Dinghy Cleaner

[sailorboy1]

I recently wanted to clean my dinghy. I didn't really care if it was clean I just wanted the dirt off so I could apply protectant to it. Soap didn't work and since I was going to have to order a cleaner researched it. Turns out there wasn't a lot of info on dinghy topside cleaning and the closest I found was an old Practical Sailor article. So I'll do a thread post for other people looking and it can grow etc. into maybe a useful thing.

- I tried boat soap, the dirt laughed at it.
- I tried acetone and mineral spirits, they work but I just didn't think that was good for the dinghy and only used to clean the area for registration numbers.
- I had a bunch of magic erasers. They worked but now I only have 1 left and only managed to clean 5% of the boat as they fall apart too fast.

Finally I got some Amazon Dinghy Cleaner. I don't know what's in it and it didn't have any directions on it (so wear gloves). Spraying it on and letting to sit a minute then scrubbing with a pad and using a hand brush it clesner the dinghy pretty good. By that I mean it wasn't a lot of hard work, didn't seem to hurt the dinghy, didn't take the new numbers off, and did a good job of cleaning 9 months of full time cruising dirt off. I still have 1/2 the bottle and it also seems to clean fiberglass fairly well.

[Sandero]

what is the material you are trying to clean?

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Sandero

what is the material you are trying to clean?

I was cleaning PVC

[Tayana42]

Sailorboy1, sounds as though you had good results with that product from Amazon. I used this citrus cleaner and protectant from Bixler. It worker well on PVC but was not cheap. Yours may be just as good and more economical.
http://shop.inflatableboatparts.com/...aning-kit.html.

[Pete7]

This side of the pond we use Traffic Film Remover (TFR). AT £12 for 5 litres it goes a long way and I use it all over the boat.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/traf...l-concentrate/

Use gloves when neat or dilute with water to wash large areas.

Alternatively if you prefer buying it at chandlers prices in a posh bottle then:

Rib Revive - Rib & inflatable boat tube cleaner

Pete

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

Sailorboy1, sounds as though you had good results with that product from Amazon. I used this citrus cleaner and protectant from Bixler. It worker well on PVC but was not cheap. Yours may be just as good and more economical.
Bixler's Orange Off and Protectant Cleaning Kit.

OK that's a 2 part product. I did basically the same thing but used 301
(302?) protectant afterward. I would say between the 2 products I used it cost about the same as that orange stuff.

[JPA Cate]

We, too have a PVC dinghy. Normally just clean it with sea water and a scritcher pad. However, it got some awful green and black stuff growing on it where the tubes attach to the aluminum floor, and I attacked that with household mold remover. Just a light spray, and a wipe with the dinghy sponge, rinse in sea water. Came all the way off, not much labor. The mold remover contains both lye and bleach, but it is dilute. Bought it at the grocery store.

There are lots of products available for protecting pvc. Think car convertible tops. How much good they actually do, I haven't figured out. Probably should treat just one side, and compare the two.

Ann