FAQ: Hints / Ideas from Sailors

Lots of Hints / Ideas from Sailors

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-Lifelines and Antenna look great covered with plastic shroud covers.

-Soft Scrub w/ Bleach - cleaning lifelines, cleaning inflatables

-Rub Rail:

• Acetone and a Scotch Brite pad to clean the vinyl insert of the rub rail. Plus 2 coats of penetrol to preserve it, also puts a nice shine on the rubber.

• I use the same rubbing compound, gel-coat restorer, etc., that I use on the boat. Cleans the rub rail great and is very easy to use. Then coat it with the same wax that you put on the boat. Looks great.

-Use Rubbing Alcohol to clean up minor diesel spills and to eliminate the smell.

-Lime-Away - Removes rust from fiberglass

-Vanish Toilet Bowl Cleaner - Cleans scummy bootstripes and hulls

-Future - Returns shine to old fiberglass non-skid areas

-Varnish/Paint Touchup - Fill empty nail polish bottle for easy touchup, anytime. The nail polish bottle idea is great. Rather than clean and old one, I buy new ones at a beauty parlor supply shop. I fill them using a small plastic syringe. For small touch ups, shaking the nail polish bottle beats opening a can of paint, mixing it, cleaning the mixer, cleaning a paint brush, and recovering the paint can.

-"Pledge" furniture polish - for clear vinyl windows as a preservative. The plain stuff not "Lemon Pledge"

-Engine Staring fluid (Either) to clean the butyl rubber sealant from window frames when you remove them.

-Wesley's whitewall cleaner is great for bird poo removal.

-TSP and a dollop of dishsoap detergent in a bucket of warm water cleans a deck better than anything else I've tried. I use this concoction a few times a season and for the normal deck scrubbing I use Soft Scrub.

-Axle grease on the prop to keep the Barnacles from sticking.

-Pressure wash before waxing or using future to see the true bright white color of your deck. (1000 psi) Also great on lifelines, fenders, stainless, shroud covers, and to remove old Armada finish. Watch the high PSI from a pressure washer. I watched a friend of mine who has a Westerly 26 go right through the dirt, through the paint, and through the gelcoat. Don't know what that machine was set for, but it's like using a belt sander. Keep it moving.

-I have found that Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom Cleaner works great on fiberglass surfaces and leaves a nice shine. It also works well on Life Lines and the vinyl trim on the dodger canvas. If you are going to try another bathroom cleaner be sure it is OK for use on fiberglass.

-Stubbing your toe on the midship cleat? Have you checked out the new Shaeffer stainless steel mid-ship cleat? It mounts on the outboard genoa track, is removable and adjustable and is finished beautifully. Not at all like the crappy black coated aluminum ones available at most chandleries. List price is around $60 discounted to around $40 or so and well worth it. The cleat is big with an open base that can be used as a fairlead for lines.

-Brush Cleaner - (not to be confused with turpentine or mineral spirits), removes exhaust stains from fiberglass/gel coat. Also cleans up uncured fiberglass resin and unhardened epoxy. Good for cleaning Vinyl and gelcoat stains. Great for removing adhesive left from labels and price stickers. Restores brushes, too. Removes wax prior to paint or epoxy jobs. Best of all it rinses away with water.

-Clean fenders with GOOF-OFF latex paint remover then coat with Armorall

-Keep a box of BAKING SODA (Sodium Bicarbonate) on board. A weak solution (a handful in a quart of water) will remove the smell of Vomit, Toilet smells ( human or pet) or any similar odors. Store Soda in a moisture proof container.

-Leftover silicone prevents paint from wetting a surface properly and therefore reduces adhesion and causes fish eyes (small paint free areas)

If you want to comment on one of the items, start a new thread and change the "subject" and post to the list. E-mail me a Hint / Idea and I will add it to the list.

Thanks
Capt Al ~~~~_/)~~~~~~~~~~~~(\_~~~~#55 C34 _/)
"Kindred Spirit"          http://kindred-spirit.net

NOTE: "WARNINGS"
The best advice is to use bleach for mildew, soaps and detergents for other cleaning, but don't mix them together! Remember, bleach is a very powerful chemical, capable of all kinds of reactions. For example, never, ever, ever mix bleach (contains a "hypochlorite") and "ammoniated" cleansers. Bleach plus ammonia yields free chlorine gas, a very nasty way to die.

Subj: Re: [C34] Hints / Ideas from Sailors "WARNINGS"
Mixing TSP and bleach is OK according to the directions.
OK, I confess, I am a chemist and I read directions.
I've watched the hint/ideas list from my fellow sailors with interest. I've seen some recommendations and I thought that I might try them. I've seen other recommendations and I thought that I would test those suggestions carefully before I would try them. Many of the recommendations on the list involve the use of chemicals. Diesel is a chemical mixture as is brush cleaner, Softscrub is a chemical mixture, Clorox is a chemical, wax is a chemical concoction, the dacron or kevlar in our sails are a product of chemistry, the boat's fiberglass structure is built of chemical entities, etc. In fact, we live in a chemical world. The compatibility of some of these chemicals with each other and our boats is sometimes in question. Chemistry questions are not always simple to answer.

What's the answer to these conundrums? READ THE DIRECTIONS for intended use. Presumably some testing and expertise (of chemists and others) has gone into the directions. As a chemist with some knowledge of some of these materials, I'm also smart enough to know that I don't know how each material will interact with another. That's why we have laboratories. Went I don't know how things will interact, I don't mix them in my home or on my boat. Sometimes you can get in touch with the maker of a product through an 800 number on the label and ask them about your desired use.

In the case of bleach and TSP (trisodium phosphate), the directions on my box of TSP that I purchased from Lowe's states clearly that to treat mildew mix the TSP with bleach and they give a recipe. I've been doing that to clean my house. It's in the directions. Doing anything that's not in the directions that involves household chemicals is something that you undertake at your own risk.

By the way, in spite of all this, please keep up the list of Hints/Ideas from Sailors. I enjoy it and find it useful. However, with household chemical products let's follow the directions.

Sorry if this sounds like a lecture, but I take my chemicals and chemistry seriously. They fund my Catalina 34. In addition, H20 keeps my boat floating and oxygen and nitrogen propels it forward (most of the time).
Art Bayer "Watermark", #491, ArtBayer@aol.com

Important: The opinions expressed here are those of the individual contributors to this page, and not those of the Catalina 34 National Association or Catalina Yachts, Inc. Additionally, this material has not been reviewed by Catalina Yachts, Inc. for technical accuracy. This page's maintainer cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information or the desirability of suggested modifications or upgrades. Please obtain assistance from a competent marine mechanic or boatyard prior to making any significant modifications to your vessel.