Here Come the Newbie questions

MarlTroutBum

Hey All, 

First time boat owner and I have LOTS of questions.  I'll try and parse them in small chunks.  First two:

1. What does everyone use to clean the inside of their boat.  The Marina guys told me anything from warn soapy water to Fantastic.  Can I use Simple Green?  I use it on everything else and kinda like the smell.  But I am not sure if Simple Green is too harsh and will eat away at the stitching.
2. Just brought the boat home on Tuesday and started washing it in my driveway.  I noticed the the floor drain behind the Captain seat is not draining. So I stuck my hose nozzle in the drain, pulled the trigger, then water started coming out the drain on the startboard side.  Once I turned off the hose, the remaining water rushed back into the boat an added to my existing puddle.  Can I "snake" the think with a normal plumbers snake? Any other ideas?

Thanks for you time and feedback.

MarlTroutBum
2014 Sundeck Sport 202 I/O
260hp Mercruiser 5.0l MPI.  

nquirk

@MarlTroutBum‌

Congrats on the new boat.

For cleaning, you're absolutely correct anything and everything goes.  I typically don't use much more than a gentle cleaner for the inside of the boat.  I've used Simple Green, and don't have any issues and also have now switched to a product called AquaTek.  It's amazing and is the only thing I've found that gets rid of the black streaks on my fiberglass.

What you shouldn't use is any abrasive cleaners and particularly the Mr. Clean Magic erasers.  They're abrasive and will damage the finish.

For the vinyl, simply purchase a marine vinyl cleaner/protectant on the seat surfaces.  

As for your drain, it should be unobstructed and I assume it drains out your scupper (notice it should have a flap on it).

This will make it hard to snake, but a trick I've heard of that works, is using a shop vac and from the deck side, sucking any debris from the hose.  Since water passes with the use of a hose, I assume its not completely blocked but certainly has some debris in there.  Try that and let us know how it goes.

 

Ernest_T

For vinyl I like 303 Aerospace cleaner and protectant.  We keep a coat of this on the seats and other vinyl and plastic stuff, and its still looking great after 4 years.  I think the most important thing for the interior of the boat is keeping it dry.  If you leave moisture under the cover you get mold and mildew pretty fast, and that ruins everything.  We are careful to dry the boat before we cover it, and we leave reusable moisture absorbers on the boat.

MarlTroutBum

Hey nquirk, I took your advice and it did not help the problem.  Come to find out there is a second drain not draining correctly, the drain under the captains chair.  In doing a little tinkering, I have discovered the angle of the drain hoses is incorrect.  Once I was able to access the drain under the captain's chair and bend it down some, it began draining fine.  

Now how the aft drain on the starboard is a whole different issue.  I will have to remove the entire battery compartment to access and mess with that one.  I think I'll leave that one for the marina to fix at my 20 hour service.  What a PITA!

Hey Ernest T, that 303 Aerospace got great reviews at my local West Marine.  I picked up a bottle yesterday and applied it last night.  Thanks for the recommendation!

bshippjr

I also use the 303 Protectant and the vinyl on my 2000 looks great.  Also use it on rubber (I have also started using it on my car dash and the rubber gaskets around the doors).

I also recommend the 303 Fabric Guard on the bimini and boat cover.

CaptainChris

@Ernest T‌ Thanks for the moisture absorbing product suggestion. I had never even heard of such a thing. I put one in my boat a couple weeks ago, and today when I took it out, bye bye musty smell! I use a vented cover, so I was perplexed as to what to do about the mold/mildew issue; I happened to stumble on this thread. I actually also just bought some 303 from Amazon because of good reviews there. Glad to see it get a positive rating here too. Thanks again!

Ernest_T

Yea, I live in the humid south where fighting mold and mildew is a constant battle.  I also put some of these things under my cover for winter storage and in enclosed compartments like the head, and ski locker:  

rdcastle

MarlTroutBum:

From personal experience on my 2001 GS201 O/B, those drains are routed such that it is difficult to get them to be reliable. The fitting at the bottom of the captains chair actually goes down and then up before the "T" that connects the fitting behind the chair. I have tried to re-route but the actual thru-hull discharge is not low enough to allow this to work correctly. We are frequently clearing the leaves, etc. that somehow make it out to the boat which is stored on a lift 60 feet from nearest trees!! I generally just tilt the cradle to that side a bit to help it along. I am also considering adding a transom mounted thru-hull and re-routing the drains in that direction. Just have to be mindful of the waterline and install a valve on the discharge end.

rdcastle

MarlTroutBum:

Some products will damage the vinyl like 409, Armor-All, and a few others. I downloaded the Hurricane Owners Manual from the link on the main forum page and that info is clearly stated in there. It gives advice on cleaning stains/mildew that won't damage the finishes.

HydroCanis

I read the recommendation for Fantastik, but the only Fantastik I see on shelves advertises that it has some new ingredient. So I don't know if it's still suitable for use on the vinyl.  Anyone on that? Also, yesterday I used a tad of WD40 to remove some goo left on the hull by plain masking tape. I figured that wasn't as bad as GooGone or something else with strong solvents, but still washed it off with soapy water afterwards. Is there a particular goo solvent least harmful to gel coats?

tally_sundeck_2014

What product would be considered a "moisture absorbing product"? Something like damp-rid?