Cleaned up the outside of the boat after an awesome summer

[ecoastkid]

Pulled the boat out of the water and brought it over to my buddy's detail shop so we could clean the outside before I wrap it up for the season.

She was pretty grimy.



At first we tried some scrubbing but got bored of that quickly.



So we switched to a mixture of 50% muriatic acid and 50% water with good results. We applied it , waited 2 min and then pressure washed it off. Redid a few spots if needed.
Id say it all came out pretty good.

[CHassmann]

Looks good after cleaning. Please don't take this as judgemental, but I would freak out if my boat ever got that dirty.

[bturner]

Same as above. Not judging as you're welcome to do as you chose with your boat but my Nautique OCD would drive me nuts every time I went to use the boat if that's what it looked like. Do you have an option to use a Hydro Hoist or anything like that where you keep your boat? Aside from the cleaning my concern would be blistering issues that very well could occur from leaving it in the water. I will say though that it did turn out good.

The PO that owned my boat never cleaned the bottom. I used a similar mixture to clean the bottom as a basis for my bottom restoration and detail. I was lucky to have the dealer's galvanized lot trailer (which was way too big for the boat) at the time as a loaner while my new trailer was on order. The acid and the galvanize made for a less than ideal chemical reaction but the bottom came out well. You really need to be careful with the acid and paint, rubber, skin, eyes, etc. I had gloves on a long sleeve shirt, hat and safety glasses on but honestly wish I would have had a tyvek jumpsuit on as well. I used a garden sprayer that had a telescoping wand to apply the acid and started from the center bottom of the hull and worked my way out to the sides of the boat. After spray it down good and letting it dry I repaired the chips/scratches with gel coat paste, then rubbed out and waxed the bottom. Turned out great.

[yellowMIL]

Wow, cleaned up nice, with your swim platform being that dirty do you keep your ballast full all the time...?

[ecoastkid]

I don't think the lake I'm on even allows boat lifts as I've never seen one at any of the marina's. Even if they did, I couldn't afford it..lol (Lake Wallenpaupack rules are set by the electric power company that owns it.) Since I live 2 hours away from the lake, it was too much gas to bring my truck and trailer down each weekend. I pulled it once to go to another lake for a week of family vacation. It was wiped down then.

As for blistering...I've read that a few times but there are many thousands fiberglass boats that sit in water season after season without issue. I certainly could be wrong but I think its something that might not happen very often but is talked about enough that it seems like it does. Either way, it didn't happen to mine.

The deck was pretty dirty when I bought the boat, especially underneath it. When the ballast tanks are empty the deck sits about 1/2 inch above the water line and is constantly wet due to waves rolling by the docks. Is that an abnormal height or should it be higher? (or the boat further out of the water)

I'd estimate there were about 10 Nautiques in the water all season at this lake. Many of them very new but I guess those guys were like me and just had to deal with the scunge.

I am closing on a small trailer/property that has a deeded boat slip and community ramp for next season. Because of this, I'll be keeping the trailer up there and I'll do my best to keep the boat as close to your guys high standards as time allows...lol