Warning for those hyper sensitive to any mention of a boating product
by brand name. The following material is only suitable for an adult
audience. If your world will come to an end upon reading about any
first hand experience with a boating product, please proceed to the
next thread. Thanks.



Latitude 43 Organic Boat Soap


It doesn't take very long to go around the block, a couple of times,
when it comes to boat soaps and cleaners. We are so constantly
assailed by claims of "miracle this" and "breakthrough that" that it
is easy to become extremely skeptical of grandiose claims made by the
purveyors of soaps and cleansers of every type.

Readers of this publication will be aware that a current editorial
theme is the real-world disconnect between official edicts that
proscribe the use of detergents and other chemicals and the practical
need to keep our boats clean. We received an enormous amount of public
comment following our initial editorial, "Back Away From the Boat
Soap, And Keep Both Hands in the Air!" Among those who called or
emailed was a Mr. Nix., the newly appointed local distributor for a
brand of boat soap made in Vermont.

"You should tell your readers about our soap," said Nix. "It's 100%
USDA certified organic, it doesn't pollute, doesn't make suds, doesn't
consume oxygen in the water, and doesn't contain phosphates or
nitrates or petroleum distillates."

After a few previous trips around the block, I couldn't help thinking,
"One of the unmentioned 'doesn'ts' is probably that it doesn't work
very well." Being intellectually and editorially curious, however, I
accepted Mr. Nix's offer to try a free sample of his product. He left
a 32-ounce bottle for me to pick up at Ray Rairdon's Yacht Sales, and
I called for it the following day.

My sample was a red, white, and blue trigger spray bottle labeled,
"Super Strength Cleaner. Latitude 43 Organic Boat Soap. The World's
only certified organic boat soap.
Chemical free. Non-toxic. Biodegradable. Phosphate and nitrate free.
Non-polluting. Safely Cleans Everything on Board" Frankly, I thought
that sounded like a lot of fancy claims, and general experience has
established that the broader and more elaborate the claims made by a
soap or cleanser manufacturer the more disappointing the results were
likely to be.

A week before Memorial Day, I took advantage of the opportunity to try
the Latitude 43 Organic Boat Soap. My most optimistic expectations
were that this non-detergent, non-phosphate organic product might work
about as well as the high phosphate, detergent-based "biodegradable"
boat soap I normally used when washing my boat. I must report that the
product did not meet my most optimistic expectations- it blew so far
past them that I wouldn't have believed the results if I hadn't
experienced them firsthand.

I began by reading the instructions on the bottle, followed them a
little bit, and then ignored them entirely. "Directions: Shake well.
Wet surface to be cleaned. Spray on Latitude 43 Organic Boat Soap.
Spread over surface. Wait a couple of minutes to let Latitude 43 do
the work for you. Lightly scrub with pad or brush. Rinse thoroughly
with fresh water."

Nix had additionally emphasized the importance of shaking the bottle
before use, and I did. I then hosed down "Indulgence" with a fresh
water rinse, flushing away some of the loosest crud and grime in the
process. My ultimate plan was to dilute the 32 ounces of Latitude 43
into three gallons of water and use it as a general boat soap, but
first I had a couple of difficult cleaning challenges in mind that
would require following the manufacturer's directions more
specifically.

Spider Poo and Masking Goo:

One of the downsides of "covered moorage" is spider dung. Spiders not
only eat flies, mosquitoes, and anything else they can catch in a web
but they also digest the bugs and finally are forced to "do" what all
animals do when a meal has made its course through the digestive
system. Smart alecks have suggested that "covered moorage" means that
your boat will soon enough be covered- and spider poo is one of the
more stubborn stains to remove. The high acid content of a spider's
stomach can actually penetrate gelcoat or paint if spider droppings
are left to molder on a boat.

Following last summer's paint job, I moved back into covered moorage
and have become reacquainted with the specific challenges of cleaning
up after spiders living the rafters. I thought I'd put the Latitude 43
cleaner to what had to be an ultimate test, the removal of spider
dung.

During the rinse down, I noticed a few little round black spots on the
brow above the pilothouse windows. Spiders had left calling cards
there, and the spots would need to be removed. I sprayed some Latitude
43 cleaner directly on the spider droppings, and then waited a couple
of minutes to see what might result. I have used a lot of elbow grease
and cleaner wax for this process in the past, so I had a good deal of
respect for the tenacity of a spider stain. I was amazed to see the
spider spot quite literally "melting" away, with a small stream of
black goo beginning to run down the angled surface of the brow. I
blasted the area a few minutes later with a second rinse-down of fresh
water, and the spider droppings disappeared entirely.

Results initially appeared to be a little less spectacular on some
dirty spots atop the main cabin. I had masked around some teak
handrails when building up the varnish on brightwork during late
summer and fall months. There was no way to know when the masking tape
was initially removed that some of the adhesive had transferred from
the tape to the paint, but as the transferred adhesive began filling
up with dirt over the next couple of months it was very easy to see
just exactly where the adhesive spots were located. Prior attacks with
a soapy brush had left the dirty goo in place, and I was expecting to
have to spend a couple of hours very carefully scraping up the dirty
goo with a single-edge razor blade.

The technique that worked so well on the spider droppings didn't
appear to be working on the masking goo. After spraying the dirty
adhesive spots and letting the Latitude 43 work for a few minutes I
sprayed the areas involved with fresh water and didn't note any
specific results. I experimented with pushing at a spot of adhesive
with my bare finger, and discovered that it lifted away the underlying
paint with ease. In a matter of several minutes I managed to finger-
scrub all of the adhesive spots off the cabin top, without running any
risk of damaging the paint with a tedious scraping process involving a
razor blade.

General washdown:

Assuming that my direct sprays on the spider poo and masking goo used
a couple of ounces of Latitude 43 organic boat soap, I had about 30
ounces left to pour into my 4 gallon wash bucket. I added about two
and a half gallons of water, and worried that might be too much as Mr.
Nix had recommended diluting it "about 3 to 1" when using it as a
general wash solution. My normal wash tool is a lamb's wool pad that
interchanges with a boat hook on the end of an aluminum extension
pole. I never scrub very aggressively when cleaning the hull or
superstructure.

Shortly after I began "soaping" down the cabin top, the nylon gizmo
that connects the lambs wool to the extension pole came loose and
refused to be refastened. I wound up doing a wash job that was pretty
up close and personal, with lamb's wool pad in hand for most of the
process.

Using Latitude 43 is a decidedly different experience from using most
boat soaps. There are virtually no suds at all, (so there is nothing
to alert environmental tattle tales that any substance other than
water is being used to clean a boat). One of the more difficult
surfaces to clean, in my opinion, is a nonskid deck. The cabin top and
boat deck of my boat have a non-skid finish, and a single pass with
the lamb's wool pad dipped into the diluted Latitude 43 cleaned the
nonskid down to the paint. Dirt that had been collecting for months
was gone, gone, gone.

The smooth surfaces cleaned up almost instantly. Dirt seemed to all
but disappear when with a single brush of the lamb's wool pad. There
was far less rubbing and scrubbing involved than with a traditional
detergent based soap product.

One unexpected result of the wash down was the ability of the Latitude
43 to clean metal parts. There are several bronze portlights and hawse
fittings on my boat, and all have developed a traditional "green"
patina. With only a slight amount of rubbing with the lamb's wool,
much of the patina was removed by the diluted cleaner. I suspect that
a full-strength application would prove very useful in cleaning and
polishing bronze.

In reasonably short order, my boat was cleaner that at any time since
I picked it up from the paint shop last July 3. This stuff works, and
works extremely well. I still had about half a gallon of diluted
material in the bucket, so I could have washed our 36-foot boat with
something less than 32-ounces of soap.

What's in it?

So, if there are no toxins, no chemicals, no phosphates, no
detergents, and no nitrates in Latitude 43, what makes it work?
According to the label, USDA Certified ingredients a Organic,
saponified coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba oil, organic
vegetable glycerin, organic lemongrass essential oil, organic aloe
vera, rosemary extract, and other natural essential oils. The
ingredients sound a lot like something that could be sold for bubble
bath, if only it made any noticeable amount of soap bubbles. You could
probably drink a bottle and survive, although it might be wise not to
wander too far away from the head should you decide to conduct such an
experiment. About the only unexpected side effect is a not-so-
unpleasant citrus smell surrounding the boat after it is washed,
(fortunately boats are all "she's" so there is no gender oriented
embarrassment).
Oh, and since I wound up hand washing the boat with the lamb's wool
pad my hands also have a sort of perfumed smell to them; and quite
likely haven't been this surgically clean since I was born.

Boaters concerned about the possible environmental effects of
traditional soaps and cleaners, (as well as anybody interesting in
having a fabulously clean boat) might want to consider trying a bottle
of Latitude 43. It is available at 1-888-43lat43 or online at www.lat43.com.
After using up my sample bottle, I will most definitely be a regular
customer for this product.

On 19 May 2007 19:10:13 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

I began by reading the instructions on the bottle, followed them a
little bit, and then ignored them entirely.

Wow. You mean I'm not the only one who does that?

Cool...

On 19 May 2007 19:10:13 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

USDA Certified ingredients a Organic,
saponified coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba oil, organic
vegetable glycerin, organic lemongrass essential oil, organic aloe
vera, rosemary extract, and other natural essential oils.

Sounds like a salad dressing.

I'm buying some to use on the Ranger.

It better be good or you will never hear the end of it. :)

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 19 May 2007 19:10:13 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

USDA Certified ingredients a Organic,
saponified coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba oil, organic
vegetable glycerin, organic lemongrass essential oil, organic aloe
vera, rosemary extract, and other natural essential oils.

Sounds like a salad dressing.

I'm buying some to use on the Ranger.

It better be good or you will never hear the end of it. :)


Isn't that the boat with the windup motor? :?}

On Sat, 19 May 2007 22:55:26 -0400, HK wrote:

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 19 May 2007 19:10:13 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

USDA Certified ingredients a Organic,
saponified coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba oil, organic
vegetable glycerin, organic lemongrass essential oil, organic aloe
vera, rosemary extract, and other natural essential oils.

Sounds like a salad dressing.

I'm buying some to use on the Ranger.

It better be good or you will never hear the end of it. :)

Isn't that the boat with the windup motor? :?}

No - that would any boat with a Yamaha.

I nparticular Yamaha four chokes.

Let us know how it is on your salad as well!

--Mike

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On 19 May 2007 19:10:13 -0700, Chuck Gould
wrote:

USDA Certified ingredients a Organic,
saponified coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba oil, organic
vegetable glycerin, organic lemongrass essential oil, organic aloe
vera, rosemary extract, and other natural essential oils.

Sounds like a salad dressing.

I'm buying some to use on the Ranger.

It better be good or you will never hear the end of it. :)

On May 19, 7:51 pm, Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 19 May 2007 19:10:13 -0700, Chuck Gould

wrote:
USDA Certified ingredients a Organic,
saponified coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba oil, organic
vegetable glycerin, organic lemongrass essential oil, organic aloe
vera, rosemary extract, and other natural essential oils.

Sounds like a salad dressing.

I'm buying some to use on the Ranger.

It better be good or you will never hear the end of it. :)

If you get the same sort of results I did, you'll be very pleased.
It's nice to be able to use a cleaner that is environmentally friendly
*and* does a good job. With your interest in conservation, etc, it
isn't surprising that you would want to try this out.

Chuck Gould wrote:
:What's in it?

:So, if there are no toxins, no chemicals, no phosphates, no
:detergents, and no nitrates in Latitude 43, what makes it work?
:According to the label, USDA Certified ingredients a Organic,
:saponified coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba oil, organic
:vegetable glycerin, organic lemongrass essential oil, organic aloe
:vera, rosemary extract, and other natural essential oils. The

Saponified coconut oil is more commonly known as "soap".

"David Scheidt" wrote in message
...
Chuck Gould wrote:
:What's in it?

:So, if there are no toxins, no chemicals, no phosphates, no
:detergents, and no nitrates in Latitude 43, what makes it work?
:According to the label, USDA Certified ingredients a Organic,
:saponified coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba oil, organic
:vegetable glycerin, organic lemongrass essential oil, organic aloe
:vera, rosemary extract, and other natural essential oils. The

Saponified coconut oil is more commonly known as "soap".

But it is organic..............like
Tofu..............ahaaaahhhhuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmm.

When long chain fatty acids are 'saponified'in a strong alkali solution,
the result is 'soap', which is the alkali salt of acids of the natural
fats. Therefore, the 'saponified coconut oil' forms the alkali base of
the cleaner.
JR

David Scheidt wrote:

Chuck Gould wrote:
:What's in it?

:So, if there are no toxins, no chemicals, no phosphates, no
:detergents, and no nitrates in Latitude 43, what makes it work?
:According to the label, USDA Certified ingredients a Organic,
:saponified coconut oil, organic olive oil, organic jojoba oil, organic
:vegetable glycerin, organic lemongrass essential oil, organic aloe
:vera, rosemary extract, and other natural essential oils. The

Saponified coconut oil is more commonly known as "soap".


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