Hornblower
Member
- Aug 28, 2009
- 108
- Boat Info
- Boatless
- Engines
- None
So while I’m waiting for my freshwater conversion kit to arrive I’ve decided not to take my recently purchased used 04’ 260DA out in the salt water of Moriches Bay, but rather spend my time continuing to bond with the boat by exploring and learning its myriad systems and doing a little detailing.
(In case you missed me mentioning it on other posts the boat only has 16 hours on the engine. It makes me feel good to keep reminding myself of that :grin
I’ve learned so much from this site that I figure if I find something that might be of value to someone else I should share it.
I’ve read threads on this site about detailing and product recommendations, so I went ahead tried a couple of things and this is what I found.
My white vinyl seats were in pretty good shape but dirty, a little oily grime and a few small grease stains. First I washed the seats with some basic boat wash and water it move a little bit of the dirt but nothing to write home about. Then I sprayed on 303 Fabric and Vinyl cleaner, it moved quite bit of the tough stuff, but it still didn’t look that good. Then I tried Marine Spray 9 that was recommend on other threads. Using a brush and Spray 9 I got out 99% of the dirt and the seats looked great.
For the toughest dirt I tried Wesley Bleach White and that seemed to help a little too.
After the seats where dry, I used Naphtha on a rag to remove the toughest spots. I then treated the seats to 303 Protectant also recommended on this site and the seats looked awesome.
I used the 303 Protectant on the steering wheel and other plastic parts too, it’s definitely a big improvement over Armor All.
Next I washed the non skid and applied Woody Wax, again as recommend buy others on this site. Boy is it easy to use, just spray it on the brush and apply on the wet deck, let dry, rinse and wipe. Non skid looks great and it’s not slippery. I was going to wait to clean the nonskid until after my mechanic completed his work, but by using the Woody Wax the idea is that cleanup will be a lot easier with it. I’ll let you know.
Strange stain: I had an odd stain or something on the nonskid that was under the snap in carpet next to the wet bar. I was grayish in color and it seemed to have filled in the nonskid as it wasn’t that rough to the touch in that area. This stain around the edge had the pattern of the rubber carpet backing, but the carpet itself was clean and looked normal. I tried scrubbing the stain with Boat Soap, Soda Ash (Calcium Carbonate), Tilex, Wesley Bleach White, Napth even WD-40 all with nothing to show for it. Then I tried denatured Alcohol and it started to move it a little. Joe my mechanic happened by and suggested on a hunch Carburetor Cleaner. Suprisingly it worked very well and whatever it was, it is mostly gone now. Moral of the story if you ever have a mystery stain you can’t move, give Carborator Cleaner a shot.
(In case you missed me mentioning it on other posts the boat only has 16 hours on the engine. It makes me feel good to keep reminding myself of that :grin
I’ve learned so much from this site that I figure if I find something that might be of value to someone else I should share it.
I’ve read threads on this site about detailing and product recommendations, so I went ahead tried a couple of things and this is what I found.
My white vinyl seats were in pretty good shape but dirty, a little oily grime and a few small grease stains. First I washed the seats with some basic boat wash and water it move a little bit of the dirt but nothing to write home about. Then I sprayed on 303 Fabric and Vinyl cleaner, it moved quite bit of the tough stuff, but it still didn’t look that good. Then I tried Marine Spray 9 that was recommend on other threads. Using a brush and Spray 9 I got out 99% of the dirt and the seats looked great.
For the toughest dirt I tried Wesley Bleach White and that seemed to help a little too.
After the seats where dry, I used Naphtha on a rag to remove the toughest spots. I then treated the seats to 303 Protectant also recommended on this site and the seats looked awesome.
I used the 303 Protectant on the steering wheel and other plastic parts too, it’s definitely a big improvement over Armor All.
Next I washed the non skid and applied Woody Wax, again as recommend buy others on this site. Boy is it easy to use, just spray it on the brush and apply on the wet deck, let dry, rinse and wipe. Non skid looks great and it’s not slippery. I was going to wait to clean the nonskid until after my mechanic completed his work, but by using the Woody Wax the idea is that cleanup will be a lot easier with it. I’ll let you know.
Strange stain: I had an odd stain or something on the nonskid that was under the snap in carpet next to the wet bar. I was grayish in color and it seemed to have filled in the nonskid as it wasn’t that rough to the touch in that area. This stain around the edge had the pattern of the rubber carpet backing, but the carpet itself was clean and looked normal. I tried scrubbing the stain with Boat Soap, Soda Ash (Calcium Carbonate), Tilex, Wesley Bleach White, Napth even WD-40 all with nothing to show for it. Then I tried denatured Alcohol and it started to move it a little. Joe my mechanic happened by and suggested on a hunch Carburetor Cleaner. Suprisingly it worked very well and whatever it was, it is mostly gone now. Moral of the story if you ever have a mystery stain you can’t move, give Carborator Cleaner a shot.
