Something similar to bass boat saver for aluminum boats?

[HawgBuster]

I was wandering if there was anything out there to use on an aluminum boat after a day on the water? I just want something to help with wiping it down and help reduce water line stain and scum. Any suggestions?

[Danny]

A friend of mine who has an aluminum boat told me what he does is carry a rag, towel, or something similar, and dip it in the water before pulling the boat out. Once out, he takes the wet rag and wipes the water line, and says it does a good job of keeping his hull clean.

I'm sure there are other products, and someone will help out. Until then, I hope this helps some.

Danny

[Moose1am]

Not sure what would work best other than just plain soap and water. Maybe a degreaser like Mean Green or Fantastic. It depends on the water quality of the lake you were fishing in. Some lakes can stain a cleaned aluminum hull in short order. I found that our the hard way.

I cleaned my 1978 FisherMarine Water Strider III bass boats aluminum hull with some gel phosporic acid and hard work. Elbow grease and a scouring pad. I had the boat hull all shining like new.

Put the boat into Blue Grass Pit on the Blue Grass Fish & Wildlife Area and fished for a few hours. When I got home I could see the scum line around the water line again. In just a few hours the boat had visibly changed color and had ring around the collar again. It took me two days to get the boat cleaned up in the hot sun and in just a few hours the pits water had undone all my work.

DNR water quality reports have reported that the lake here has a very high Conductivity. That means in scientific or chemical terms that there are a lot of ions dissolved in that water. Various Fe++ and other metals are contained in that water. I'll bet that the water is high in sulfates, Calcium Carbonates and other minerals as well. When you did up the coal and leave an open pit to fill up with rain water in this area you would expect the acid rain to fill the pit with acidic water. Water is naturally acidic as when rain falls though the air on the way down to the ground it passes though Carbon Dioxide Gases (CO20 and becomes slightly acidic as carbonic acid is formed. But in this area there is a lot of Sulfates and Nitrates in the air and those react with water to form Sulfuric Acid Mist and Nitric Acid. Both of these acids are strong mineral acids. The pH scale is logrythmetic and each change in pH number from 7 to 8 means there is a TEN Fold decrease in the number of Hydrogen Ions. You go from 7 Neutral pH to 9 and there is a 100 fold increase in the pH. Note an increase in pH means a reduction in the H+ ions and an increase in the OH- ions.

The pH of the rain water in this area back in 1977/78 when I lasted tested some freshly fallen rain water on top of the Civic Center Roof in Evansville, IN was approx 4.2. That's acidic guys. Very acidic. This was typical of the rain water as I found this in several samples of rain water I collected in other places that year.

So the water at Bluegrass has been documented as being on the Bacic side. Basic not acidic in the pit. Evidently the ground is full of limestone rock that neutralize the acid rain and make the water in the pits very alkaline. The DNR reports showed the lake water in Blue Grass Pit had a pH of around 8 something. Tha's more than ten times more basic than a neutral 7.0 pH.

Normally distilled water has very little ions in the water and it's hard to test distilled water's pH as it's not buffered. Your breath is filled with CO2 gas and as you breath the CO2 can react with the distilled water sample. So when you make distilled water you have to double distill it in a glass still and also boil it to remove any CO2 from the water. Then you have to cap it with a rubber stopper and put ascarite in the inlet tube to scrub out any CO2 from entering the storage container. The rubber stopper has a hole drilled though it's center to stick a glass tube though the hole to allow the water to breath. but the glass tube contains ascarite which will absorb CO2 from the air entering the water container.

pH meters must be calibrate before use to ensure their accuracy. There are commercially made buffer solutions of pH 4.0. 7.0 and 10.0 that are used for this purpose.

So it depends on what's in the water as to how you should clean your boat. I clean my aluminum boat with Phosphoric acid. I got some of this in a small spray bottle that was sold at Kuester's Hardware Store in Evansville, IN. But Kuesters went out of business so now I don't know where to get this stuff anymore.

I had to spray this one to the boat's hull in a small 1ft by 1ft or 2ft by 2ft area and let it sit for a while to react with the dirt on the metals surface. Then I scrubbed it with a scouring pad in a circular motion. Then rinse thoroughly with lots of water and then move to a new section of the boat. Did you see the movie the Karate Kid where the teacher (Chinese guy) make the kid scrub the wooden deck with sandpaper in circular motions all day long. Well you will fell like the Karate Kid when you get your boat cleaned using this method. :(


Regards,

Moose1am

[HawgBuster]

Thanks for the replies guys. I just used a product to clean the boat called ToonBrite. After a few times around the boat, its lookin pretty good. I just want to keep from going through that again for awhile.

I'm thinking about just a soap water mixture in a spray bottle to wipe with.