One of the more common questions that I get asked by those new to owning their pontoon, is how to get those ugly looking black streaks and stains off the side panels of the boat, and the actual toons themselves.

If it’s your actual pontoons that need cleaning, then skip this guide and instead read one of the following posts.

  1. How to Clean Your Pontoons in Minutes
  2. How to Polish and Buff Your Pontoons

Cleaning Black Streaks from Pontoon Side Panels

If it’s black stains and streaks on your side panels that are the issue, then continue reading to see the best way to get those removed as thankfully there is an awesome product that is specifically designed to do just this.

What it is called?

It’s the Bio-Kleen Pontoon Black Streak Remover.

Does it work?

Yes, but for the best results, you will also need to buy some microfiber cloths. The cloths I use can be bought on Amazon, just like Bio-Kleen can.

But anyway, let’s quickly road test it to find out how well it works, in my Bio-Kleen pontoon black streak remover review below, with a couple of before and after photos also included.

before and after photos

Before and after – image copyright unknown as shared on Facebook group with no name credited.

Bio-Kleen Black Streak Remover Review

Before we get into the detail, it’s a fact of life that your pontoon is going to develop black streaks or stains running down the side panels at some point in time.

Why?

Because water, when combined with metals, will oxidize and start to run down the side panels. It’s a common problem with any boat, not just pontoons and happens when the snaps, rivets, and screw in the panel and rails become wet.

They will soon oxidize which produces the black streaks which will run from the metal down the side panels of your boat. It looks ugly and can even devalue your boat should you be in the market for selling it.

It’s hard to shift and clean too, as the black streaks can be very hard to remove. This is especially true if you don’t know what product to use, or scrub to hard with an abrasive material. This approach can scratch your panels or even damage any vinyl decals you have stuck on.

It’s essential that you use a cleaner that is specifically designed for the job in hand, and that’s exactly what the Bio-Kleen black streak remover and cleaner is.

There will be other products and cleaners that you see on the market that say they can remove black streaks, but the nature of pontoon boats means you are dealing with aluminum and sometimes decals which can be damaged with more traditional chemical cleaners.

Bio-Kleen won’t leave damage of marks like this, at least it doesn’t in my tests, and when reading other online reviews that boat owners have left online.

Take a look at the video below to see how effective this cleaner can be when applied to the side panels on your pontoon.

How to Use the Streak Removal Cleaner

I decided to buy some myself and give it a quick trial run. Here’s what I did.

Firstly, my pontoon was out of the water and trailered up, although it doesn’t really matter too much where you do it. But, to help the environment, I prefer to do this cleaning job once out of the water.

Handy Hint: Bio-Kleen cleaners are labelled as being environmentally friendly but I prefer to be 100% certain that I am not polluting the water or environment.

I was then able to stand next to my boat, within easy reach of the side panels where the black stains had appeared.

I took my spray bottle of Bio-Kleen, pumped a few sprays out onto the top area of the black streaks, and then used a microfiber towel to rub into the stains in a circular motion.

Genuinely, with each circular motion, the black streaks started to disappear and within a couple of minutes I had completely cleaned up one whole side panel on my boat.

Once each panel was completely clean of black streaks I then gave it a quick polish and buff with a new and fresh microfiber towel.

It honestly worked just as well as the process you see in the Bio-Kleen advertising video you can see further up this page. It’s an absolutely stunning cleaning product that I cannot recommend and review highly enough.

More Before and After Photos

And here’s the proof of how well this stuff works for cleaning up black streaks on side panels. You can see some photos that another pontooner took who used this recently in these side by side comparison photos.

Before and after on side panels

Before and after – image copyright unknown as shared on Facebook group with no name credited.

Other Reviews

Don’t just take my word for it though. Last week I asked the question on Facebook whether any other boat owners had used Bio-Kleen to remove black streaks, and here’s just a selection of the responses I received (none were negative).

“This stuff works just like they video shows. It’s a great product. I have used a lot of stuff but have never seen something work so good.”

“The other day I asked another pontooner how I could remove black side panel stains and they recommended Bio-Kleen. I bought some on Amazon and used it yesterday and am really impressed with the results.”

“I am usually sceptical about products like this, but it does clean just like the video shows it does. I sprayed some on my panels and then used a cloth to wipe away the streaks and it took no time at all. Total time spent cleaning my Bennington pontoon was around one hour. It didn’t harm my vinyl decals either. 100% recommended.”

“I had tried everything to remove black streaks that had developed down the side of my pontoon. This is an amazing product and I now had a couple of spray bottles handy in my garage for next time.”

“Like many boats, mine too had developed black streaks down the side. I’d tried using soapy water with zero results, but with this I just spray, wipe, and that’s it. Brilliant stuff.”

“I had black streaks and blotches all over my 2008 Avalon pontoon. I had previously used a pressure washer, the magic eraser product, and even an acid wash… but nothing has worked like this does.”

“For me it’s the only black streak remover and cleaner that actually works. It does take some elbow grease and scrubbing, but by putting the time in, you will get a brand new looking boat believe me.”

Review Conclusion

If you want to know how you can remove black streaks from your side panels, then go and buy Bio-Kleen today. It really does work and gives insanely good results.

It shouldn’t leave any marks, and will also leaves you vinyl stickers and decals just as there were before, but as with any cleaner, always work on a test area first just to make sure.

As an added extra, this stuff also works brilliantly on other applications. For example, I used it to clean up the PVC guttering on my house, and my wife has used it on her horse trailer with similar results. I also know of people you use this cleaner on their RVs.