Brown Mustache

[Trojan]

Anyone know what will remove the Brown mustache from a Delaware boat? I know you guys know. It's has been on here before. A captain from Delaware is at the Lake Erie Islands here on a 40 Mainship and would like to clean his bow. I told him the guys on the forum know , I will check. Where are all the Guru's LOL


BILL

 

[Nonchalant1]

Depends on the paint. Usually FSR (Fiberglass Stain Remover) will do it. Some paints require a cleaner wax, like Maguires, but be careful not to use the wrong stuff on your type of paint. FSR is supposedly safe for all types so try it first.

Doug

 

[MikeP]

Yep! I had a large stain on our 53 when I arrived in Piney Narrows - sprayed it with a spray bottles of rust stain remover and it immediately disappeared - a quick spray with water and the bow looked like new! No wiping at all - just spray and rinse.

This stuff: http://www.myboatstore.com/rust-stain-remover.htm

 

[yachtsmanbill]

HATT TRICK had ol' Snideley Whiplash all over the front too. That stuff comes from the TANIC acid out of the tree roots. For $6 I bought a 1 qt tub of crystallized OXALIC acid (sav-o-gran brand) from the Ace hdwr. store, mixed it into a spray bottle and shot it from the dock. By the time I grabbed the brush, all was gone. I tried all that starbright crap too, which DID NOT TOUCH IT !
As a side note, I used some recently for bleaching teak handrails and let some run down onto the heavily chalked paint, and the stuff rinsed right off and left the 12 year old AWLGRIP shining like new. Unfortunately, it wont restore chips and scratches. I did massage it with an old rag, which turned white and once dried, wont rinse out.
As far as acidity is concerned, its about 4X as strong as grapefruit juice. We also use it in the crappers at the house here, with well water that gives you the willies in the shower, and they look like new with a teaspoonfull down the hatch. GET SOME NOW !! ws

 

[MikeP]

Re your pics, that's a LOT heavier concentration than what we had. The starbrite took the moustache off our boat just as you described. Oxalic acid is the active ingredient in the starbrite but obviously not at the concentration you needed for that seriously dark moustache!

 

[krush]

does muratic acid work? I know it does wonders on the crazy growth we get in fresh water.

 

[yachtsmanbill]

Muriatic is great for washing off dried on algae... its that or sandblasting. It does wonders on concrete also. Oxalic has almost no odor and like I mentioned, is about 4X grapefruit juice. Check those tables son LOL. You'll find them in the appendix in the "chemical engineers handbook". Its weaker than boric acid for aluminum profiling. ws

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I just cleaned a stain that looked like rust that had come from my holding tank vent. I tried everything and ended up with Whink Rust Stain Remover. It worked instantly.

If you have Imron, don't worry about hurting it. We used to paint our Ready-Mixed Concrete trucks with Imron and then use strain Muratic acid to clean off the dried concrete. It would dull the finish, but it didn't take off the paint. I don't think you can hurt Imron.

 

[yachtsmanbill]

Ya gotta watch that Whink--- its HYDRO FLOURIC acid... way hotter than HYDRO CHLORIC. I used whink as a kid on my bike rims and spent a whole summer with NO FINGERNAILS !!! Bummer
Even if those cross linked poly urethanes get dull you can buff them back to a shine with little effort.
I think the acids are in this order, minus a few, I'm sure. Oxalic, boric, muriatic, sulphuric, hydrochloric, and then HYDROFLOURIC, which if strong enough and un-nuetralized will get through your skin to the bone marrow and attack that causing liver death. I learned that at the refinery job as they use HF in the process. ws

 

[Boatsb]

I believe you missed hydriodic. It is some real strong stuff. Makes hydrochloric look like ginger Ale.

 

[yachtsmanbill]

I believe you missed hydriodic. It is some real strong stuff. Makes hydrochloric look like ginger Ale.

Thats a new one to me ! Is there a specific use for that one? Is it stronger that Lysergic LOL?? ws

 

[bobk]

I left my copy of the 'Chem Rubber Handbook' on the boat so can't refer to the tables, BUT, hydrochloric acid is a stronger acid than hydroflouric acid or any of the others mentioned, including phosphoric which I don't think was mentioned. However, HF is very toxic, and I wouldn't use it for anything if there was any risk of contact. Burns from it are hard to heal.

For cleaning a light case of the brown mustache, try citric acid. It is slow, but much less damaging to LPU paints, all of which are hydrolized by acids. Otherwise use oxalic which is stronger, but get it off fast. We once saw a large MY that had a beautiful Algrip job with streaks down the side. Turned out the guy had someone clean something with oxalic and didn't rinse it adequately.

End of Chem 101 lesson.

Bob

 

[Trojan]

Thanks for the info guys I passed the info on. There going to try one of these.

BILL

 

[CARL GUZMAN]

One time I got that engine brite stuff from the auto parts store to clean my engine and if you get any on your grill it will make it dull , wont harm the paint on the car but it will dull the paint on the grill I guess it's not strong enough??
I wet it down and everything ...don't matter..??