Cleaning a Pontoon (in the water)

[nuboater]

Our Suntracker, 60HP Bigfoot, lives in a covered slip but without a lift.
The master plan is to yank it out twice a year and detail it at home. Unfortunately, we are behind in our cleaning schedule and it will be another 3 weeks before it comes out.
It has quite a bit of gunk, algae and just plain dirt on the lower part of the toons and the motor. It is slowing us down for sure.
Our plan is to grab a box of Krispy Kreme, tie up at a nearby shore friendly island, eat the donuts then (with life jacket on) hit the water and start cleaning. At this point we will be armed with nylon scrub brushes and tooth brushes for those tight spots on the motor.
My question is this---Are there any tricks to the trade that will help us get this thing cleaner? We are in a fresh water lake so I'd also like to know if there is any kind of cleaning material we could use that would not be considered a pollutant.
Any ideas appreciated..

 

[crb478]

Re: Cleaning a Pontoon (in the water)

If you really want it "clean" then that will be difficult to achieve in the water. If you just want to scrub the algae and gunk off then that is easy to do in the water. Keep the boat in shallow water and scrub. Get some fine steel wool or a scotch bright pad for tough areas or to polish it up a little after you hit it with the nylon brush. I can do my 24 foot pontoon by my self in less than 30 minutes and have gained as much as 8 mph with the clean toons.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Cleaning a Pontoon (in the water)

With it being wet I think just the brushes should do fine at getting the lake gunk off, I wouldn't use any kind of cleaner in the lake.

Watch the Scotch brite or steel wool, anything you clean with them will be shinier than the rest of the boat and you really don't want to scratch it, it will look clean but the scratches will actually attract and hold more dirt sooner.

It is only 3 weeks till she comes out so a good scrub should do fine, do I get a doughnut for my opinion??

 

[Fishing Dude too]

Re: Cleaning a Pontoon (in the water)

Add salt to your scotch brites, will kill algee in freshh water, and help polish.

 

[EGlideRider]

Re: Cleaning a Pontoon (in the water)

A case of beer will entice more friends to help than will donuts. With enough beer, you may only have to supervise. LOL

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Cleaning a Pontoon (in the water)

I also believe in the ScotchBrite pads, but you've got to be careful. There are about 5 different grits. I'd just try a household ScotchBrite that has the foam on the back. Every week or two and when swimming, just quickly try to buff the bathtub ring off.

I wouldn't consider putting any Comet or any such product on a pontoon boat. But, I've had great luck using Barkeeper's Friend powder on other metal finishes (without any problems.) You might experiment using some of this on the inside of a pontoon to see if it'll assist in stain removal. I've never seen anything like it.

As far as any liquid soap/degreaser product, Awesome is found at Dollar General; it's incredible stuff and in a class of its own. It's a yellow liquid in a spray bottle, and only $1 per bottle. RV dealerships buy it by the case to remove their most stubborn stains. I use it on my aluminum sided travel trailer.

 

[nuboater]

Re: Cleaning a Pontoon (in the water)

With it being wet I think just the brushes should do fine at getting the lake gunk off, I wouldn't use any kind of cleaner in the lake.


It is only 3 weeks till she comes out so a good scrub should do fine, do I get a doughnut for my opinion??

A donut is possible, but we need to add some scrubbing to that opinion first

I can do my 24 foot pontoon by my self in less than 30 minutes and have gained as much as 8 mph with the clean toons.

If I could get just half of that 8MPH I will be overjoyed.

Add salt to your scotch brites, will kill algee in freshh water, and help polish.

The salt sounds interesting. I'll give it a shot. With my luck I'll kill the algae, but create enough salt water to attract barnacles.

 

[nuboater]

Re: Cleaning a Pontoon (in the water)

A case of beer will entice more friends to help than will donuts. With enough beer, you may only have to supervise. LOL

The problem is that all my friends think they are supervisors no matter who brings the beer.

I also believe in the ScotchBrite pads, but you've got to be careful. There are about 5 different grits. I'd just try a household ScotchBrite that has the foam on the back. Every week or two and when swimming, just quickly try to buff the bathtub ring off.

I wouldn't consider putting any Comet or any such product on a pontoon boat. But, I've had great luck using Barkeeper's Friend powder on other metal finishes (without any problems.) You might experiment using some of this on the inside of a pontoon to see if it'll assist in stain removal. I've never seen anything like it.

As far as any liquid soap/degreaser product, Awesome is found at Dollar General; it's incredible stuff and in a class of its own. It's a yellow liquid in a spray bottle, and only $1 per bottle. RV dealerships buy it by the case to remove their most stubborn stains. I use it on my aluminum sided travel trailer.

Thanks for those ideas.. I'm going to try the pads and for a buck a bottle I'll definately try that soap.

 

[nuboater]

Re: Cleaning a Pontoon (in the water)

Well I have a pretty clean pontoon tonight.
As I was getting ready to head for the dock I noticed my tire cleaning brush seemed to have the same curvature as a pontoon. So I took it along, and sure enough it fits like it was made to scrub pontoons. The shape made it easy to use, but it was only good for removing the easy stuff. The real work was accomplished with the scotchbrite pads. We got the outside half of the toons very clean and the motor looks like new.
The moment I went WOT I noticed a difference in speed . Lots of wake so I didn't mess with a GPS reading, but I'm sure we gained 4 or 5 MPH.