Werner Hamp wrote:
Sorry for the double post. Trying out the new forum. Web site looks great Jay et al.
My neighbor was grinding metal on his boat and as a result I ended up with thousands of tiny rust spots on part of Rhapsody's topside gelcoat. I purchased a product called RustAid from Ace Hardware for $2.99 which worked just fine in removing the stains. Now for the good part. I am redoing the finish on my caprails and have quite a bit of black water staining around the bungs and joints. This product, which sprays out as a gel, got on some of my teak and did an absolutely fantastic job of bleaching out the wood. I tried some on the stained areas of the caprail and this stuff is way better than anything I have ever tried on teak. It does not eat the soft part, is harmless to gelcoat and sprays off clean leaving the teak looking like fresh wood. The ingredients are Oxalic and Hydrochloric acid. Must be mild 'cause it didn't burn my skin either.
The active ingredient in that stuff is oxalic acid. Oxalic acid is also found in many other products that also work well.
My wife's favorite is called Slimy Grimy. It comes as crystals of oxalic acid plus other stuff. You dissolve it in water. The best use of that stuff is to remove the brown mustache that appears on our white hull just above the water line. Using Slimy Grimy, it is just a case of wipe on - wipe off.