Trouble cleaning "non skid" decking

F

flapbreaker

New member
My "non skid" diamond patterned deck area's seem to get stained and I can't get them clean with a soap and brush. I've been thinking about maybe painting them with some kind of product but am afraid that that might be a mistake. Is there any product out there that will clean it? It seems as thought the diamond surface is a little porous unlike the gelcoat so I think that is why it's staining.
 
Just cleaned the non-skid on Pee Wee a couple weeks ago...it had sat for years without being touched. Plenty of stains...

TyBoo first mentioned it here, and he's right...Barkeeper's Friend is great stuff for getting stains out of gelcoat. I lightly wet the non-skid, then dumped the Barkeeper's Friend on it in an amount necessary to make it pasty. The 16 year old non-skid cleaned up perfectly - looks like new. I used an old toothbrush to clean the grooves, it went very quickly.

You will need to wax any surface you clean with this stuff afterwards - it will strip any existing wax right off.

BEFORE

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AFTER

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Bar keepers friend contains oxylic acid and is good at removing stains. We use it occasionally. There are also some non skid deck waxes. These will help fill the pores of the gel coat and prevent staining. One of the ones we like is "Woody Wax" non skid wax.
 
Something I've used to clean scuffs and marks on our boat is the Mr. Clean erasers. They look like white sponges and all you do is get them wet with plain water and rub the area that needs to be cleaned. I cleaned up our hatch covers and all the little marks you get on the gel coat as well as the white wood inside the boat. I keep a couple on the boat at all times.

They work great at home too getting marks off the walls and such. They come in two different kinds, one is just the white sponge (which is the one I prefer) and the other has a blue pad on one side.
 
...does that stuff work on people too?
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As a matter of fact, the Barkeeper's Friend does a great job getting grimy stains off the hands. I guess it's OK for you - that oxylic acid is a natural thing.

where are the products sold?
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I buy the stuff at Fred Meyer on the shelf next to the Comet Cleaser.

The stuff works real good on window glass, too. It will remove the water spots that have been there for years. You do want to be careful using it on aluminum, but I have got it on the powder coated window frames with no noticeable effects. If you really want to be amazed (well, I guess the Pee Wee results are amazing) - try it in the motor well on the stains that always show up under the steering mechanism and motor mounts.

I'm going to have to try those Mr. Clean eraser deals. Sounds like my kind of easy.
 
TyBoo":88c5jige said:
The stuff works real good on window glass, too. It will remove the water spots that have been there for years. You do want to be careful using it on aluminum, but I have got it on the powder coated window frames with no noticeable effects.
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Oxalic acid is OK on powder coated Al, but not anodized Al. Would not leave it on the powder coated Al super long, but wiping with it is OK, I think.

The stuff is found in many plants: rhubarb; spinach; a low plant common in the NW: oxalis, and others. It is part of what makes raw rhubarb so tart. OK in moderate quantities for ingestion, but toxic in larger amounts. It chelates tightly to minerals like calcium or iron and prevents their absorption from the gut, so that if you regularly eat too much spinach or rhubarb, you can run into a deficiency of those two. An issue for folks trying to keep their calcium levels up: PG women, etc.

More info here: http://www.answers.com/topic/oxalic-acid including its ability to reduce metal oxides (e.g., iron oxide = rust) as part of cleaning.
 
One wee detail:

I was having the same problem with normal mud and stuff; that is when I was using a brush. Then I simply used a rag and it worked much better. I think the bristles jump over or don't fit in the groves, but the rag does.

John
 
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