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Wet n Forget, Spray & Walk Away etc to keep your boat decks clean?


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Anyone used one of these products with any success to keep their decks clean?

 

I'm trying to think of why it wouldn't work, or if there is anything in these sort of cleaners that could damage your decks paintwork?  As far as I am aware - and feel free to correct me - these "walk away and let the rain do their bit" cleaning agents do not have harsh substances like ammonia, in them.

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You need to check the bottle. In really little print right down the bottom of the lable, there will the "active ingredient". There are two commonly in use.
Sodium Hypochlorite, which is simply known as bleach. It kills and makes Algae and Mould disappear in minutes. That is the ingredient used in "Gone in 30seconds". I have used diluted amounts on paintwork before with no issues. But I would still be cautious. DO NOT spray onto Sails and Covers.

The other is Benzalkonium Chloride. This stuff is much slower to work. More commonly the "Spray and walk away" "Wet and Forget" type products. It does not bleach and is totally safe to use on Paint and pretty much anything for that matter. It does kill all the Algae and Moulds, but they all disappear in days, to a week, not minutes. Totally safe to spray onto Sails and Covers.

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If you are going to go that way then check out this one:

 

http://www.soakncroak.com/page/What_is_soak_n_Croak/

 

Much better value for money and the same ingredient.. But I am still wary of and don't spray it onto any fabrics that are natural or have cotton stitching. Apart from that works perfectly and hasn't affected any painted surfaces I have used it on. And the results are perfect... ;-)

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What about on glass boats .... Any gel cote issues ?

Can't say: My boat is glass but that old it is all painted. I have however used it on my much more modern motor vehicles and not had any issues with the lacquer finishes.

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I've used wet n forget on our boat in the Weiti. Good for that green slime and green staining you get this time of year.

Won't help with the pollen blowing around at the moment though...

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Yeah , never use bleach.  generally you run the wet and forget diluted a bit for the boat and more like 10/ 1 for the sails and covers and rope. Been doing it for the last 5 or 10 years , great on the teak  because you don't need to do any scrubbing ( which you try to never do)...stops that green slime from turning into that black crap. Good for a furled jib too  ,cuts back that stuff that gets into the laminates or UV strip.

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If you go the Wet & Forget way, go to TARGET CLEANING SUPPLIES in Onehunga, 49 Victoria Road. They have the same product for WAY, I mean WAY less than Wet & Forget. :thumbup:

 

I've been using it on paths etc for a few years now. as always, check contents etc, don't take my word on it.

 

They don't do delivery though so it's helpful for Aklers only.

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If you go the Wet & Forget way, go to TARGET CLEANING SUPPLIES in Onehunga, 49 Victoria Road. They have the same product for WAY, I mean WAY less than Wet & Forget. :thumbup:

 

I've been using it on paths etc for a few years now. as always, check contents etc, don't take my word on it.

 

They don't do delivery though so it's helpful for Aklers only.

Cheers! :thumbup:

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As Wheels noted, Benzalkonium Chloride is the safer and preferred way to go. I source mine from Hamilton Chemicals, in 80%w/w concentration for about $60 for 20L. This is considerably cheaper than the commercially marketed products such as 30 seconds spray and walk away, and wet'n'forget, which are about that price for 5L or 10-20%w/w concentration and a bit of dye.  

 

Whats most important is that 30 seconds, wet'n'forget and some others make both the Sodium Hypochlorite AND the Benzalkonium Chloride products. READ THE LABEL. check what your getting. Example being 30 seconds outdoor cleaner, and 30 seconds spray and walk away.

 

Sodium Hypochlorite is widely used for removing proteins from food preparation facilities, and will do equally well at removing proteins from your skin. It also removes colour from most materials, rots clothes, kills plants animals and people if ingested or enough fumes are inhaled, attacks rubber and damages many surfaces.

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I've been pointed to Napisan or fabric whiteners for cleaning up sheets, lines etc.

Active stuff sodium percarbonate, sodium tripolyphoshate and sodium alkyl Benzene sulphate

 

 

Percarbonate is kind of a solid form of Peroxide. It produces oxygen in a form that acts as a bleach. It is also the main ingredient in Purcell laundry detergent.

Tripolyphosphate is a water softener. If you have seen the adds on detergents that say Phosphate free, TPP is the stuff they leave out and use some other chemical to do that job.

Alkyl Benzene Sulphate is a surfactant. In other words, it stops the little bits of Dirt and Grease that wash away from the material being washed, from re attaching itself to the material. The dirt is then held in suspension and gets removed when the water is pumped out.

Another good detergent to use is simple Dish washing liquid. It is excellent at cutting through grease. But as the active ingredient is Sodium Laureth Sulphate (and also under a heap of other names) it foams lots. So don't use in a machine. By the way, it is the exact same ingredient used in Shampoo and Body washes etc.

 

I real important point KM has left out, is that when washing lines, DO NOT use Hot Water. Use luke warm. Hot will harden the lines up like rods.

Also, don't machine wash. The fibres go all fluffy on the outside sheath. It is better to Soak and then slosh around a bit by hand if you can.

 

I tell ya, when you start learning about these chemicals, you start to realise that it's an ingredient full of collosal bucket fulls of Advertising BS. Often many varying detergents are damn near identical, but we pay for the name and the marketing crap that punters are fleeced by.

 

Ha, reminds me, anyone seen that add on TV for "Alpacine, Caffeine Shampoo....German Engineering" . What a load of bollocks. I don't know how these companies can get away with this advertising BS.

 

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I heard recently that the $1.99 disinfectant from pak n save was as good as Wet n Forget for restoring the back deck at home. Then about a week later I heard the same thing from an unrelated source. So I tried it.

 

I poured it on last week and sorta sloshed it around a bit with a broom. One week on and it's looking pretty good, I suspect another quick once-over and it'll look like new.

 

I swear I could see a difference between the colouring this morning, and by tonight, after a full awesome spring day.

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Not surprising, because the active ingredient of Dettol is Benzalkonium Chloride. So it stands to reason that it would be the same in all or most all disinfectants. Good find madyottie and goes to show what I described above re detergents etc, that we pay through the nose for marketing hype and name.

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hit the deck from wet and forget has same active ingredient as nappisan. Jusst need to do the maths on concentrations to get same brew. I used 'hit the deck' at home, then found no brand nappi cleaner did the same at a fraction off the cost.

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Once more, hats off to Crew for saving the wife time and money. Oops I mean, me time and money. Bought the pak an save stuff for 1.59 for 2 litres. Spread it on our hardwood deck which has thick green algae and was tough to get off with our one lung Karcher water blaster.

 

I did four patches: neat, 2:1 (2 disinfectant to 1 water), 1:1, 1:2.

Worked fine at 1:1 and above but not so good at 1:2.

 

We couldn’t leave it and walk away as it is way way way slippery so I did two tests: blast it off in 10 mins and another after an hour. 10 mins is not long enough. After an hour it sloughed off like leper skin.

 

Next test will be to spread a bit where we don’t walk and walk away and see what happens (when it stops raining).

 

And wheels is correct: active ingredient is some chemical with a long name.

 

Cheers Madyottie.

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