The Skipper's Blog

Andrew Wilson asked:

This past weekend I cleaned & protected the foredeck & sidedecks of my Sea Ray (next weekend is the transom & cockpit). Each step was done by hand with brush, sponge or towel using Boat Clean Plus, Boat Scrub, Sure Step (for the non-skid) & Premium Boat Shine on the hull.

 

Wow, does she look good. My 2000 model looks as new as the new 2005 in the slip next to mine!

My questions:

(-1-) How do I incorporate labor saving devices (power tools) into this routine to make it less strenuous?

(-2-) How often do I need to go through this process? And

(-3-) Do I have to start all over again in six months or can I eliminate any steps by using Premium Boat Shine & Sure Step more frequently?

Great products!

 

Answer:
For your convenience, I’ve highlighted the hyperlinks. Click on the hyperlink to get more information about the selected product.

Thanks for the compliments Andrew. We never get tired of hearing them. We take as much pride in how your boat turns out as you do.

The good news is that you have already done the hard part. Restoring and prepping the surface always takes most of the effort, however, maintaining the finish is a lot easier.

The best way to maintain your beautiful new finish is simply to keep it clean and re-polished on a regular basis with Sure Step and Premium Boat Shine to protect against UV damage and chalking.

Wash with Boat Clean Plus is really quite easy and it eliminates the fuss and bother of buckets and mixing. It’s concentrated and water activated so all you have to do is hose down the area you want to wash first, this blasts off the easy to remove dirt and provides the activation for the Boat Clean Plus. Now just spray a fine mist on the wet surface to activate it. Remember, it’s concentrated so you don’t need a lot, unless the surface is extra dirty, in which case you can spray on more.

Start at the top, at the bow and work back and down. Work in sections and make sure that you rinse the solution off before it dries and dry with a Boat Chamois or Microfiber Cloth. For best results, wash it in the shade, early morning or at dusk when it’s not too hot.

Boat Clean Plus is water based and biodegradable, so it’s safe to wash your boat while it’s in the water. The rinse will not harm the water or fish.

Regular washing should keep your boat shiny and new looking, however if you get scuff marks, dried on bird poop, black streaks or other hard to remove soiling, you may need some Boat Scrub, or Black Streak Remover, full strength, to clean those areas. After you clean and rinse, apply a coat of polish to the affected area. It will blend in with the rest of the boat so you won’t notice the difference, and your finish will remain protected.

Our polishes are quite durable and do a good job of protecting your boat for long periods of time, but like everything on Planet Earth, they do degrade over time. The sun can be quite brutal. The good news is that the polishes are designed to be sacrificial. so they are degrading instead of your boat. Keeping your boat protected can keep it looking new for 35 years or more. If you let it go it can look old and tired in just a few of years. The length of time that our polishes last depends to a great extent on how and where the boat is used. If it’s kept in a covered slip in the northern climates, the polishes will last much longer than if it is constantly exposed to the sun in the tropics.

Our Sure Step has been upgraded and now has a practical life of 6 to 8 months, even with the sun beating down on it constantly.

Premium Boat Shine and VS721 Bottom Coat lasts 6 to 12 months, or longer. If your boat is kept clean then a simple reapplication of 2 coats of polish is all that is necessary to extend the protection for another period. You will be able to tell when the polish is starting to loose it’s effectiveness because it will become harder to keep clean. That’s when you should re-polish. The only preparation is a good washing with  Boat Clean Plus . I recommend using a Marine Power Mitt for this. It acts like a scrubber, but it doesn’t scratch. It can literally cut your work in 1/2.

Our polishes are synthetic and do not build up like waxes, so stripping is not an issue. If you maintain your boat this way, you should be able to go two to five years before Deep Cleaning or Buffing it again.

Personally, I still like to thoroughly clean all the surfaces of my boat, once a year in the spring. When I remove the tarp in the spring, the boat is always extra dirty. If I’m going to go through the trouble of washing it, I may as well make the extra little effort and do it well. I want to make sure that the UV polish is protecting the gelcoat and not any oxidized material left on the surface.

For this I rinse the entire boat with water to loosen up the grime. I do one section at a time so I can get it clean and rinsed before it has a chance to dry. Then I spray on some Boat Clean Plus, give a scrub with my Marine Power Mitt and while it’s still wet, add a bit of Boat Scrub to the mitt and quickly go over the section again. I like shortcuts and this saves me a step and I get the same results. When I rinse and dry it, the fiberglass is so clean that my thumb squeaks, when I rub the surface with it. Now it’s ready for polish.

When the boat is properly cleaned, the polish goes on much easier. All of our polishes are “Self Polishing” so there is no hard buffing. Just wipe it on, wait 10 or 20 minutes for the haze to form; wipe off the haze and you’re done.

Another excellent way to protect your boat, reduce hard work and keep your boat shiny longer is to clean and polish it in the fall before storing it for the winter. This will protect dirt from getting ingrained in the pores of the gelcoat and protect against staining from water that may accumulate and sit on your deck.

Protecting the deck with Sure Step is the most important, especially if your boat is tarped or shrink wrapped and stored outside. The UV rays from the sun, even in winter, will penetrate the covering and oxidize the deck of you boat. Another benefit of doing this is that all you have to do in the Spring is wash you boat, apply another coat of polish and you’re done. This can save you a lot of time and effort in the spring when the weather is unpredictable and you chance not have an opportunity to get your boat prepped in time for launch.

We are always looking for ways to make using our products easier and have found that in most cases, doing it by hand is just as easy, often faster and the results are better. This is because we use advanced technology to eliminate much of the hard labor of scrubbing and buffing. We get the boat care products to do the hard work for you. Of course you still have to apply and remove them.

For example, some boat owners have reported that they tried using scrub brush attachments on the end of drills or polishing machines to clean and prep their non-skids, but after a short time reverted back to a deck brush, because it was easier and much faster. Premium Boat Shine and VS721 Bottom Coat are self-polishing, just wipe off the haze and you’re done. Some insist on going over the final coat with a buffer, but the improvement in shine is minimal and holding a heavy buffer against the hull is hard work. Whenever we find a new product or tool that makes life easier, we will either make it available or post information about it on our Website.

If your boat is older and the hull is heavily oxidized or chalky and lost its shine, you’ll be interested in our new buffing system; EZ Buff and EZ Buff Extender. It’s a new buffing cream especially made for DIY. Now you can buff the course, medium, fine steps, all in one shot and because its made for the unexperienced DIY, it’s designed not to burn through the gelcoat or leave swirls.

The EZ Buff system is designed to remove only the oxidized material, with minimal cutting of the integral gelcoat so it’s easier on your boat, and possibly the best benefit, the shine can last up to 5 years, instead of 5 months that you get with old fashioned rubbing compounds and wax.

Several items that will make your life easier are the Aurora Marine Power Mitt. It literally turbo-charges the cleaning action of Boat Clean Plus, Boat Scrub, Speed Clean and Black Streak Remover, cutting your cleaning time in half, and it won’t scratch. They’re reusable and last a long time. When you’re done cleaning, just rinse them and let them air dry. They last for years.

I recommend buying the Premium Sure Step Kit. It comes complete with everything you need to get professional results, including the special applicators, buffing wheel and adaptor that you use with your potable drill to get fast, easy and professional results, the first time. The Sure Step Buffing Wheel even gets deep into the nooks and crannies of your not-skid decks and polishes the indentations as well as the surface. It will make your decks look brand new again.

    1991 Searay. Deck protected with Sure Step

Thanks for your question,

Captain Aurora

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