On Apr 12, 4:35*pm, John H wrote:
On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:28:53 -0700 (PDT), Tim wrote:
the tubes have some lake scum on them, Not green now, but dried on
from the winter,a nd really not that bad, but still stained from the
water lines. I'm not a fan of using muratic acid, but the stuff is
used in truck washes a lot or at least used to be. I don't know if
they're allowd to use it now or not.

anyone have any ideas on how to clean the aluminum safely? I do have a
power washer. But what ever I use, I'd like to keep it fromspraying on
the interior, unless it's safe for the vinyl apholstry.

I use oxalic acid to clean the brown stains off the boat, which is fiberglass.
It's never hurt the finish, and does a great job removing the stain. I bought a
box of the crystals at a hardware store and mix about a tablespoon to a couple
quarts of water. Then I spray it on with a hand-held sprayer.

Don't know how it would work on aluminum, but it's not very strong, so shouldn't
hurt anything. If the stain is tannin, oxalic acid should do a job on it.

Thanks John, I'm gonna take Greg's advice concerning the pontoon, but
that's a good idea for the v-hulls I have. They're looking like they
could use some cleaning too!

On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:28:21 -0700 (PDT), Tim wrote:

On Apr 12, 4:35*pm, John H wrote:
On Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:28:53 -0700 (PDT), Tim wrote:
the tubes have some lake scum on them, Not green now, but dried on
from the winter,a nd really not that bad, but still stained from the
water lines. I'm not a fan of using muratic acid, but the stuff is
used in truck washes a lot or at least used to be. I don't know if
they're allowd to use it now or not.

anyone have any ideas on how to clean the aluminum safely? I do have a
power washer. But what ever I use, I'd like to keep it fromspraying on
the interior, unless it's safe for the vinyl apholstry.

I use oxalic acid to clean the brown stains off the boat, which is fiberglass.
It's never hurt the finish, and does a great job removing the stain. I bought a
box of the crystals at a hardware store and mix about a tablespoon to a couple
quarts of water. Then I spray it on with a hand-held sprayer.

Don't know how it would work on aluminum, but it's not very strong, so shouldn't
hurt anything. If the stain is tannin, oxalic acid should do a job on it.

Thanks John, I'm gonna take Greg's advice concerning the pontoon, but
that's a good idea for the v-hulls I have. They're looking like they
could use some cleaning too!

I wouldn't use muriatic acid on aluminum either. But oxalic acid is nowhere
close to muriatic, especially when mixed at a tablespoon to half gallon ratio.