Washing the interior

merk

Curious about Wooden Canoes
Hi
Recovering an 18' Chestnut Ogilvy. Should I wash the interior if so with what?
 
Hot water, tsp and, a nylon scrub brush. Hose it out well afterwards. Very few canoes have ever been washed out.
 
Greetings folks, it's been a while since I've posted but this thread is very timely as I am about to clean the inside of one of my boats. A 20' White Guide built by Island Falls back in the late 90's that I purchased about a year ago. The boat was pristine, only being on the water a few times and stored indoors. It was the cleanest thing I owned but the floor is getting slightly dirty with dirt building up along the edges of the ribs.

I was going to scrub it with a soft brush and mild soap to clean it up. Would the TSP be the thing to use for this, I don't plan on doing any sanding or revarnishing at this time? Thanks, Alan
 
TSP, trisodium phosphate, is a very common, inexpensive, and very effective, non-sudsing cleaning agent. It is highly basic (alkaline), useful for removing some kind of stains and works well as a degreaser. It’s use has declined in recent years because of concern about phosphates causing eutrophication of waterways, but it’s a very effective cleaner. There is something called phosphate free TSP (and our name!). It contains sodium sesquicarbonate, similar to baking soda, and works similar to TSP. I’ve used it and it seems to work reasonably well.

TSP is used by painters because it is a good cleaner and paint de-glosser, so it might be best to keep it off of your canoe’s paint. It might also de-gloss the varnish a bit.
 
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Thanks Michael, TSP might be overkill for the slight amount of dirt that's built up. I think I'll try the soft brush with some water and a little elbow grease first. If that doesn't work would it hurt to use a mild hand soap like Ivory or is there something better?
 
I used some dawn and a soft tooth brush. The Ogilvy has only about a half inch between wide ribs.
 
Thanks Merk, Dawn and a toothbrush were on my list too but I got it done with water and a broke in green scrub pad and a small brush for the tight spots. It took less than an hour and the boat is once again the cleanest thing I own.
 
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