Five top ways to remove stains from your boat

by Karen & Jeffrey Siegel/Sail-World Cruising on 18 Jan 2013 Karen & Jeffrey Siegel run a website called https://activecaptain.com!ActiveCaptain. They have also been cruising for many years, with two dogs Dyna and Dylan (who really run the show) and know a thing or two about some of the practical aspects of cruising. Here are their useful tips about cleaning stains on a boat. As they said, 'We thought the new year was the perfect time to pick our five personal favourites.'

5. OxiClean:
This stuff has many uses. Soak a stained piece of clothing, sheets, or towels overnight, wash and the stains are gone. But it also works great as a scrub to clean your decks or a soak and scrub for the sticky grime that accumulates on power cords.

4. MagicEraser:
We discovered this one when we couldn't get the stains off our white fenders no matter what we tried. A sample MagicEaser had come in the mail so we gave it a whirl. The fenders looked new. We now keep several onboard and use them everywhere. There are now less expensive generic brands that work equally well.

3. Vinegar and Soap:
A couple of years ago we were on a dock that had several charter fishing boats on one end. While near them we became overrun with tiny fruit flies.

The boat next to us, Summer Slopes, recommended setting out a small shallow dish with some apple cider vinegar and a drop of dish soap. The vinegar attracts the flies and the soap grabs them. It really works.

2. Water Jet Power Washer:
This one we learned about at a Krogen Rendezvous session. It's one of those As Seen On TV items. We picked ours up at a hardware store for about $20. The standard hose fitting connects to our saltwater wash-down giving us a powerful stream of water for cleaning the anchor and chain as it comes up.

1. Lemon Juice:
Our all time favorite tip is one that works amazingly well, is really inexpensive yet is environmentally and personally safe. We had used a variety of noxious chemicals over the years to clean the brown stains off the hulls of the boat and dinghy. While wearing heavy gloves to protect ourselves, we were always uncomfortable about what the chemicals were putting into the environment. Then we received an email from Captain Intentional Drifter about his experience with lemon juice. Spray it on, wait 10 minutes, and rinse with plain water. The stains are gone, the environment is safer and you've only spent a couple of dollars.

While trying to select just five we were constantly lured by the many other great ideas - you might want to check them all out at this https://activecaptain.com/articles/misc/productsTips.php!link. And we didn't even get to our dog tips. You can find Dyna and Dylan's favorites in their blog entry from last summer:
http://www.takingpaws.com/2012/06/all-that-dog-gear.html