Nothing affects the quality of your boat’s appearance quite like a stain. Stains might not have anything to do with the function of your boat—but once a stain settles in, it can permanently change the way it looks. If you want your boat’s life to extend for years and years, you’ll have to address any stains as they develop. To help you, here’s a simple guide on how to remove stains from a boat hull.
Strategies For Reducing Stains
Before we talk about cleaning, let’s get one thing clear: there are ways you can prevent oxidation and staining. Take care of your fiberglass hull is essential. Perhaps the most important step is to wax your hull. Giving your hull a proper coat of wax can reduce the potential for staining and help prevent other issues like color degradation and UV damage.
Use LifeWax as your primary product here. Because it’s designed for fiberglass hulls and can handle even tropical climates, it will adhere to your boat with consistency and durability. Used in conjunction with PolyShine, you’ll find that LifeWax can even give your boat the protection it needs for years to come.
Cleaning A Stain Once You See It
When learning how to remove stains from a boat hull, the key is to get to work as soon as you see it. The longer you let a stain set in, the more difficult it’s going to be to erase. That’s as true for a wine stain on the couch as it is on your boat. But what do you do with your fiberglass once you see a stain?
If you have a spot stain, you might simply try a general Boat Cleaner first. Our Boat Cleaner is designed for use all around the boat. It can handle new stains easily without affecting the quality of the underlying material.
The key here is to make sure that you use a product specifically designed for the material you’re working with. For example, you might find that some cleaning products can be harsh when used on fiberglass—but products specifically designed for fiberglass stains can be especially effective, including:
- Fiberglass Powder Cleaner and Stain Remover. It’s all in the name. While this stain remover can indeed handle older set-in stains, it’s just as effective at handling the stains you’ve just noticed. And because it’s specifically designed to handle fiberglass, you’ll have full confidence that your boat’s hull will be just fine.
- Aluminum Cleaner.
What if your stain isn’t developing on fiberglass but on an aluminum section of your boat? Cleaning aluminum can be tricky, which is why it’s so important to find the dedicated product that can handle it while being gentle to the metal underneath.
More Great Boat Cleaning & Maintenance Products
Keeping your boat free of blemishes is about two things: prevention and using the right products for your boat’s materials. When you’re knowledgeable about both strategies, you can use cleaning products from BoatLIFE to maintain the like-new appearance of your hull for years to come.
