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From Chris Albertson via the Sailnet All Catalina email list:
Try rubbing compound. Buy the Turtle Wax light duty kind at Pep Boys for $2.00 a can. It is not as aggressive as the 3M brand sold at West Marine and at $2 is only 1/6 the price.
The other thing to try is also available at Pep Boys for cheap. It's "White wall tire cleaner" it will take off scuff marks from black sole shoes and clean dirt out of the anti-skid. I use this first then if it fails go with the above light duty rubbing compound and only as a last resort use the 3M stuff as that removes gel coat thickness.
Follow up to Chris Albertson's suggestion:
From Hoke Smith via the Sailnet All Catalina email list:
Thanks to all of you for your replies to my request for help with the fiberglass stains. I wanted especially to say thanks to those who passed along safety warnings - your concern is appreciated -- I wanted to follow up with my experience in hopes that someone will benefit.
I wanted to start with the car products, since they seemed cheaper. Since there's no auto-products store near the boat, I ended up a k-mart. They didn't have Turtlewax rubbing compound (or any rubbing compound for that matter) but they did have whitewall cleaner, so I picked up a bottle for $2. Drifting over to WestMarine, I checked out their offering, and discovered that FSR, also recommended here on the list, was about $11 for a fairly small portion. Not being a man with deep pockets I waved off that option and headed for the boat.
After the usual drill of explaining to everyone at the dock that I wasn't going out today because I wanted to work on the boat (cockpit stains being just the beginning of the projects), I broke out the boat soap and scrubbed down the offending places once more with a heavy concentration. Nothing happened, so I sprayed on the whitewall cleaner. (Let me parenthetically remind you that I'd already tried soap, bleach, oxalic acid, and oxalic acid mixed with bleach on this stain of indeterminate origin). I held my breath and waited. I'll be damned if the stuff didn't take the stain right off. In fact, it dealt with just about every spot in the cockpit I sprayed it on. And all for $2.
I believe I owe Mr Chris Albertson a beer. Thanks again to all for the help.
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