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Wash Down 101
How important is it to wash your boat? Well, it certainly makes your boat look better! Why make a significant investment if you allow it to look old and worn after only a few months! However, more important is how much you are extending the life of the boat itself. Depending on where your keep your boat, and whether it is kept in a saltwater environment will determine how often you should undertake a thorough wash down, however although you should always at least rinse your boat after every use, a full wash down should be typically every 1-2 weeks.
Washing your boats certainly isn’t rocket science, but when you ask around your local marina you’ll get all sorts of advice on how to wash, what to wash, what to use and even if you should dry your boat afterwards! So here are some basics that come direct from the professionals at American Yacht Maintenance.
In order to get the best results you should always use a quality boat soap in order to easily remove the dirt, grime and salt that can build up on your boats surface. However be careful to make sure it will not strip the wax, or other protection that you have applied during your regular boat detailing, good advice normally is to use a wash and wax product, such as Starbrite Wash n Wax, which will add a small amount of additional wax while you wash your boat. However if you do not maintain a wax protection (or wish to remove the wax coating prior to fresh detailing), use a stronger boat soap such as OrProducts Boat Soap, or AwlWash which is recommended by Awl Grip for their painted surfaces. Remember, if you use these stronger soaps on waxed boats, you will remove more and more wax with every wash, giving you less and less shine!
As in all boat detailing and boat washing situations, American Yacht Maintenance recommend their own range of professional grade boat detailing supplies. These products have been developed specifically for American Yacht based on their strict requirements and are used by American Yacht Maintenance mobile crews throughout the country. Therefore fore best results we recommend American Yacht Wash n Wax and American Yacht Boat Soap.
The equipment you should use depends largely on the size of your vessel, a 20ft ski boat can quite happily be cleaned with a boat sponge and simple brush on a pole such as Starbrite Economy Brush System, however larger boat may require an extending pole system – as with everything, you get what you pay for, our recommendation for larger boats or professional boat detailers is to use Shurhold pole and brush system. This is used by ALL American Yacht Maintenance crews and enables you to choose the brush you prefer, and interchange your brush heads with a chamois mop and can even be used as a boat hook or fishing gaff! You will probably need at least a soft or medium bristle brush for the smooth surfaces, and a hard brush to clean the decks, it is also helpful to have a boat sponge or wash mitt for window, isinglass and more delicate areas.
Time to get started, you have your equipment, your boat soap and water supply. Work out a methodical system to insure you thoroughly clean every corner of your boat, start from the highest point to insure you don’t clean parts which are then covered with dirty run off water! A simple method is to remember top to bottom, bow to stern.
Once you start to clean make sure you thoroughly rinse the area you are about to wash with plenty of water, this will insure any loose dirt and grit is washed off and prevents you rubbing it into the surface of your boat and scratching delicate areas. Next make sure you do not have any grit in your brushes! This sounds obvious, but it’s an easy way to scratch your boat. Mix the boat soap or wash and wax to the manufacturers recommendations in a bucket, then apply to the surface of your boat and brush thoroughly to make sure every square inch, and every corner is cleaned. Rinse off the soap scum making sure non remains, be sure not to allow soap to dry on the surface – if this happens you will need to re wash these areas.
As briefly mentioned above, use a boat sponge or wash mitt on windows and clear plastic surfaces such as Isinglass, Strataglass or EZ2CY. On non skid decks you will need a hard scrub brush, either as part of your Shurhold extendable pole system , or a hand scrub brush. In addition stronger products such as Starbrite non skid deck cleaner, or MaryKate non skid deck cleaner can be used to easily remove the ground in dirt, grime and even fish blood.
Once your boat is fully washed and all the soap scum has been rinsed overboard, dry the entire surface of the boat to avoid water spots. If it is not feasible to dry the whole boat, be sure to dry the window with a water blade or chamois, and the metal work as these will show the water spots the most.
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