"Dry" Cleaning question

I recently moved my airplane into a hanger. I suddenly realized it may now be possible to keep it clean.

The airplane is unpainted.

I'd like to find an inexpensive way of keeping it clean that doesn't involve rinsing. We've got a good wash area on the field, but I have never been enthusiastic about hosing down an airplane. I've looked at what is available commercially, but don't know what works well or not. Also thought about using kerosene, jet A, diesel fuel, even olive oil.

Any thoughts or experience on this?

"Almost dry" washing

Here's what worked on my polished Sonex, and what I've continued to do on my -3 as well. Get a gallon of this:

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/cspages/09-00809.php

Eight ounces of Simple Green in a one quart spray bottle, then fill with water. Large bucket of water and several large microfiber towels. Start high and work down. Let's do a wing. Spray, but no need to get every square foot. Squeeze half the water out of a sloppy wet microfiber towel and have at the wing. Rinse the towel and go back over the wing. Rinse towel again, then squeeze all the water out and wipe down again. Do the last pass with a dry towel. You'll be able to do a wing in about the same amount of time it took to write this. When the water in the bucket starts looking nasty, pitch it.

Should you feel inclined to do the bottom, get a creeper and pick a warm day.

Tony

Lemon Pledge

Works great on anything---cars, bikes, plexi, bare metal..........

NO....

cawmd82 said:

Works great on anything---cars, bikes, plexi, bare metal..........

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...not if you're going to paint it later! My bodyman almost had a hissy when I suggested using Pledge. It'll be really difficult to remove the residue and not get fisheyes in the paint if there's any trace of wax on the airplane.

Regards.....(no offense Doc)

A bucket of water, wash mit and a large shami works well for me. Most cleaners contain products that drive painters crazy. Larry

So how would you keep the Al. looking good while waiting for paint, but not using and silicon or wax products? Back to the Simple Green?

If it's hangared you shouldn't have to do any cleaning except for dust, leading edge bugs, and the belly. Use a California Car Duster for dust (will leave a tiny oil residue), plain water and a towel for leading edges, and Aircraft Simple Green on the belly. Once it's painted use Protect-All to remove oily stuff. You should never have to turn a hose on your plane again. BTW I have had good luck with Rejex on the leading edges. Bugs come off with one pass of a moistened rag. Wet the corner of a towel to remove them, and the rest of the towel to prevent water spots.

Thanks!

Thanks guys. I must say my laziness leans toward the lemon pledge. I need to figure out how hard it is to get off.

Can anyone tell me if "aircraft" simple green is really any different that regular, grocery store simple green? Need to clean the plane, it has been sitting and is VERY dusty!

Thanks!

ge9a said:

Can anyone tell me if "aircraft" simple green is really any different that regular, grocery store simple green? Need to clean the plane, it has been sitting and is VERY dusty!

Thanks!

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If dust/dirt is all you want to remove some dishwashing detergent mixed in a bucket of clean water will work nicely. Use the technique in the above old posts with a succession of towels to rinse and dry. I use car wash detergent but I'm past the point of needing to do any painting so not worried about silicone in the detergent.

Last time I cleaned the belly I used 'Awesome' full strength in a spray bottle ($1 from Dollar General) and that stuff worked better than anything I've ever used. I have no idea what is in it but don't worry about it on the painted surface since I follow it with a water rinse.

ge9a said:

Can anyone tell me if "aircraft" simple green is really any different that regular, grocery store simple green? Need to clean the plane, it has been sitting and is VERY dusty!

Thanks!

Click to expand...

Yep. Plenty of threads on here about it. Regular Simple Green = corrosive. Extreme Simple Green = not corrosive.

But you could use the regular stuff and take your chances, it's your plane

Hey, Sam, thank you for the quick reply. I'll take your advice and run with it. No water at the hangar. So lots of towels ............!