Need help with picking a cheap cleaner

After getting my boat up on the sawhorses, I noticed the bottom was pretty nasty with long time dried out lake scum and a "rust" ring.

I'm looking for the cheapest, simplest solution to get the bottom cleaned off so at least it doesn't look nasty. Something that doesn't involve lots of cash or lots of labor on my part.

Yes, I'd much prefer something I can use in conjunction with a power cleaning tool. Or better yet, an inexpensive acid of some sort I can wipe on and rinse off.

Flip the hull over, it's pretty simple to do by yourself with a couple straps from your garage rafters. Put the boat on the ground and appy some simple green or zep and scrub it off with a scotch brite pad. About the simplest approach. You could use an acid but I wouldn't recomend it. Also strippers can be a pain to paint over when they get in around the rivets.

Jamie

I ran into the same problem when preppin my boat for paint. Like Ranchero said, simple green worked the best for me used in conjunction with the green scotch brite pads. If you have a Sam's around go there and buy the pads. You get 20 big pads for like $10. Don't make the same mistake I did and pay $4 for 3 small pads at Wal Mart.

Take a look at mine. Before pics are towards the top and after pics are about the middle of the 1st page.
https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=14440&hilit=1977+fisher

Be careful with acids and aluminum. Everyone around here uses toilet bowl cleaner (make sure it is the old brands, most are non acid now) for their fiberglass boats. I tried it and it worked great on my fiberglass hull. It stripped the wax off and really brightened the hull. The problem came when it dripped on my new aluminum trailer. It discolored it and left a white chalky powder. It does work if you can find it, just be careful. It will also burn you. Try a little spot first to see what happens. The only place I could find it was at the dollar store. Simple Green and some elbow grease is probably the best method.

I used aluminum brightner from napa - it's an acid previously warned against.

I put it on a piece rag and wiped it on - so small sections and rinse THOROUGHLY with LOTS of water! It makes a world of difference. I wish I could find pictures of the before and after. It's <10 bucks for a squirt bottle of it, a little goes a long way.

If you use it, don't squirt it, that stuff is nasty, just use a rag.

Aluminum Brightener [hydrofluric acid] works on unpainted aluminum but can eat paint and etch glass so you need to be careful using it. Splash goggles & chem resistant gloves should be worn.

Don't expect it to make the aluminum look brand new but it will lighten up the surface...