Cleaning a boat that is inside heated storage

[jmunro123]

My boat is stored in a heated inside storage building. I want to get at it now and start to Buff Magic the deck and hull and give it one coat of Polish. Its a pretty big boat so I expect it will take me a few weekends. I bough the boat used and looked like it was not properly cared for and as a result needs a good cleaning.

I was at the storage facility last Saturday and noticed some deck mould that needs to be taken off as well. Here is what I am thinking of doing - let me know if there are any mistakes. The last thing I want to do is to risk redoing any of this work!

1. Spray deck with Tilex , let sit for 10 min. and either srub with a non aggressive brush to remove mould and dirt from non-skid. Have a pail of fresh water and use a towel to remove Tilex from deck by wiping it down.
2. Get a spray bottle with a mixture of Starbrite boat cleaner and water and spray on hull , again have a pail of fresh water and wipe boat clean of residue.
3. Buff Magic deck and Hull at setting 3 of the Shurhold orbital polisher and a wool pad
4. wipe with microfiber cloth
5. Use Shurhold Pro Polish on deck and hull with the Shurhold polisher at a higher setting with a foam pad.
6. put a second coat of polish on the deck and hard top
7. wipe dry hazed polish with a micrfiber towel
8. Get a case of Advil and a bottle of whisky and go to sleep for three days to recover.

So am I on the right track? Is one coat of polish enough? Also does anyone know how long I should estimate this to take? Would three days with two people do it?

 

[billnpat]

My boat is stored in a heated inside storage building. I want to get at it now and start to Buff Magic the deck and hull and give it one coat of Polish. Its a pretty big boat so I expect it will take me a few weekends. I bough the boat used and looked like it was not properly cared for and as a result needs a good cleaning.

I was at the storage facility last Saturday and noticed some deck mould that needs to be taken off as well. Here is what I am thinking of doing - let me know if there are any mistakes. The last thing I want to do is to risk redoing any of this work!

1. Spray deck with Tilex , let sit for 10 min. and either srub with a non aggressive brush to remove mould and dirt from non-skid. Have a pail of fresh water and use a towel to remove Tilex from deck by wiping it down.
2. Get a spray bottle with a mixture of Starbrite boat cleaner and water and spray on hull , again have a pail of fresh water and wipe boat clean of residue.
3. Buff Magic deck and Hull at setting 3 of the Shurhold orbital polisher and a wool pad
4. wipe with microfiber cloth
5. Use Shurhold Pro Polish on deck and hull with the Shurhold polisher at a higher setting with a foam pad.
6. wipe dry hazed polish with a micrfiber towel
7. Get a case of Advil and a bottle of whisky and go to sleep for three days to recover.

So am I on the right track? Is one coat of polish enough?

ON THE NON SKID ONLY ...TRY [SOFT SCRUB WITH BLEACH] WET DECK, USE A SOFT BRUSH, LET IT SET 10 MINS, AND RINSE, A CAPT TOLD ME ABOUT IT A WHILE BACK AND IT WORKED GREAT FOR DEEP DOWN DIRT ON THE NON SKID...
:thumbsup:

 

[Lazy Daze]

I'd move #7 up higher in the list and use it as "preventative maintenance" before you even start!

Oops.. I meant #8. Maybe I was following some of my own advice when I wrote that.......

 

[Skuza]

Good luck with rubbing that monster! You've got ALOT of gelcoat there.
I compound, glaze (polish), then wax.
Compounding should take out most blemishes except some in textured ares that may be saturated into porous gelcoat. Bleaching mildew stains then somehow sealing it with some type of protectant would be best. Lots do not feel comfortable waxing non-skid. I do it and use MAJOR CAUTION.

 

[1956olds]

Perhaps a third person also ,to clean inside the cabin and fetch beers!

 

[sbw1]

If you are storing at a marina facility, I'm surprised you are allowed to run a buffer without tenting the entire boat to confine the dust. We do our polishing/waxing of the top sides in the fall at our slip and put the boat away clean. Since it is out of the weather it stays showroom fresh over the winter.

 

[jmunro123]

I got a price from the Marina today to do this work for me and was wondering what you guys think of this offer.

The person offering to to the detailing works for the Marina (but is off in the winter and does this during the time he is layed off) and I think would have some references. Here is the offer:
1. Clean boat stem to stern
2. one pass of compound
3. one pass with wax with cabanna wax, wiht a rotory wheel.
4. includes Hard Top, smooth surface in the bridge, deck (non-skid),hull.


Price $942, seems like a heck of a deal. He mentioned that he would spend more time on the 'finish' if I cleaned the boat. So, it seems reasonable that I can clean the boat.

What are you thoughts on this offer? Honestly, it seems to cheap, should I be concerned. I will get some references.

 

[320Bob]

Jmunro, does the cleaning include the canvas? I'm a first time boat polisher and it was far less work than I thought. However, my hull was in very good shape so I only had to compound the dock rash areas. If you have time on the weekends, I would suggest you do it yourself only from the standpoint of really getting to see the surfaces of your boat. If not, that is a good price in my opinion since you have considerably more surface area than my boat. Also you need to change your boat details that appear at the top of your posts since you no longer own the 340!:grin:

 

[jmunro123]

Jmunro, does the cleaning include the canvas? I'm a first time boat polisher and it was far less work than I thought. However, my hull was in very good shape so I only had to compound the dock rash areas. If you have time on the weekends, I would suggest you do it yourself only from the standpoint of really getting to see the surfaces of your boat. If not, that is a good price in my opinion since you have considerably more surface area than my boat. Also you need to change your boat details that appear at the top of your posts since you no longer own the 340!:grin:

I missed that change on the profile - done.

 

[sbw1]

I got a price from the Marina today to do this work for me and was wondering what you guys think of this offer.

The person offering to to the detailing works for the Marina (but is off in the winter and does this during the time he is layed off) and I think would have some references. Here is the offer:
1. Clean boat stem to stern
2. one pass of compound
3. one pass with wax with cabanna wax, wiht a rotory wheel.
4. includes Hard Top, smooth surface in the bridge, deck (non-skid),hull.


Price $942, seems like a heck of a deal. He mentioned that he would spend more time on the 'finish' if I cleaned the boat. So, it seems reasonable that I can clean the boat.

What are you thoughts on this offer? Honestly, it seems to cheap, should I be concerned. I will get some references.

Seems like a very good price to me. It really gets down to the quality of the work. If they do excellent work, it's a very fair price considering the size of your boat and how hard some of the areas are to reach.

 

[fwebster]

Your quote is real low for a MY......did the guy see how many acres of fiberglass he's buying into?

It concerns me when I see a quote like..."one coat of X; one coat of Y". Perhaps a lot of years of boat maintenance in the FL sun has made me jaundiced, but you should be interested in the over-all job and in protecting your boat, not just buying "2 passes". If the boat has some oxidation on it (it does if there was mold on the non-skid) parts of it may require 3-4 passes with various compounds of varying grits.

Compound and wax + a rotary buffer usually equals swirl marks. If the compound is aggressive enough to remove oxidation, it will most likely swirl. There are a few leveling type of cleaners out there that leave a swirl free finish, but with a rotary it usually take 2 passes with different grits of compound followed by polish done with an orbital.

Just be sure you get what you want and what you are paying for.

 

[alnav]

What are you thoughts on this offer? Honestly, it seems to cheap, should I be concerned. I will get some references.

This is indeed a good price to do the 390 assuming a good job is done. I think you know we share the same hull, here are some thoughts from my experience:
- I can do my topsides completely with multiple coats over a couple of weekends. The hull takes less than a day. I have used Starbrite with PTEF and Flagship and have settled on 2 coats of Starbrite and one Flagship to finish. I've done it both by hand and using a buffer, I find the buffer actually takes me longer but recommend it if you have the time. OTOH, mine is new enough to have never suffered from oxidation so dealing with that may be a wild card.
- Based on most of what I have read and my own experience you are likely better off using newer synthetics than wax if you want a long-lasting finish so I would agree with your original approach over the detailer's proposal.
- If I were you I would add a Starbrite non-skid cleaner application to the plan right after you kill the mold and before the compounding/polishing is started. I did that this past season and have been very satisfied.
- The hardtop is the hardest place to keep shined and clean in season and is deserving of lots of attention while you can get at it over the winter. You can get to parts of it from the deck or through the hatch but unless you don't mind crawling around that high up it's difficult to keep up. You might want to focus your hired helper's attention on that area and use the longest-lasting finishes you can on it.
- If you don't mind spending the money on the helper you might want to construct a hybrid plan where he does the hardtop and the hull (using your favored materials) while you do the rest. I agree with earlier sentiment that it's useful to perform as much of the detail as you can so that you learn where the difficult areas are (if you haven't already, look carefully at the caulked seams leading down on either side of the transom, real mold farms on mine).

 

[jmunro123]

well I got half the hardtop done with Buff magic and a little Shurhold polish at the front for the pic. It took me 2 hours.

 

[jmunro123]

Here is an update on this earlier post

After more trips to the indoor heated storage facilitiy I am done this project.

The hull pic was done with a two step process, light compound then Meguairs Flagship Premiem Cleaner Wax. Next year I plan on just washing the boat and giving it once over with that. I learned a lot about the boat this winter and how to get it shinny. Next winter will be much easier. I had a few spots that needed more work and used a combination of Meguiars Oxidation Remover and Buff Magic.

 

[jmunro123]

The pic of water line was basically before - this is after.

 

[billnpat]

Smokin job........:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

 

[320Bob]

JM123,
I feel your pain and sense of accomplishment since I just completed polishing mine in heated storage last weekend. You have a lot more boat to polish than I do but it looks great. The only things I have left are shampooing the snap down carpeting, which is being done today at my local care wash, and cleaning/polishing the non skid surfaces. I have no water in my heated strorage which is why I couldn't do them until the boat is deliveried to my new marina in two weeks.

 

[jmunro123]

We don't have any water in our storage either. I can bring buckets of water which helps. I also took my carpets to be steam cleaned and put them back in yesterday. I also washed the docklines. I need to do the non-skid on the deck forward of the cabin doors. But all the rest of the cabin top is done. so I have about 3 feet by 20 feet on both sides to do which is mostly non-skid. I used the Meguiars Oxidation remover for that area and it worked great,

 

[JerryS]

Good Grief! How many Advil were required to complete that job?
Looks Good!

 

[jmunro123]

The pain was mostly in my lower back from twisting back and forth. It was a matter of working one day - recover for about 3 then go at it again. usually I would go there on Saturdays. I really felt stiff after the first day with the buffer, but after about 3 days, I got more used to it. I put the last coat of wax on by hand and a friend buffied it off.