While I realize there are some boat owners who can just relax at the end of a day on the water as their crew or outside service cleans their boat, I am not one of them. No matter how hot it is or how tired I may be, the boat has to be cleaned before I can rest. Even my current 16-foot Starcraft gets the full treatment after every trip.
I used to enjoy the cleaning task when my 24-foot Albemarle was in a Virginia Beach dry storage unit. The forklift would deposit my boat on a rack, I would drop a Jimmy Buffet tape (yes a tape) into the tape deck, crank up the volume, and dance around the deck while scrubbing and singing way out of tune. There were always other fishermen stopping by to talk about their day, ask how I did, and then move on to their own cleaning task.
Once we moved back to Delaware, my boat went on a trailer, and cleaning became a lonely task in my driveway. Of course, Jimmy still kept me company, and if any of my neighbors didn’t enjoy our duets, they didn’t complain.
Over the years I have discovered a few things that make keeping your boat shipshape, and if not easy, at least less stressful. Every spring I wax my boat inside and out. Not only does this protect the finish from the salt and sun, it makes fish guts and blood much easier to remove.
Use a high end boat cleaner and wax with a good rotating buffer to make the job a bit easier. You may need chrome polish on the brightwork before you wax. If you do this every spring, your boat will maintain that showroom shine for many years.
The Albemarle had teak trim on the deck and the cabin. This I would remove every two years. The first thing to do is use a teak cleaner to remove the dirt and the old finish. Then the teak would get a good wash with soap and water before drying for at least 24 hours. I had friends who sanded their teak trim a couple of times with a good cleaning in between. I didn’t do that because mine looked just fine after the first cleaning.
Once the teak was clean and dry, I would apply teak oil. I know some boaters like to put a hard finish on their teak, then buff it to a high shine. Just a personal preference, but I don’t care for that look. Plus, when the finish begins to peel, it looks worse than mine, which just gets darker.
With my boat shining like a new penny, I would proudly welcome my first charter of the year aboard, and they would promptly spill coffee on the deck, drop a sticky donut, and then try to use the gunnel for a cutting board. Add to this a good helping of squid ink, bluefish scales, and a lost crab or two, and there will be plenty to do back at the dock.
As a word of warning: I once thought that Boston mackerel had the worst scales to clean off of a boat, and then I had a three-man party catch 30 dolphins. I found dolphin scales in places I never thought a scale could get. The following spring, when I went to put polish on the metal top supports, I found scales between the support and the inside of the top.
The bilge on the Albemarle had a tendency to accumulate a bit of fish guts, old bait, and the occasional drop or two of engine oil. The perfume from this mixture would eventually seep into the cockpit and require me to clean the bilge. With the boat in the water before a trip, I would pour two bottles of lemon-scented Pine Sol into the bilge. After eight hours of sloshing around, I could drain the mess into a pan, then wash the bilge out with a hose while on the dry storage rack. I did the same thing when the boat was on the trailer. Got the bilge clean and left it smelling fine for at least a few trips.
My cleaning equipment consists of a good, heavy-duty boat brush on a broom handle. I have tried a few aluminum handles and even a two-piece handle, but they all expired at an early age.
My five-gallon bucket has been with me for years, and it still holds water. When I had the Albemarle with brightwork, I used an artificial shammy to dry the chrome and all the glass.
Over the years I have found Soft Scrub with bleach takes just about everything off of a boat’s surface. I use it first to remove the tough spots then scrub the entire boat with either Joy lemon dish soap or lemon-scented Pine Sol. As you may have guessed, I like the lemon smell.
The canvas on the Albemarle had those plastic windows, and I was very careful with them. Most of the time they got a good rinse with water, and then were dried off with the shammy. When that didn’t work, as with the dolphin scales, I very carefully removed the offending material with a mild soap and a gentle rub with a sponge.
Back in the 1980s I bought a 1966 Bertram 20-foot Moppie. It had been sitting for a few years and the finish was very dull. I used a fiberglass compound and my buffer to bring back the shine to the gelcoat. It was a lot of work, but the results were worth the effort. After that original compound and wax, I had no trouble keeping up the appearance of the old girl.
I realize that most of you keep your boat looking good, but I hope you may find a helpful tip or two in this article. One of the greatest benefits of a clean boat is the added value when you sell it, and you know that sooner or later you will sell it.
by Eric Burnley