a T shirt I'd bought in New Zealand - one of a lifetime kinda trips, too, what the hell I was doing wearing it while doing boat work is beyond me.

2.  We call those yellow spots "mustaches", 'cuz they usually end up on the bow of the boats that are actually USED!  

3.  I agree with Ron Hill.  FSR has been great to us for the past 15 years.  One should "always" wax after using these products, but I rarely do.  I've found it's easier to FSR every few months than wax with the boat in the water.  Someday...   To apply easily, we bought an extender pole at ACE Hardware with a broom stick holder and use an automotive windshield squeegee, just coat the foam side of the squeegee with the FSR and wipe the hull.  No need to rub, it does its job as you watch.  Do a search on mustache or moustache; my spelling ain;t what it used to be.

[Bobg]

I had a 22 chrysler, boat was really yellow, tried a lot of stuff, then found a product at our local marine store called "Zing", I had the boat cleaned in minutes.  Wear Gloves

[patrice]

Hi,
As mentioned, Oxalic is the best for the moustache, yellow stain.
You can sometime find it a your local drug store.  Ask for Acid Oxalic.
You just have to dillute in bucket of water and use.

BUT keep in mind, this is ACID, so wear long sleeve shirt, (old one ;-) ) and glove is a must, but do not forget to wear protective glass.  This is someting people often forget to wear.

[Roland Gendreau]

Regarding what to use for polish and wax -  this year I switched from 3m high performance wax (which looks good and lasts) to Collinite.  I applied Collinite fiberglass cleaner with a foam polisher and wiped it off easily by hand. Then I applied Collinite Fleet wax by hand, and took it off by hand.  I did both applications of the entire boat (except the cabin top) in about 3 hours  The gel coat gloss looks very very good and folks tells me the fleet wax is long lasting.

https://plus.google.com/photos/107250199536982760194/albums/5872668567592310305?authkey=CPikksuysM7GHw

[Footloose]

Wax is like anchors; a lot of opinions and everyone thinks theirs is the best.  FWIW I use Nu Finish.  Goes on easy and seems to last our short season.  I took the cover off Sunday and it still looks good.