acid wash bottom?

[kpaul311]

i'm about to put the boat up at the end of this month till may and the place I store it asked if I wanted to acid wash the bottom. The boat sits in freshwater all season and will be power washed when it comes out for storage, but i wasn't sure if I should pay the extra for them to acid wash as well. My other thought was to take my power washer and buy some slimy grimy or acid and do it myself.

Any suggestions?

 

[Woody]

Easy job. This is what I do. I scrub my boat in the water and don’t let too much accumulate. The worst buildup is in the fall because water temps often are too cool and I don’t go in. When we pull it for the season I go from the ramp directly to a water hose nearby, scrub and flush with water. (Let that stuff dry and it becomes a real job) This gets the buildup off, all that remains is some stain. When I get home I use a garden sprayer w/muratic acid on the stain…rinse boat hull and trailer thoroughly with water. Then I give it a regular wash.

 

[tbirdvet]

Just be sure to really rinse the trailer, etc. all down because the acid will eat anything metal. I had my last marina use acid wash and the boat was really nice looking.

 

[Hellman Huddle]

Yes! Do it yourself, I use a paint brush because it doesn't get in the air that way.

 

[sbw1]

We always gave our small boats a good acid wash. It's really the only way to get the gel coat back to like new condition. As others have said, make sure the rinse is good or the trailer will suffer. Zing is HCL and available at most marine stores. Pool places carry muriatic acid which is the same thing and maybe cheaper. Boats with painted bottoms will need a touch up at the water line before relaunching as HCL turns the cooper in the bottoom paint blue.