Mr Clean Magic Erasers are great for the upholstery. Once done, treat it with a proper vinyl protectorant.

Re: need to get all of the brown stuff off
 

A product called Slimy Grimy is the best stuff I have used, by far. Buy it in the powder form and mix it up with hot water in a garden sprayer. I find that very little scrubbing is necessary.

Re: need to get all of the brown stuff off
 

I use a product called Iron Out which is diluted with water and appliued with a sprayer. Let it set for awhile and then use some elbow grease or a power washer spray.

Re: need to get all of the brown stuff off
 

I've heard muriatic acid works to clean hulls from other sources too. My question is, is it safe for the environment? Maybe it's best left to the professionals if not. If that's the case, I will have the dealership do it .

Thanks :)

Re: need to get all of the brown stuff off
 

Re: need to get all of the brown stuff off
 

Muratic acid is what my marina, and I suspect most marinas use.
It works well, but the trick is to dealing with it is to take the boat and clean it ASAP after the acid bath to get the extra stuff off.
Then, give it a coat of wax if you can. Then, in the spring, clean it and wax it again, and as the boat sits in the water, you can more easily just take a good scrub brush and just scrub it off.
I try to do it weekly....takes about 10 minutes to just swim around the boat and wipe the crud off.

We've done that for many years and it seems to do the trick.

Re: need to get all of the brown stuff off
 

I believe most commercial hull cleaners are a solution of Oxalic acid. Not nearly as nasty as muriatic.

Re: need to get all of the brown stuff off
 

Z202's right. I use the "Star Brite" brand hull cleaners. They have 3 currently.

"Hull Cleaner" - Oxalic Acid MSDS
"Sea Safe Hull Cleaner" - Enviornmentally Friendly Oxalic Acid MSDS
"EZ On EZ Off Bottom Cleaner" - Hydrochloric Acid MSDS

I've had great luck with the Hull Cleaner for years, and this year I plan to try the Sea Safe Hull Cleaner. The nice thing about Star Brite brand is, you can get it pretty much anywhere, from West Marine to Wal Mart.

Re: need to get all of the brown stuff off
 

Yeah, I used the Star-Brite hull cleaner last fall. It did a greate job with minimal effort. I still wore gloves and goggles, as it's still pretty corrosive stuff. Make sure you rinse the boat and trailer with liberal amounts of water afterwards.

Re: need to get all of the brown stuff off
 

I've been wondering about leaving the boat in all season and what would happen.

We paint the bottom of our sailboat with VC-17. When fall comes around and the boat is hauled, we just give the hull a good wash with a power-washer, perhaps hit some of the more stubborn spots lightly with a Scotch-Brite pad, and the crud is gone. No muss, no fuss, no acids. When spring comes around we give her hull a fresh coat of VC-17 and plop her in the water. It's all relatively painless. (Except for the $60/qt. VC-17 is up to, these days :eek:)

Only thing is, anti-fouling bottom paint doesn't look as pretty as an unpainted, shiny white hull. ;)

One thing I do wonder about: Acid-wash, or whatever, or bottom-paint: How do you get under the skids on the trailer the boat's sitting on?

Jim