Bumpers

[Trojan]

Anyone have a sure fire way of cleaning the bumpers. Bringing them back to white so they don't mark up the side of the boat. West has a cleaner but costly when you have 8 large bumpers to clean.



BILL

 

[Boss Lady]

Bumber covers! Easy to make and then just throw them in the washing machine.

 

[SeaEric]

Agreed. Covers. I have seen very handsome home made fender covers that were terry cloth bath towels, purchased in a nice color at the correct width for the fender, then seamed up to fit. They looked great and will wash easily.

 

[thoward]

Pressure washer or Clorox Cleanup. If these do not work then they are stained and the discoloration is there to stay.

 

[Paul45c]

Softscrub rubbed in hard with a little cloth. For added whitening, you can get Softscrub with bleach. Works great on shore cords, too.

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

I bought 6 blue fenders when we got our boat.... After about a year, they were worn (Hey we take the boat out a lot) and they were now "sticky" and left nasty blue marks on the hull.
Two years ago I took them all in to (of all places) West Marine as some would no longer hold air. And West Marine gave me 6 NEW ones but this time I got white ones.
They "look" dirty but at least they do not mark the boat.
But covers ARE the answer.........

 

[(Nobody You Know)]

Do the soft-scrub thing first, gets rid of surface filth. Then with a rag scrub them with FAST ORANGE hand cleaner undiluted. This should get 80% or better of the "impregnated" dark marks. Finally, use acetone to remove the remaining smudges (yea I know this is heavy artillary, but marks in fenders are tough)!

The absolute last resort - and I had to do this to my 50A dock power cord - is to use light sand paper. Hell it worked.

I've always been amazed how useless many of the brand name marine store items turn out to be.

 

[StratPlan61]

Ditto on the Softscrub w/bleach for fenders and shorepower cords!

Bear'
1984 61' MY Strategic Plan

 

[the kuz]

We dump 1 gallon of outdoor Clorox (stronger than regular bleech) and one gallon of simple green (both from Lowes for about $10-$12 total) in a big cooler then soak fenders one at a time for 12 -24 hrs. Turn every few hours and keep the lid closed so they stay wet. Wipe down with a scotch pad, rinse with plain water. Takes a while, but they get really clean with almost no work. Cooler gets clean too. We stow below cockpit between fuel tanks, so covers don't work very well for us.
Regards, Bob K

 

[Trojan]

Thanks guys for the hints. I used West Marine cleaner on one a year or two ago and it worked great, but expensive. I used a rubber roof cleaner spray and an SOS pad. It worked, got them clean. Though it did not get them as white as I would like. I didn't try bleach yet. I ran out of bleach washing the covers. I do have covers. But at $27. bucks each. I don't like using them on steel pilings or a steel sea walls. It just tares them up.

 

[Genesis]

Chlorox (you can also get chlorine from a pool store cheaper - its 10% as opposed to "laundry grade" at 5%) will eventually destroy anything made of plasticized rubber (e.g. fenders)

Once the plasticizers start to pull the material gets sticky and there's nothing you can do about it.

I find that such "maintenance" is a matter of false economy, and just replace as required.....

 

[Paul45c]

We dump 1 gallon of outdoor Clorox (stronger than regular bleech) and one gallon of simple green...

I'm not sure about the makeup of SimpleGreen chemically, but I know many degreasers contain ammonia -- make sure SG doesn't. Bleach and ammonia is bad ju-ju, as you probably know.

 

[Nonchalant1]

This one is simple, and it's like magic: If you have Taylor Made fenders, the problem is that the surface of the fender itself becomes compromised and won't clean, so the real absolute answer is Acetone (fingernail polish remover). Just go to a hardware store and get a quart of acetone, rubber gloves and paper towels. The acetone literally melts away a very small outer surface of the fender, leaving it pure white and gleaming again. Never use water when cleaning them with acetone. Just get a paper towel wet with acetone and wipe the surface and you'll be amazed to see it completely come clean. Turn the paper towel as soon as it becomes dirty and throw it away before it becomes dry.

Be careful not to wipe the top black part and then the bottom area because the black will come off too and can mix with the white or other color, but if you do, another clean acetone soaked paper towel will take that off.

This really works! I just did mine yesterday since we have gone through the last of the locks until the Hudson River in New York. They're gleaming white.

And no, it doesn't take off enough to make them weak.

Doug Shuman

BTW - this cleans your shore power cords too.

 

[Boss Lady]

Terry cloth towels are cheap, and all you have to do is sew a seam and they are good for a couple of years.

 

[REBrueckner]

I use inflatible boat cleaner, same as power cord cleaner, with usually very good effects. Starbrite, I think. When that hasn't worked or has been too much effort, I first use acetone...this leaves a potentially sticky residue which would quickly get dirty....but it's an aggressive cleaner....so I finish with the inflatible boat cleaner and that leaves a polish like finish.
But fender covers are the best bet...problem is the really nice ones cost more than fenders....I got some cheapo synthetic online..ebay..and they have last two years....should be ok for another one or two...then I'll replace...