Removing green waterline

sidechoke67

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
244
I let my boat sit in a fresh water lake over the weekend for the first time. Had a great weekend, but when I pulled it out tonight, I had a green line around my boat at the waterline. I tried some boat wash as soon as I got home, but it didn't take it off. Any advice on removing the green line around my boat? Any ideas on how to avoid it in the future (other than not putting my boat in water. :) )

Thanks in advance.
 

arks

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Nov 7, 2002
Messages
1,936
Re: Removing green waterline

Nothing will keep the hull entirely clean, but waxing helps. If you already have a scum line that won't come off the use of a hull cleaner will get it, but be careful because it's very caustic. I've found the easiest way to clean off the "daily" scum line is to wipe it off AS SOON as you pull the boat out of the water. A wet sponge should be all you need. I usually follow up by drying the boat with an old beach towel, starting on the topsides and working down. With the Admirals help, we could clean and dry our 23' cuddy in about 10 minutes. Doing it this way made it a WHOLE lot easier to put it away when we got home, too!
 

marine4003

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Feb 3, 2008
Messages
1,119
Re: Removing green waterline

The only successful method of removing brown or green stains is TSP. Cruise down to an ACE hardware or equivalent,and buy a box of Tri Sodium Phosphate,its cheap,mix it up strong,wash hull,let it linger and away goes all stains,amazing.
 

vess

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Apr 15, 2007
Messages
83
Re: Removing green waterline

I use hull cleaner, which is oxalic acid. Takes the tea staining right off without much muscle. I leave my boat in the water all year, and taking that scum and staining off takes time, but you shouldn't have trouble if you only left it in a few days.
 

njlarry

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Messages
330
Re: Removing green waterline

Spray-Nine works great on cedar water stains-even dry and weeks old. Also not as caustic as some others.
 

haskindm

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 12, 2008
Messages
255
Re: Removing green waterline

There is a product called FSR (Fiberglass Stain Remover) available at most marine stores. I believe it is mostly oxcylic acid. Works almost like magic and a little goes a long way.
 
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