"The Works" Toilet bowl cleaner
- Thread starter Adelaide
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
OP
OP
Adelaide
Senior Member
It's been 6 months and the hull looks awesome. Again, I have seen many positive real life experiences with "the works" and "Sno-Bowl" toilet cleaners. I have seen 0 negative 'real life' experiences.
For those with 'real life' horror stories, please step forward.
**Crickets**
If six months satisfies you that there will be no long term damage from cleaning your boat with toilet bowl cleaner, that's fine.
For me, I would want to know that using toilet bowl cleaner for ten years or more wouldn't damage the gelcoat. That's why I check the label of the product to make sure it's safe for fiberglass.
OP
OP
Adelaide
Senior Member
First of all, no one is using it to clean their boat daily, monthly or even yearly. We are discussing the dreaded beard and tannin stains. If the stain ever comes back, I know how to deal with it.
What does satisfy me, is the countless of individuals with years of 'real life' experience. The only horror story I see anywhere is the dreaded beard stain that is impossible to get off without an aggressive cleaner. Knowing that the expensive 'boat cleaners' contain the same chemical is also helpful in making the decision. Again, still looking for those with real life experiences rather than opinion. Here is a nice 'real life' experience article.
The Tidy Boat Man | The Ultimate Bass Fishing Resource Guide® LLC
What does satisfy me, is the countless of individuals with years of 'real life' experience. The only horror story I see anywhere is the dreaded beard stain that is impossible to get off without an aggressive cleaner. Knowing that the expensive 'boat cleaners' contain the same chemical is also helpful in making the decision. Again, still looking for those with real life experiences rather than opinion. Here is a nice 'real life' experience article.
The Tidy Boat Man | The Ultimate Bass Fishing Resource Guide® LLC
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Daddyo
Guru
If your cruising the ICW or the Pamlico, Curituck or Albermarle and you want to look yachty then you do need to clean every few days. The most obvious problem I know of having used the acids is getting on your skin/eyes, $ and it dissolves the wax immediately thereby leading to more stains/more acid/more stains.....
Daddyo
Guru
Down boy, down!! Come to the east coast. I am talking about beard stain removal. Welcome to our reality
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Jay N
Guru
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2007
- Messages
- 502
- Location
- USA
- Vessel Name
- WESTERLY
- Vessel Make
- 1974 Pacific Trawler 37
"I think if you cruise a lot, I think you wind up with a stain pretty much no matter were you are unless all open ocean. Any coastal waters with soil contaminants will probably give a brow."
I've always considered an end-of-season bow beard to be a cruising "badge of honor". It means the boat has been used. At least, that's what I tell the boat owner as we are staring at it.
Interestingly, my current boat has a painted LP hull, no beard has ever appeared even after 3000+ mile multiple seasons. From this, it is easy to speculate that softer hull surfaces (oil based paint over wood, older gel coat) tend to absorb the stain more readily.
I've always considered an end-of-season bow beard to be a cruising "badge of honor". It means the boat has been used. At least, that's what I tell the boat owner as we are staring at it.
Interestingly, my current boat has a painted LP hull, no beard has ever appeared even after 3000+ mile multiple seasons. From this, it is easy to speculate that softer hull surfaces (oil based paint over wood, older gel coat) tend to absorb the stain more readily.
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OK DaddyO
How about 25 years if removing "beard" stain every time it re-appears? Several times every summer, is that long enough? I have tried a number of different brands of toilet bowl cleaner, all of which contain hydrochloric acid in some concentration. The ones that work best simply contain more HCl. My "beard" doesn't re-appear any faster now than it did when I first got my present boat in 1994, so I don't believe there is any damage being done by the cleaner.
About 20 yrs ago a friend of mine gave me a can of one of those expensive "marine" preparations (that don't tell you how much HCl they contain) and it didn't work as well as the better toilet bowl cleaners.
That same friend didn't need the cleaner any more, as he had just had his boat Awlgripped. His boat still doesn't get a "beard", proving that the only really effective remedy is Awlgrip. If could afford it, that is what I would use.
How about 25 years if removing "beard" stain every time it re-appears? Several times every summer, is that long enough? I have tried a number of different brands of toilet bowl cleaner, all of which contain hydrochloric acid in some concentration. The ones that work best simply contain more HCl. My "beard" doesn't re-appear any faster now than it did when I first got my present boat in 1994, so I don't believe there is any damage being done by the cleaner.
About 20 yrs ago a friend of mine gave me a can of one of those expensive "marine" preparations (that don't tell you how much HCl they contain) and it didn't work as well as the better toilet bowl cleaners.
That same friend didn't need the cleaner any more, as he had just had his boat Awlgripped. His boat still doesn't get a "beard", proving that the only really effective remedy is Awlgrip. If could afford it, that is what I would use.
psneeld
Guru
I agree but as I said early on..I would try the most mild remover the if I had a new boat or new hull "job" hoping that being less porous...I could get by with a more mile cleaner.
I will try lemon juice once my supply of "the works" runs out, I'd rather use it because having lemon juice on hand is good for the liquor locker anyway...
When I had a trailered boat, just one or two days in the water would leave a brown stain. If I didn't wash it the minute I got home, the stain wouldn't wash off and I had to use acid. My choice was oxalic acid in a concentration that wouldn't hurt the driveway or grass and plants in my yard.
