Water(Brown) Stain Removal

[Big_Port]

Thought I'd share a cleaning experience with everyone here. I purchased my boat(2002 Seadoo Challenger 2000) in April and it was in need of a good exterior cleaning as the previous owner left it in the water all year long. The sides and bottom were stained pretty badly with that nasty brown stain that forms. I started with Vinegar and water, then straight vinegar....it took some off but too, a lot of scrubbing. I started looking online and found a plethora of options that worked for others and decided to pick up a handful that were locally available at the hardware store. I picked up Toiled Bowl Cleaner, CLR, Bar Keepers Friend M.O.R.E. and Muratic acid.

The first product I tried was the Bar Keepers Friend because it was in a spray bottle and ready to use....I was shocked by the results....sprayed it on, hit it with a brush to spread evenly and sprayed it off after a minute.....stains were GONE with hardly any effort. Unfortunately I only bought one bottle so I got to test the other products.

CLR....I put it in a spray bottle at full strength and sprayed it on, hit it with a brush and rinsed it off. It changed the color of the stain slightly. I tried another spot, used a non abrasive scrubby pad with pretty much the same result.

Toilet Bowl Cleaner....same process as the CLR and pretty much the same result.

I didn't have the courage to try the acid since the Bar Keepers friend worked so well....I'm picking up another bottle today to finish then a nice coat of wax.

So, if you are looking for some options....start with BKF and see if that works for you.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

interesting.
I've always struggled with those water stains (usually in the footwells of a pwc) but i've had them on my challenger as well, and I solved it with wet sanding, which meant about 30 pieces of waterproof sandpaper and 10 gallons of elbow grease.

I certainly would have tried BKF first had I known, might have saved me about 6 hours of karate kid stuff.

next ugly hull that wanders into my garage will get a dose of this trick and i'll report back!

Thanks for sharing

 

[devonte007]

What you have discovered is the power of Oxalic acid....it works great on gelcoat to bleach out stains. The problem with gelcoat is that it is porous, at a microscopic level, and all sorts of junk in the water likes to fill in the pores which makes our boats and skis look bad.

Bar keepers friend contains Oxalic acid which is why it works good, the down side is that it is also an abrasive which will dull your gelcoat just like if you sanded your car paint.

There are any boat specific products out there made to clean boat hulls and they work great, I like the starbrite line of products. They are a bit expensive and corrosive so use them with caution. They work though. Tough stains may require multiple applications. I have also seen that you can buy pure powder form Oxalic acid and mix your own cleaner at a fraction of the cost, haven’t tried that yet.

I have heard muratic acid with also work, but not sure if it will damage gelcoat.

After you have a nice clean and polished hull, a good coat of polymer wax helps keep future stains at bay. Cleaning boats is a never ending process though….

 

[Big_Port]

Oxalic acid is my hero! I was a little concerned at first the stains would never come out! I did notice the dulling you mentioned. I'm planning to polish and wax tonight and stay on top of it from here on to the end. The previous owner kept it in pretty good shape but the blue stripe is a bit faded so that needs attention. For some reason, washing/waxing and just taking care of the boat with the music on(maybe a beer in hand) is enjoyable to me....but maybe that's because it's new to me.....I'm sure in a couple years it will get old but by then the kids will be old enough to do it.

 

[hotrodssnova]

I used muratic acid on my 94 ski. It sat outside for 3 years before I got it. The footwells were full of stains. I mixed it 50\50 and used a sponge. The stains came off with ease.

 

[radiofred]

I don't get bad stain because I don't leave it in the water but I found out that magic eraser works really good with little to no effort I tried it one night after the wife told me to try it I thought it wasn't going to work as I had tried brake cleaner and a lot of scrubbing but I had to really work it to get stain out took about 45min for one side, the wife came out with her magic eraser and in 15min the other side was done without breaking a sweat

 

[MSGulfCoastie]

The stains you are referring to is caused by tannins in the water settling into the imperfections in the gel coat. I use Starbrite instant Hull cleaner with PTEF to get it cleaned and then use their cleaner/waxto seal the finish to minimize the opportunity for the stains to return. Considering I have 90' of waterlines between all the watercraft, I do everything I can to keep the hard work to a minimum. I usually pick up the Starbrite products at West Marine when they have the big sales.

 

[Nukem1040]

Just bought my 01 Challenger. Used this combo together. Buddy told me about it.
U can see the white-ish spot right behind the broom where we took a stab at it. I was skeptical but it works! Buddy told me about it.
Bought the Awesome stuff at Dollar General.

 

[richie6]

Best I used was Star Brite Rust Remover from West Marine
http://www.westmarine.com/buy/star-brite--rust-stain-remover--126823