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re: Brown stain on boat hull - best way to remove?
Posted on 5/1/25 at 3:30 am to Mister Bigfish
Posted on 5/1/25 at 3:30 am to Mister Bigfish
quote:
Starbrite hull cleaner. Follow the directions on the bottle.
Works well. Just plan to wax right after as others mentioned. It strips off everything. And with no wax, you'll have stains again after the first trip. Keep a good wax job and clean your boat regularly because you won't want to do the starbrite treatment regularly.
Posted on 5/1/25 at 6:17 am to hunt66
Booyah hull cleaner, won’t strip off the wax like Starbrite. I buy a spray bottle and gallon size to refill. Have to use after every use (gel coat stains easy) it hasn’t messed with my ceramic coating.
Posted on 5/1/25 at 6:36 am to hunt66
Take a 5gallon bucket next time
Posted on 5/1/25 at 6:54 am to hunt66
The reason why it stains is porosity in the gelcoat from being old and oxidized. The quick way to make it white is to use booyah or star rite hull cleaner. These were designed just for this purpose, the brown will disappear upon contact but it will come back because of the older gelcoat.
The long term way to prevent brown stains is to either polish the gelcoat or paint the surface. Polish takes a lot of steps usually starting with wet sanding to get it right. Makes a beautiful finish that can be sealed and won’t stain… for a while. Paint is actually a really good solution. I love gelcoat but as far as finishes go a quality marine paint like awlgrip is superior and will not stain because it won’t become porous like gelcoat over time. Gelcoat is easier to repair.
Start with hull cleaner and if you have time I would at least try to compound/wax the hull
The long term way to prevent brown stains is to either polish the gelcoat or paint the surface. Polish takes a lot of steps usually starting with wet sanding to get it right. Makes a beautiful finish that can be sealed and won’t stain… for a while. Paint is actually a really good solution. I love gelcoat but as far as finishes go a quality marine paint like awlgrip is superior and will not stain because it won’t become porous like gelcoat over time. Gelcoat is easier to repair.
Start with hull cleaner and if you have time I would at least try to compound/wax the hull
Posted on 5/1/25 at 7:20 am to hunt66
I had good luck with toilet bowl cleaner. The cling gel type. Smear it on let it sit for a few minutes then scrub it off and rinse. Also startbrite hull cleaner works well just be careful around a galvanized trailer with that stuff.
Eta: one weekend in a dead end slip down in cocodrie would put stains on a boat if you didn’t clean right away.
Eta: one weekend in a dead end slip down in cocodrie would put stains on a boat if you didn’t clean right away.
This post was edited on 5/1/25 at 7:22 am
Posted on 5/1/25 at 8:16 am to hunt66
Aluminum Brite
Make sure you rinse the trailer good after using it and you will need to wax the bottom of the boat once complete.
Make sure you rinse the trailer good after using it and you will need to wax the bottom of the boat once complete.
Posted on 5/1/25 at 8:44 am to Jon A thon
For me it was the WORKS, but I can’t find that product anymore. Spray it on and rinse off no scrubbing.
Posted on 5/1/25 at 8:48 am to WizardSleeve
quote:
Paint is actually a really good solution. I love gelcoat but as far as finishes go a quality marine paint like awlgrip is superior and will not stain because it won’t become porous like gelcoat over time.
We had our last boat painted with awlgrip. I was skeptical at first, but honestly I liked it WAYYY better than gel coat. Nothing stuck to it, could just spray off with a hose and it stayed looking brand new.

Posted on 5/2/25 at 12:46 pm to hunt66
Booya hull cleaner works great.
Posted on 5/2/25 at 5:57 pm to hunt66
Fiberglass? Sand it and re wax it.
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