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Help.. I may have made a cleaning mistake !!!

G

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OK so I bought the tripper, and didn't notice some pretty bad white marks, and a few brown spots like old rubbed off sap or something.

I noticed them on the canoe after my first trip to the lake. I tried washing them off with warm water mild soap and elbow grease but no luck.

So i think i may have done something stupid.... I tried to use a magic eraser on it ;( it easily cleaned all of the scraping marks, ans some of the sap looking marks however it left those spots brighter than the rest of the canoe.

Old Town says to get the color and shine back into it just use a bottle of pledge polish.

So i guess i am wondering are magic erasers safe to use on them, or did i permanently ruin those spots on the canoe where it is brighter than the rest. Can i just use the pledge to wax it down nice and make it sparkle again.

What do you guys use to remove scratch marks like paint or color marks/ scratches?

There are also a few scratches on it and Old Town says to buy and use there product for that. Has anyone ever used it and is it easy to use or do you have to sand it down and put some type of repair work into it??

Thanks Guys.

Jordan
 
Nothing usually more than rubbing coupound and Meguiars marine wax. And that is infrequent. Scratches in RX are permanent. You got a beater boat. Don't try to make it pretty. Use it.

I am not in favor of 303 ( which is the most commonly used) or Pledge.. Why put more petrochemicals into the water? And never never use it in the boat.. The inside becomes darn slippery.
 
If I'm reading you right you think the spots you cleaned are too clean, right? They're bright and shiny compared to the rest of the hull? I believe a magic eraser is basically fine sandpaper so what you did was polish those areas. Either use an old school wax not intended for clear coat (has some light abrasive in it) on the entire hull so the whole thing looks sparkly or don't worry about it. Those spots will soon fade with a little usage.

Alan
 
It is funny in a way that people buy used canoes and then want to make them pretty. Live with the imperfections and be proud of the fact that you have an experienced canoe.

My brother bought a used Wenonah Cascade last week up in Oregon and I went halves with him. He called me a few days later and was slightly distraught because the places he repaired with marinetex were white and stood out against the hull which is burgundy colored royalex. I told him to buy some house paint and call it good.

I have built fiberglass sailboats and repaired lots of canoes made of that material. I have done some repairs on wood and canvas boats. What does the group suggest for royalex repairs? We are talking about some chunks missing on the stems from rock hits.
 
Yeah i bought to canoe to use it not baby it. I just wanted to remove those really bad white marks where it looked like it had be rammed into something or rubbed on something white.
Was just worried i have caused some damage to it.
Thanks for all the info guys.
 
Bird poop. Pine sap is white too. Gasoline will remove it. So will acetone but beware..the acetone can eat into the canoe. But you did just a mini sanding with MagicEraser. Continue on the whole canoe if you wish!
 
I think im going to try and do some 303 as suggested before using a magic erase any more :p i don't want to sand the boat. I just hope that sanding it with the magic eraser did not sand anything down permanently. and when you sand it down does that mean actually damaged it?
 
The OT Tripper is a tough old bird. The Royalex back in the day that it probably was made was tough and thick. Yep you sanded it.. probably like wetsanding. Buffing compound is also abrasive and I have used that as I said from time to time to get rid of an oxidized finish. I'd have to spend a lot of time cleaning to damage the boat. Sanding is a legitimate repair tactic. Gel coat repair always involves sanding.

When you build a boat you spend dozens of hours sanding.
 
It was a wet sanding. And only in a few spots not all over the canoe. I am going to scrub it down with some 303 just to clean the rest and see if i cant get it to clean up like the sanded spots :).

Yellow do you have a tripper as well, and what year is yours, and is there any way to find out about the years of the boat?

thanks
 
Sandpaper comes in many different grits. Some are for heavy material removal. Others leave a fine polish. I just got done varnishing my new woodstrip canoe. The final step to give it a nice polish finish will be fine sandpaper. You didn't hurt anything, you just polished it a bit. Wet sanding with 1600 grit is a great way to clean a hull and leave a matte finish.

Alan
 
I don't have a Tripper but they are like mosquitoes in Maine. Abundant. The last two numbers on the serial number indicate the year of manufacture.
 
Thanks Yellow will have to go take a look at the last 2#'s. Around here there aren't very many Trippers mostly the smaller cheaper brands Like Pelican or RamX(ram crap) I call them a floating barge had one hated it.

Alan I wonder what grit the magic eraser is i know there not going to claim it to be as sand paper because then a lot of people wouldn't use it.
 
The Magic Eraser is Melamine Foam. Perhaps it would work especially well on Glenns Magic Bus.

LOL that's too funny.

Yeah i don't think I am gonna worry about it to much.
Like you said before its an old canoe and it should be used not babied :).
Its not like i scratched up the entire boat just some spots around it.
 
303 is not magic and comes of as soon as the boat gets wet. Even a mourning dew wit make it run. But it dose serve a purpose. When storing my Royalex canoe for while it is good to use 303 to keep it from UV damage even though it is stored inside. One side has sun exposure through windows while the other side is against a wall. Believe it or not over two years of infrequent use has brought some of the color back from the faded outer bottom. This canoe sat out side for years and when I bought it the gunwales were rotten. Now it gets used and abused.

Used magic eraser and a foam/green scrubby sponge thing from the kitchen to clean up the outside of the hull. Had a little paint on it from rubbing up against painted wood surfaces. Did no damage to the canoe. NOTE: DO NOT try to give "foam/green scrubby sponge thing from the kitchen" back to the wife. Still going strong over two years and twenty day trips later.

303 also works against love bugs. Put 303 on the part of the hull that is facing the front of your car/truck. They come off easier. Nothing is perfect against love bugs. Dry and put 303 back on for your canoe for the home ward drive.
 
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If you're not familiar with the construction of Royalex, it is a five layer sandwich. The colored outer layer is tough vinyl plastic. That's what your cleaning/scrubbing/sanding. Under that is a layer of ABS plastic, frequently black. If you sand, abrade or scrape down to that, think about repairing over it with something. The interior layer is buoyant ABS foam, which is usually tan or dirty white. You really must repair if you scrape down to that. Then, on the interior side of the foam you have another ABS layer and vinyl, which is usually gray in color.

Royalex.jpg


You're not damaging anything by just sanding the vinyl layer slightly. I suppose you are thinning it a little, but that will happen naturally as you slide over rocks or drag your canoe on the ground. Royalex, especially the stuff from 20-30 years ago, is very tough.

You already have gotten advice on chemicals to remove stains and gunk. 303 isn't likely to remove anything. It makes some things shiny for a short period, and it protects against UV damage while it lasts, but I've never used it on Royalex. Some people use it on gel coated composite boats. I have heard of people using Armor All on Royalex to shine it up.
 
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