Fall Cleaning Experience

donbohio

New Member
End of sailing season time...

I pulled the boat from the lake where it had been on my slip since May. The bottom was green and brown and some growth had become solid.

Last year I had my boat cleaned by my marina and it was not completely done and it was expensive. This year I decided to do it myself.

The boat is a 1989 Mod 1 that had always been dry sailed. It does not have bottom paint. It has always been sailed on fresh water. It was fully waxed before being put in the water this year with a good quality marine wax.

Before the cleaning it sat in my driveway for 4 weeks since being pulled form the water. (I would avoid this in the future.)

My first step was to preasure wash the boat with a 1400psi electric washer with just water. Second was to spray on Krud Kuttter preasure washer solution using the mixing mode of the washer and let it set for 20 minutes. I then carefully power washed it at hight power over the entire hull.

This got most of the loose stuff off and cleaned everything above the waterline.

I then repeated this process the second time. This cleaned it better than the marina did with a higher preasure unit and miriadic acid.

Finally, for the area below the waterline that had solid buildup, I sprayed on AquaMagic (a miriadic acid substitute) with a hand pump garden sprayer using the mixture level for swimming pool tile. Hand and eye protection and open air is a must. (Low wind helps as well.) I waited an hour and washed it off with the power washer at high power it was done. I then cleaned the tools and washed down the driveway (important).

It brought it back to near new smoothness and condition.

I hope this is helpful.
 
Bottom cleaning

Thanks for the input. I'm going to include it in the next issue of the Mainsheet, listing you as the author.

I'd like to add that if you'd cleaned it immediately after hauling while the bottom was still wet it would have been vastly easier. So your experience is a a valuable lesson in why it's important not to delay bottom cleaning.
 

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