Dead 'Bunker Waterline Deposit

[Ed Roberts]

Recently Western L. I. Sound suffered an enormous mossbunker kill due to low dissolved oxygen. My marina trapped huge amounts of dead stinking oily fish. As they decayed they deposited a hard oily residue on the waterline of boats. On the bottom paint it can be
scaped off with the loss of a little paint, but on my beautiful Awl-Grip topsides I only want to dissolve this gunk without damaging the finish. I’m afraid to use stuff like On-Off acid, and besides, I would think a base, lye-like chemical would work better on this
hard greasy deposit. Would appreciate any comments.
Ed Roberts

[D. Stump, Hanalei]

Ed,
I truly think the On&Off would be your best bet. You can thin it with water if you are afraid it's too strong and maybe try it on a very small area (use a Q-Tip) to see if it will attack the Awl-Grip. I'm docked at Noank shipyard, get a fair amount of oily brown haze at the bow from all the power boats in the area, and the On&Off will take it right off. I used to scrub the boat with Comet to get off the gunk, found that On&Off did it in one swipe followed with a water rinse. Geez, no oxygen in Western Long Island Sound! And the politicos say they have cleaned up the sound! Good luck with your cleaning....

Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
Hanalei (CD-30)

[Catherine Monaghan]

Ed,

This may seem a little simplistic but it may work. Try using dish washing liquid. It's designed to cut through grease and oil. If it'll clean an oily, greasy frying pan, why not your hull?

catherine_monaghan@merck.com
CD32 Realization
Raritan Bay

Recently Western L. I. Sound suffered an enormous mossbunker kill due to low dissolved oxygen. My marina trapped huge amounts of dead stinking oily fish. As they decayed they deposited a hard oily residue on the waterline of boats. On the bottom paint it can be
scaped off with the loss of a little paint, but on my beautiful Awl-Grip topsides I only want to dissolve this gunk without damaging the finish. I’m afraid to use stuff like On-Off acid, and besides, I would think a base, lye-like chemical would work better on this
hard greasy deposit. Would appreciate any comments.
Ed Roberts

catherine_monaghan@merck.com