Press Article - Yachting Monthly

Boat cleaners are the bane of most boaters life. With so many on the market to choose from, do they really do what they say they will?

I am not a huge fan of boat cleaning if I’m being honest. Frankly it’s one of my least favourite things to do, next to fishing a lost bolt out of a hard to reach oily bilge or dealing with a blocked marine toilet.

There’s no way around any of these less enjoyable tasks. We can’t wave a magic wand and they’re miraculously done. But we can find tools to help us get it done with the least amount of fuss or effort.

Boats are especially tricky things to clean due to the plethora of mixed materials, variable surfaces, hard to reach areas and lack of ventilation in some cases.

So I’ve picked out some of the better products on the market that are less likely to give off toxic fumes, less likely to harm the environment or ourselves in the pursuit of a clean boat.

Grunt Boat Cleaner
Specifications:
Comes in 500ml and 1 litre bottles
Suitable for use on fiberglass, gel coat, metal, and painted surfaces
Can be applied using a spray bottle or brush
Contains biodegradable ingredients

Reasons To Buy
Powerful cleaning action, versatile for virtually every surface, contains biodegradable ingredients and is less environmentally harmful than some other products on the market, gel/thick liquid like consistency means it can be painted on to all surface angles

Reasons to Avoid
Some may find the smell a bit strong during use. ( I personally don’t mind it but someone else working alongside me said it had a whiff)

A little bit goes a long way. I’ve been using Grunt cleaner on a project boat (Rustler 31) that was absolutely filthy inside and out.

Simply pour a bit of Grunt into a container (I used an old plastic container that once had supermarket pasta snacks) and using a paint brush, daub it neat onto any surface for a deep clean. Leave it for a few minutes and wipe or sponge it away. Surfaces come up clean and visibly stain removed. Some stubborn stains have needed a few extra sessions with the cleaner to make them fade away. But mostly it’s one and done.

It’s recommended that you wear gloves and eye protection. Typically I am that luddite that wears neither. So far no harm has been done to my skin when I’ve accidentally got it on me and wiped it straight off. It states clearly on the packaging that it could be a skin irritant though so user beware, use gloves if you’re going to be getting it on your hands.

It effortlessly removes stubborn stains, algae build up, and grime from various boat surfaces, including fiberglass, gel coat, metal, and painted surfaces. Whether you’re dealing with waterline stains, oxidation, or general dirt accumulation, Grunt has handled it all on my old scruffy Rustler.

Grunt Boat Cleaner is formulated using biodegradable ingredients. This makes it a safer choice for use in marine environments than many of the other toxic hazards we use to clean boats.

A little goes a long way too. I think one large bottle has done an entire boat from top to bottom, twice.

Overall, I really like Grunt Boat Cleaner and recommend it as a go-to product for a multitude of cleaning jobs. Its powerful cleaning action, versatility, ease of use, and environmentally friendly formulation make it my top choice of cleaner.