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Best boat cleaner for aluminum boat and inside the boat?

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Last year I just used normal car soap to clean the outside and vacuumed and scrubbed a little of the inside. I need something better this year. Wondering what everyone uses to clean the outside aluminum hull of the boat and then what do you use for the inside flooring and carpets etc ? Looking to get a decent product and have my baby shining ! 

  • Super User

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There are videos of people using Purple Power Aluminum Brightener with good results.  I picked up the product from O’Rieley’s but have not tried it yet for myself.  
 

 

For the inside, I clean my carpet with dawn dish soap that is not much more concentrated than when I wash dishes. 

  • Super User

If you buy cleaners from auto parts stores or Marine stores you'll pay to much. 

 

Awesome is $8 a gallon at Lowes & can be diluted if neccessary.

White vinegar and water 50/50 mix is all I’ve ever used on all my boats. In a spray bottle and use to wipe down at ramp.
Tougher stains and trailer wash with CLR and water in a bucket, but rinse thoroughly.  Carpet white vinegar and hot hot water in a carpet cleaner.
Finish it off with some Slick Mist spray speed wax. Except no wax on the seats. It makes them crack.

  • Super User

I just recently cleaned 20 years of Lake Sinclair crud off one of my aluminum pontoons with the Purple Power Aluminum cleaner to see how it would do because of how cheap it is.  The things are almost black from the water line down and ugly from the water line up.  Yes, it cleaned the crap out of them, for how cheap it was, I was very surprised.  Now, it's going to leave the aluminum fairly bright, but it's going to be a flat aluminum, by no means will it be shinny.   Sanding it with 600 grit paper and not even polishing it would make it shine a lot more.  Like many of the aluminum cleaners, it is a Muriatic Acid base, which means it also eats aluminum, so the there is no way for it to leave a shinny surface, since it's actually etching the surface off of it.  

If you want it to shine like a truckers set of polished fuel tanks, it's not going to be anywhere near that.  There is a world of difference between a polished shine and the surface you will get with any Muriatic Acid based cleaner.

  • Super User

Boat Bling products work well for me. They make hot sauce, toon sauce, vinyl sauce, and condition sauce. It’s very easy to use. Spray on and wipe off with a micro fiber towel. No water or soap or scrubbing needed.

 

https://blingsauce.com/pages/boatbling

I use this soap for washing the hull and outboard, only a couple times a year if I’m on a particularly dirt/weedy lake. 
CMX spray goes on in the spring, or in the fall before I put it away for the winter, one coat a year is all it takes to make the water and dirt bead right off. Puts a pretty decent shine on the rig too. In between washes I’ll sometimes give it a quick wipe down with a cloth and some water, but it usually stays pretty clean with the CMX. 
As for the carpet, I just vacuum as necessary and every now and again go over it with our carpet cleaner and a mild soap solution, maybe do that every other year or so. 
 

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