Yes, Algae Strip is an acid based fiberglass cleaner and it will damage your driveway. VS721 is recommended by boat manufacturers to prevent osmosis blisters. Other benefits are improved performance and reduced fuel consumption. VS721 will reduce the attachment of marine growth and seal the pores in the fiberglass to protect against osmosis blisters. You can apply one now and the second in the spring before launch. and then protecting the bottom with VS721 Bottom Coat. I recommend that you deep clean the bottom with Boat Scrub to remove any residue, scuffing, oxidation etc. After cleaning the marine growth and stains, it makes sense to protect your boat against reoccurrence of attachment of algae, zebra mussels, barnacles etc. Algae Strip can darken stainless or bronze and can corrode aluminum. If your boat is aluminum or if you have metal parts that you are trying to clean, including the propeller, or painted lower units of stern drives or outboards, I suggest that you use Algex as it is intended for cleaning metal without damage. You should still protect your trailer as all heavy duty cleaners can cause damage to the bunks and finish. It has other advantages of being safer to use and can be sprayed on as well as applied with a paint roller. It works just as well but takes a bit longer (30 to 60 minutes instead of 15 to 30 minutes for Algae Strip). It is more environment friendly but not so aggressive. It is a new formulation that uses organic salts instead of acids. It also biodegrades rapidly when reacting with marine growth or when rinsed with water so although the active cleaner can cause damage to your trailer the effluent will not and will not damage the environment.Īnother alternative for cleaning the bottom is Green Genie. Dollar stores sell inexpensive plastic sheeting used as drop cloths for painting which will work for this purpose.Īlgae Strip works very aggressively to remove marine growth from fiberglass but is inhibited so it will not damage the fiberglass. Once you have the trailer lifted off the bunks, you can protect your trailer with plastic sheeting or plastic garbage bags. The solution is quite simple and is covered at some length in another section of this blog under “Getting Under the Trailer Bunks”. Besides cleaning the bottom of your boat, you have two other issues one is protecting the trailer against damage and the second is cleaning the parts of your boat that are resting on the bunks. Not making the pore physically bigger than it was originally.Algae Strip is an acid based fiberglass boat cleaner and if applied or dripped directly onto the bunks or the trailer will cause damage. By "open up" i mean removing any foreign matter that filled in the pore to start with. I'm by not means an expert so more than likely I'm not explaining it clearly. this site is also a decent explanation (see the cleaner section at the bottom).Īnother on the meguiars site, see the meguiar's tech 1st post on gelcoats: The Hull Truth usually has a thread once a month on it. Just do a google search for gelcoat porous or pores and there are a gazillion sites probably doing a better job at explaining it. Since this is merely a filling and not a chemical bond it isn't permanent, which is one of the reasons you have to reapply wax every so often. Waxes help prevent this by sealing(filling in) these holes making the surface smooth at the molecular level. I guess I need to go back and first explain that gelcoats have pores,granted its at the mircoscopic level, but that is how stains and algae get a foothold on the surface. Oxalic acid is the worst, but all acids especially after repeated use will indeed open up the pores(not make bigger, just open back to original size when the gelcoat was applied/cured), some believe they will even make new ones similar to how etching works, but I've not seen firm proof on that when acid cleaners are used properly.
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