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From time to time, you have to do some boat cleaning. Not my favorite job, but the yacht looks like 'a million bucks', don't you agree?
Now, alltough cleaning your boat is fairly simple, you need to have the right technique and the right boat cleaning tools.
When I clean the boat, I use the following technique:
- Always start at the top and work your way down.
- Then, you begin at the bow and move towards the stern.
These are the basic rules. I do look at the wind and the sun too.
If you see that the wind is coming from a certain direction, you start cleaning upwind and then further downwind. Otherwise you're only wetting the surface again that you just cleaned.
If the sun is shining strongly, you need to be sure you're cleaning quickly.
If the water and soap dries up, it's only giving you more work. On such days, it might be better to wash the boat very early or late, so you're not cleaning at the hottest point of the day
Always hose down the surface, before you come with the boat wash and brush. Rinse it off well afterwise and mop the surface, to avoid waterspots.
Now, apart from the technique, you need a good set of boat cleaning products. 'You can't win the horserace with a donkey...'
you probably also have limited space on board. There's just too much stuff on board or there's not enough room in the lockers. Both are true.
So, it would help if we have good quality cleaning tools that last long and that take a minimum of space on board.
For example, they have the telescopic handle. One handle that you can make longer or shorter whatever the length you need. And through a quick-lock system you can put several accessories on it. So, one handle, multiple functions! Sounds great, doesn't it?
Among the accessories, you have brushes, mops, scrubbing pads, boathooks and so on...
You decide which kind of brush. They have several sizes and levels of softness. Depending on the surface you want to clean, you choose soft, medium or hard.
There's a lot of choice, so I'm sure you'll find the right one for your boat!
You need a bucket too, of course. All the cleaning accessories can fit in the bucket, so that with your 1 handle is all the place you need for your cleaning equipment.
For wiping the windows or to get water from a larger surface, I use the water blade from Shurhold. Together with the synthetic leather from Vinalon. Makes it much quicker to dry a surface!
About the Soap
Boat wash is specially made to clean your deck and everything around it. It washes off salt, dirt, grime... much more than a kitchen soap will do.
you should try to get a good boat wash on board from the Starbrite boat products. They offer good quality products to clean the deck, non-slip, hull, transom and so on...
Source - yachtunlimited.com |
