CONTINUOUSWAVE

What product do you recommend [to clean the hull interior of a 1998 Boston Whaler Montauk]?
Thanks

For General cleaning use Spray Nine , for polish- use 3M Marine Cleaner and Wax, and for deck and non skid use Straigh Bleach twice a year.

I use 3M Boat Soap. For stubborn spots I use SimpleGreen.

I have never used bleach and would never use it.

Read the owner's manual advice:

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/refere ... ml#gelcoat

There is no "interior hull" on a Boston Whaler boat with Unibond hull construction, so I presume you are asking for advice on cleaning the part of the boat most often called the cockpit.

Closing on my 40 years playing with boats. Not only that I use bleach on deck , I use it inside the console, below the deck,clean my cushions. Nothing will make boat snow white again, keep console and below the deck mold free and cushions prone to stains. Zero problems caused using it beside few ruined shirts. You just have to know what to spray and what to leave alone .

I admit to using a little highly diluted bleach from time to time to eliminate mold. I rinse it carefully and use soapy water to make sure it is gone. It normally only takes a couple of minutes to eliminate mold then off comes the bleach.

I strongly recommend against it's use on any vinyl covered cushions.

I bought whalers that vinyl interior inside of console was covered with black mold and cushions that looked beyond repair.No matter how much you scrub or what cleaner you use it wouldnt take black stains. Only bleach would remove them as a last line of defense .Spray lightly wait for them to disappear,rinse with water,dry and treat with vinyl conditioner . It was like a miracle seeing them come back to life. I dont recommend using bleach as a cleaner on perfectly white cushion . It is only needed to go this road if everything else doesnt work on mold stained ones .

Vinyl cushions are not part of a boat hull.

Anyone here tried Aqua Buff 2000?

enggass wrote:Anyone here tried Aqua Buff 2000?

No but I have used many of Auroramarine's products with great success.
https://www.auroramarine.com/main/

Zip Wax Car Soap for general cleaning. Simple Green for more stubborn stuff. Spray Nine for the worse. Bar Keepers Friend for the non-skid deck. Plexus for the windshield along with a microfiber cloth. NeverDull for the metal railings.

For buffing work, this year I bought a 3" Mini Buffing Kit from Buff & Shine, and it made the job so much easier than the larger pad set. Buffer from Harbor Freight. I start out with:

1) Collonite Pre-wax Cleaner
2) 3M Polish
3) (2) coats of either Collonite Fiberglass Wax or Insulator Wax.

Bob

After 3M Cleaner/Wax on an older Whaler Revenge, a coat of TreWax (pure Carnuba) is about the ultimate finish, good for a year on [unclear, used unknown acronym--possibly meant "fiberglass"] and also chrome. This is all laboriously done by hand.

Tilex Mold & Mildew - Root Penetrator.

Works great. Spray on, let sit a few minutes rinse off.

I just purchased a 2014 170 Montauk and the flooring of the interior was black-ish and dingy, and I couldn't find anything to get it to be white. I tried a few cleaners suggested by the local Boston Whaler dealer. The final one I tried seemed to work wonders. It was a Magic Eraser. On the textured floor, it tears up relatively quickly, but on the 170, I find that I can use three erasers and get the floor very clean.

I don't see any problems with [using Magic Eraser]. It's a bit labor intensive, but if you want [the boat] clean, Magic Eraser seems to do the job.

I do not recommend using bleach. Also, bleach does NOT kill mold. Remember that the non-skid and interior are gelcoat just like the outside and must be cared for and protected.

[MARY KATE ON-OFF] is about the most aggressive product I've used and almost always works. When it doesn't, I've found the only way to get deep stains in gelcoat is 1000 grit sand paper and then buff it out. For non skid, I've resorted to a stiff bristle brush with restorer wax or even compound when necessary. Don't forget the wax. Woody Wax for non-skid is expensive but I believe it's the best.

As a microbiologist, sodium hypochlorite (bleach) is a strong disinfectant and kills fungi. Contact time and temperature are key factors.

Bob

Here we go:

--heat may or may not kill mold. If I give it a kiss, my lips at 98.6 degrees won't kill it, but if I take a blow torch to it, it will be killed;

--getting hit by a car may or may not kill me. If the car is moving at 6 inches per day, I'll get pushed, but if it's going 150 MPH, I'm in trouble.

The correct answer depends on the context.

In the intended context the gentleman was not talking about submersing his boat in a huge vat of bleach. He's talking about [a concentration of] 10-percent bleach or less, possibly in a spray bottle. Spritz, spritz, and wipe. Maybe in a bucket with a cloth. Used this way bleach actually encourages mold growth on porous surfaces because it provides excess moisture.

Bleach only removes the color from mold. After you spray bleach, only the surface is mold free and appears clean. But the problem is, the mold’s roots, or hyphae, continue to grow. Bleach contains about 90-percent water. When you apply bleach to a surface, the chlorine quickly evaporates leaving behind a lot of water. Then, when the water soaks into porous surfaces like wood, or boat cushions and upholstery, it encourages mold growth. So, bleach can actually make your mold problem worse.

Also, light and heat compromise the sanitizing properties of bleach, in other words it doesn’t prevent future bacterial or fungal growth because--despite the fact that the chlorine odor lingers for a while after you use it--bleach loses strength so quickly it doesn’t have a residual effect. Most bleach products are not registered with the EPA to be used as antimicrobial agents and the EPA and OSHA specifically advise against using bleach for mold remediation.

There are millions of people in Florida and Texas that just went through hurricanes resulting in water damage and loss of power. They have mold. They are being told correctly by insurance adjusters and builders, do NOT use bleach because it does NOT kill mold. You have only temporarily treated the surface. It's still alive in the wood and drywall and comes right back.

As for a boat, chlorine bleach is extremely harmful to surfaces. It breaks down the fibers in just about everything. When you spray bleach on metal, it starts to corrode it almost immediately. Thus, using bleach on your boat, even if it appears not to damage the gelcoat, creates problems with the structural integrity of everything else.

In the intended context the gentleman was not talking about submersing his boat in a huge vat of bleach.

The "context" I was referring to was the Dissociation of Acid-Base reactions and "pKa" or the Dissociation Constant. The pKa of Hypochlorous acid is 7.53 @ 25C.

At lower (acidic) pH, Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) becomes corrosive, but it is most effective at lower pH because it favors the formation of Hypochlorous acid, which is the primary disinfectant. Conversely, if the pH is higher (more basic) the hypochlorite ion is favored and it takes a longer period of time to disinfect. The reaction is reversible, depending on the pH. This is very important in microbiology, as it pertains to disinfection dynamics of solutions, e.g., organic and inorganic acids. And, yes, some of those solutions are used on boats. It is suggested to use on non-porous surfaces and it does kill fungi.

In terms of temperature, I was referring to the temperature of disinfection, as it relates to the unit of contact time of the solution. Higher the temperature, the greater the effect. This is basic Chemistry 101/102 Thermodynamics.

As for the mold, hyphae are the main source of vegetative growth while spores represent the reproductive cell function.

Bob

BOB--Are you saying [Boston Whaler boat owners] should use bleach to kill mold?

I used MARY KATE ON-OFF once to remove a very stubborn hull stain that had a chance to thoroughly dry on the hull before I had a chance to try to remove it. MARY KATE ON-OFF was effective at removing the hull stain, but a few drops of it dripped onto the galvanized steel fender of the boat trailer. ON-OFF was quite effective at removing zinc, too. I stopped and immediately sprayed down the fender so it was very wet and covered with water, and then I reduced the concentration of the solution by about a factor of five. At the reduced concentration, ON-OFF still took off the hull stain, although a bit slower, and I wasn't as worried about the trailer galvanizing.

I am not a chemist or a microbiologist, but I try to keep harsh liquids off the gelcoat of my Boston Whaler boat (and off the zinc surface of my steel trailer) as much as possible.

I also learned that the best way to get hull stains removed is to wash the hull immediately after you haul it out of the water. My practice now is to wash the hull with soap and water the moment it comes out of the water. And I use as little soap or solvent as possible, as I don't want to take off the hull wax in the process.

crbenny wrote:BOB--Are you saying [Boston Whaler boat owners] should use bleach to kill mold?

I will repeat once again:

"As a microbiologist, sodium hypochlorite (bleach) is a strong disinfectant and kills fungi. Contact time and temperature are key factors."

What don't you understand about such a simple, succinct statement? Where does it say that I suggest Boston Whaler Owners use bleach to kill mold?

I NEVER condoned using bleach or anything else for that matter. In fact, the original post was looking for suggestions as to what the CW Forum Members do to "CLEAN the interior hull" of their boats. I provided information further up the thread in terms of what I use to do mine. In fact, when another member posted something about using "bleach," I simply stated the chemical and microbiological attributes of the material (i.e., based up their personal decision to use bleach and the relative outcome based upon their experience).

Now, what someone uses on their Boston Whaler as a cleaner, disinfectant, or combination thereof is up to them. Just do your due diligence to avoid any complications.

Please direct your comments regarding the use of bleach to the forum members who have actually used it, as documented in this thread: vze2gbs4, Jefecinco & porthole. Maybe they can provide additional insight (based on their empirical experience), as I have personally not used it on my Dauntless.

Bob

I have deleted more comments in this thread which were NOT ON TOPIC. Please do not contribute to this thread with comments that are not on the topic. Do not discuss personalities of other participants. Do not speculate about the emotional state of other participants.

People who insist that they want to turn discussions into personal flame wars are going to find their comments deleted.

porthole wrote:Tilex Mold & Mildew - Root Penetrator.

Works great. Spray on, let sit a few minutes rinse off.

Found a picture of my 17 Outrage console when I cleaned it. This is one application of the Tilex with no brushing. Spray on, let sit, rinse off.