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Carl C
05-29-2008, 04:58 PM
A recent thread dealt with cleaning transoms and exhaust tips. This led me to purchase a big bottle of vinegar, recommended by MP. Minxguy sent me a bottle of "Spectro XL-1 Motorcycle wash" to try. He sent it at his cost as a random act of kindness, very cool. Thank you, Minxguy. I also purchased a bottle of Starbrite Chrome and SS Polish. I have boat wax here already. Pic 1 shows the implements of destruction:smash:. Pic 2 shows the dirty transom. Pic 3 shows how easily the soot wipes off the transom with soapy water when it has been waxed. Now on to the hard part; the tips. Soapy water does nothing for them. I tried 2 applications of the motorcycle cleaner and it did little good. Sorry Minxguy, I appreciate your gesture very much and I will find a use for this stuff but it did not work on my exhaust tips. Pic 4 shows the tips still dirty. Now I tried MadPoodles suggestion of using vinegar. I briefly wrapped the tips in a vinegar soaked rag (pic 5). Then I wiped the tips with vinegar and, voila, it worked! I then used the vinegar on a stubborn spot near the top on the gel and it worked very well on the gel too. Pic 6 shows the clean tip and pic 7 shows the sparkling clean transom. Then I applied a quick coat of wax to the transom and SS polish on the tips so it will clean up easily next time. Then off to Lake St. Clair and now it is all dirty again. Is the vinegar safe to use to wipe down the whole boat?

kd5cue
05-29-2008, 05:13 PM
im try your vinger and water to see if they clean my tips,,mine really nasty:popcorn:

CHACHI
05-29-2008, 06:00 PM
05-14-2008, 01:35 PM #21 (http://www.donzi.net/forums/showpost.php?p=449873&postcount=21) MINXGUY (http://www.donzi.net/forums/member.php?u=3187)
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Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 481


XL-1 bike wash works wonderful on black soot.
Also works excellent on aluminum wheels to remove brake dust.

Ken
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Trueser
05-29-2008, 06:05 PM
I use Clorox Clean up. work's great and cheap.

Why is the top of your drive so discolored? Is it heating up?

Carl C
05-29-2008, 06:14 PM
Minxguy, I am so sorry man, just a little brain fade from being in the sun all day. Actually I was hoping you hadn't seen this yet because I realized my goof and fixed it before I saw your post.:doh:

Carl C
05-29-2008, 06:21 PM
I use Clorox Clean up. work's great and cheap.

Why is the top of your drive so discolored? Is it heating up? The vinegar is dirt cheap at Costco. The top of the drive doesn't look too bad to me. Probably just some mineral deposits since I haven't cleaned it with anything other than soap since it was new.

gcarter
05-29-2008, 07:37 PM
Goodness Carl, I think I've seen those tips before!! :smash:

Another hint for cleaning gel, and you don't want to wash the boat and just clean the grunge off......use acetone and paper towels.

Cuda
05-29-2008, 07:42 PM
We use vinegar all the time, when doing the final wash on a tile job. NOTHING makes it shine better than vinegar. Vinegar is actually a mild form of acid. I found red vinegar works better than white.

gcarter
05-29-2008, 07:52 PM
We use vinegar all the time, when doing the final wash on a tile job. NOTHING makes it shine better than vinegar. Vinegar is actually a mild form of acid. I found red vinegar works better than white.

Ascetic (sp?) acid. Spent three days in my frriends canal on Cudjo Key and everything stainles hanging off the back of the boat was covered in calcium carbonate. :garfield:
Of course vinegar took it off.

Carl C
05-29-2008, 09:18 PM
Goodness Carl, I think I've seen those tips before!! :smash:

Another hint for cleaning gel, and you don't want to wash the boat and just clean the grunge off......use acetone and paper towels. Yup, they were on your Minx I think. Acetone is strong stuff, you really wipe boats down with it:eek!:? Mine is part paint and the white is gel and the rub rail holder is plastic so acetone doesn't sound like a good idea for my boat:confused:.

Trueser
05-29-2008, 09:24 PM
Carl,
That drive is getting hot... It not changing colors from being dirty / mineral deposits...

gcarter
05-29-2008, 09:27 PM
Acetone won't affect gel at all. As far as paint goes, the BASF paint I used on the Minx wasn't touched by it, nor was the powder coated rub rail.
But it cleans like nothing else I've ever tried.

gold-n-rod
05-29-2008, 09:44 PM
Maybe it's time for a drive shower, Carl. There are many from which to choose and they do work.

Google is your friend...

Carl C
05-29-2008, 09:55 PM
Carl,
That drive is getting hot... It not changing colors from being dirty / mineral deposits...


Maybe it's time for a drive shower, Carl. There are many from which to choose and they do work.

Google is your friend... From what I've seen they all look like that and the ones without the fins are worse. I'm not convinced to run a drive shower. There have been tests done on another forum that showed no drop in oil temp. It seems all they do is help keep the drive clean and I've seen 2 people claim a measureable loss of top speed from dragging the water pick-up. It's got the best oil in it so I don't know what else I can do:confused::confused:.

Trueser
05-29-2008, 10:04 PM
It didn’t seem to slow a few boats down at AOTH...

Upper gear set cost VS drive shower....

I plan on adding them to the 28ZX

BUIZILLA
05-29-2008, 10:13 PM
listen to Trueser..

gold-n-rod
05-29-2008, 10:22 PM
Discoloration = heat

heat = increased stress/wear

a shower reduces discoloration...........

You figure out the rest.

A new Alpha was quoted to me for $3800. A shower was $150. Sounds like cheap insurance to me.

gold-n-rod
05-29-2008, 10:23 PM
Jesus, Carl..... you spend all kinds of coin for bling and you won't spend a few more for a shower? It's bling, too, you know!!!!!!!!!! :smash::smash:

undertaker
05-30-2008, 08:15 AM
Carl, not to bust your ba..s, but I have the finned cap drive like you and my drive does NOT look like that, I would look into a shower, also you seem to have a lot more soot on your transom than I do...just an observation....soot is better than no soot,but to much might not give you the best performance.


Undertaker:)

PS Just because Roadtrip said he lost MPH w/ a shower does not mean you will:wink:he always has a reason for losing to Dr. Dan, Byron, Catch 22 etc.:hyper::hyper::hyper:..........just kidding Todd don't beat me up to much:)

Carl C
05-30-2008, 08:58 AM
This should probably be on a new thread so that everyone sees it but anyway I have done a lot of looking into drive showers. There have been discussions here and there is good reading on here: http://www.speedwake.com/upload/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51484 (I am CC there) I think I would need to install a drive oil temp gauge first to verify the results and that it is getting a water supply at high speed. The drives with showers don't get the chalking because they stay wet but do not necessarily run cooler or live longer. It's nothing to do with money, I'm just not convinced they work. Another thing is to avoid running the exhaust through the prop at high speed which adds heat. I don't doubt that my drive gets hot since I run the boat fast and hard. Now I have people here who know what they are talking about telling me to get a drive shower so I will need to revisit the whole thing but I think a drive temp gauge first will be a better investment. It was proven on the speedwake thread that a quick dunk in the water coming off plane instantly cools the drive oil but running hard with a shower does not seem to:confused:. The speed loss thing may not be legitimate but do showers really prolong drive life or do they provide a false sense of security by keeping the drive clean because the top is always wet? Anyway to sum this up, I will look into a drive oil temp gauge first and will rethink the shower thing.

Also Minxguy reminded me that the motorcycle cleaner was intended for soot and not for cleaning the tips, which seem to get a combination of baked on soot and mineral deposits.

I have verified from others that the sooty transom is normal with a 496 HO. It's probable mapped a little rich which is probably better than looking for a little more speed by leaning it out. The boat is running good. I was hitting almost 75 mph yesterday with a full tank of gas. The water got too rough later for top speed runs but was a blast at 65 or so. I burned at least 42 gallons in a few hours.:smash: God I love driving this boat hard in 2 foot chop!!!!!

BigGrizzly
05-30-2008, 09:16 AM
Different lakes give different mineral deposits. My drive runs cool at Cumberland it looks bad at lake George it comes home clean. Also yellow shows soot the worst, I know my race bikes are yellow, that is why I like to lead less clean up:wink:

gcarter
05-30-2008, 09:30 AM
Carl, you are really stubborn (we're all opinionated so I won't say that). You can buy GOOD showers on eBay all day long for $60-$80....if it did nothing but keep your drive pretty, it would be worth it.
If you come in at the end of the summer w/a cooked/broken drive, don't expect to get a lot of sympathy here.

Air 22
05-30-2008, 09:36 AM
We use vinegar all the time, when doing the final wash on a tile job. NOTHING makes it shine better than vinegar. Vinegar is actually a mild form of acid. I found red vinegar works better than white.


And just when I thought I had everything RED for my Donzi..I will have to try the RED Vinegar:)

Carl C
05-30-2008, 09:38 AM
Carl, you are really stubborn (we're all opinionated so I won't say that). You can buy GOOD showers on eBay all day long for $60-$80....if it did nothing but keep your drive pretty, it would be worth it.
If you come in at the end of the summer w/a cooked/broken drive, don't expect to get a lot of sympathy here. Maybe time for a poll???

Cuda
05-30-2008, 09:38 AM
Definetely need a drive shower. There is very little of the drive in the water, when running at high speed.

What good will a drive temp gauge do you? Show it's running hot? Then what? The only option, is to put on a drive shower.

RedDog
05-30-2008, 09:47 AM
At AOTH Jill's Scorpion and Catch-22's 22 had drive showers. I didn't. My drive lasted a day longer than their's - is that proof enough that the showers aren't effective? :propeller::propeller::propeller::propeller:

undertaker
05-30-2008, 11:00 AM
I don't think Jill's scorpion has a drive shower, but I could be wrong.....:nilly::nilly:

boxy
05-30-2008, 11:24 AM
I don't think Jill's scorpion has a drive shower, but I could be wrong.....:nilly::nilly:
Only when Todd stands up in the back seat, and the wind is blowing the right way ..... :eek!::eek!:

RickSE
05-30-2008, 11:24 AM
Carl, what octane fuel are you running?

I use CLR on my tips, no soot though just water deposits.

Carl C
05-30-2008, 12:21 PM
Carl, what octane fuel are you running?

I use CLR on my tips, no soot though just water deposits. Regular, sometimes mid-grade. I've heard premium increases the soot and is a waste of $ anyway.