General boat cleaning
1. Boat cleaning: An overview
Sometimes it would be nice to have a deckhand or boat detailer provide a full wash-down of your yacht or take care of the boat cleaning after a trip (or during). But be honest, taking care of your own piece of jewellery and looking after it is also fun. What could be more satisfying than sitting back in your glistering cockpit, relaxing with a drink and watching the sun go down whilst you admire all your hard work?
Regular boat cleaning also has a safety benefit: if you go into small corners on board with a cloth and sponge and clean under your boat seats, you will quickly find small areas where early maintenance will prevent damage later on. Damage hidden under salt and dirt could be hairline cracks in the GRP, rust stains might be thought to be seagull mess, and dried clumps of hair and dirt could easily put your bilge pump out of action.
It is often important to clean your boat in places where you can't even see it: In the bilge, for example, damp dirt leads to the typical melange of mouldy, musty aroma that gives many older boats a distinctive smell as they age. This odour is almost always in hard-to-reach places under the floorboards. You might pay the price for unregular cleaning of your boat when you put it up for sale and ‘l'odeur du yacht’ scares off potential buyers.
2. How often should you clean the boat?
And if the dirt from the weekend is left uncleaned, you"ll unlikely want to start the next weekend by cleaning your boat on a Friday.
3. Cleaning after journeys at sea
On the coasts, rinsing off after a cruise is particularly important: if salt water dries out on deck, hard salt crystals form. It acts like sandpaper on painted and polished surfaces, and sea salt also speeds up the corrosion of metals and the ageing process of some plastics.
Cleaning individual sections of the boat
1. Cleaning the bilge
Condensation forms quickly under the floor boards and stimulates mould growth. So it's important therefore to regularly clean the boat bilge. To reduce damp, it helps to raise a few floor boards during longer periods of absence to allow air circulation. The drier the bilge, the less likely it is to smell.
With special bilge cleaners stubborn stains can also be removed. If oil or fuel has accidentally got into the bilge, special bilge cleaners work by binding the residues and preventing diesel odours from settling on board. Once your bilge is clean, keeping it clean is a matter of using a damp cloth to pick up new dirt, easy.
2. Cleaning the deck
Clean water and a not-too-hard deck scrubber are the best choice for a quick first clean. But be careful: Boat cleaning using tap water is often regulated in marinas. Under no circumstances should household cleaners or even detergents be used when cleaning the boat deck! If you end up causing a foamy mess in the marina waters around your boat, you will quickly receive a warning from the harbour master, and probably a bill from the environmental agency pollution prevention authorities. Boat cleaners, on the other hand, are specially formulated for use near water and are usually more effective than all-purpose cleaners, even at low dosages.
When it comes to cleaning the teak deck opinions differ: many swear by sun and water. However, this causes the wood to develop a silver hue quite quickly. Those who prefer the regular use of special boat cleaners when cleaning the teak deck will notice the light beige colour will last for a long time. However, the latter comes at the expense of the longevity of the deck. When it comes to green discolouration on the wood, however, everyone agrees that algae do not belong on deck! Special algae cleaners, on the other hand, are the most effective. They are sprayed on or worked into the wood with a soft sponge or brush. The sun and time do the rest. These agents dissolve the green chlorophyll in the algae and cause them to die quickly.
And how do I maintain a GRP boat? Special GRP boat cleaners. are available for extremely dirty boat plastics. Bird droppings and cobwebs in particular quickly attack surfaces and paintwork and should be removed quickly. Affected areas can be pre-treated with a (soft) sponge and a boat cleaner. This reduces the amount of cleaning agent being rinsed overboard with hose water.
3. Cleaning windows and panes
Be careful when cleaning hatches, windows and panes! Most of them are made of relatively scratch-resistant plastic. On older boats or if windows have been replaced by the (previous) owner, these are often less hard-wearing than modern materials. In general, the same principle applies to cleaning boat windows as on deck: Soft scrubbing brushes or a sponge and water will remove a lot of dirt. If this is not enough, use boat cleaners.
If the material of the panes and windows is not known exactly, it is better not to treat the entire surface with the cleaner straight away, but to test a small corner of the window for material compatibility first.
4. Cleaning the inside of the boat
In addition to regular hull cleaning, the cabin also needs to be cleaned from time to time. Clean the inside of the boat in much the same way as you would clean at home. That means dusting, vacuuming corners, cleaning windows, maintaining furniture... It's best to work from top to bottom, right down to the floorboards.
It's also best to use special boat cleaners that are designed for cleaning certain materials, rather than general household cleaners. They might often be a quick first choice for cleaning boats and cleaning boat leather, but there not always a good choice. Acid-based cleaners and some all-purpose cleaners attack the surfaces and make them matt. Special GRP boat cleaners are more suitable for cleaning GRP boats (depending on the type of paintwork). Many of these products also brighten surfaces and seal them against new dirt at the same time. This also works for cabin linings and walls with a vinyl covering, thanks to special vinyl cleaners. These are also suitable for cleaning boat leather, for example when cleaning boat seats if they are made of leather and imitation leather. When it comes to upholstery care and, in particular, cleaning your boat carpet, there's a relatively easy way of dealing with a carpet that has become wet with salt water. Unfortunately, no amount of cleaning makes sense and the only solution is to replace the carpets. Harsh but true. Salt in the carpet always draws moisture out of the air and thus increases the odour that is absorbed. However, normal dirt can be treated with carpet spray just like at home.
Cleaning boat seats, on the other hand, is generally uncomplicated. Cushions made of closed-cell foams only absorb dirt and mould on the surface and can be removed and washed with detergent at home in the shower with lukewarm water. Once removed, put the covers in the washing machine on a cold setting and without a strong spin cycle.
5. Cleaning wooden superstructures
For painted wooden superstructures, the type of paintwork always determines how it is to be cleaned. Two-component paints can generally be treated in the same way as plastic decks. You can always check whether the paint is compatible with the boat cleaner in a small less visible area. Special wood cleaners for untreated teak often contain brighteners. As with decks, they can help to preserve the sandy colour of fresh teak for longer.
6. Cleaning metal parts
Stainless steel is durable and can be washed with any boat cleaner. It can then be brought to a shine with a polish. However, if rust occurs, cleaning with rust remover or oxalic acid is only the first step. Always fight rust as a first priority and tackle it quickly, especially in salt water areas. You can do this either by replacing inferior metals or by applying protective layers of paint.
7. Cleaning the electronics on board
The cockpit also needs a thorough clean from time to time. Modern touchscreens in particular tend to suffer from unsightly greasy fingerprints. Screen cleaners remove marks and make the surface more resistant to grease. Afterwards, all you need to do is use a microfibre cloth from time to time to keep devices clear. If there is dirt between the buttons and switches, a cotton bud or even a sheet of paper is perfect for cleaning the gaps.
Hinnerk helps: the right cleaning equipment
When choosing the right cleaning tool or scrubber, never use abrasive scrubbing tools for cleaning and washing your deck.
The boat scrubber should have long and soft bristles. Abrasive kitchen brushes with short, hard bristles will scratch the GRP or damge the seals between the planks of your teak deck.
Necessity is the mother of invention!! On many boat hulls, only a few floorboards are movable.
Getting into all the nooks and crannies is not always easy, which is why it is sometimes a good idea to have a selection of different cleaning devices to choose from. For example, a curved bottle cleaner can be used to get under fixed elements and remove stuck-on dirt.
Cleaners for exterior
Cleaning the hull
1. Clean the boat hull, underwater hull, boat bottom
Long river trips or brackish waters can often result in a brown bathtub ring near the waterline of the hull. This 'coffee stain' is caused by algae and other suspended matter in the river that settles on the hull. Thin layers can be easily removed with special cleaners (e.g. oxalic acid). When completely dry, however, this dirt can be as solid as a layer of paint and can only be removed with mechanical means.
2. Boat cleaning with a high-pressure cleaner
When cleaning large boats, cleaning the underwater hull is even more difficult. Book a few hours with a boatyard crane to clean the boat. Fouling can be easily rinsed off with a high-pressure cleaner and antifouling can be reapplied where necessary.
3. Boat cleaning under water
Of course, you can clean your boat by getting into the water yourself. Make sure you wear a mask and snorkel when cleaning. If barnacles are particularly stubborn, a small scraper on a leash around your wrist is helpful. However, a coarse, firm sponge is usually all you need.
Hinnerk helps: Safety is a must
Safety first! When using sharp, pointed or otherwise potentially dangerous objects and tools for boat cleaning, the following always applies: Safety is top priority. So-called butcher's gloves or chain-mail gloves, for example, help to protect your hands. They are cut-resistant and have a rough texture, so you can easily remove barnacles etc from the hull by simply running your hand over it.
Cleaners for interior
Are household cleaning products good for cleaning boats?
1. Homemade household vs. special cleaning products
Many homemade household cleaners are best left in the past, even in the home. Tricks with baking powder, vinegar or even chlorine-containing agents often pollute the water more than modern cleaning agents. Some of the cleaning tricks you learned from grandma can attack plastics and metals. New dirt can settle much faster than with cleaning agents that are suitable for the material. So instead of making your own cleaners, remember that specially designed cleaners for certain materials have been engineered for a reason. When cleaning GRP boats, for example, a GRP cleaner should always be used, when cleaning aluminium boats a special cleaner for aluminium – and so on.
Rust removers
Avoiding common cleaning mistakes
Dos & don'ts for boat cleaning
Cleaning your own boat is certainly one of the more unpopular tasks that have to be done. However, with a few helpful tips & tricks, maintenance on and below deck can be done quickly.
- It's better to regularly do a little cleaning instead of a big clean over several weekends.
- Aggressive cleaners - cleaning agents containing chlorine, household detergents and strong cleaning agents, solvents are taboo on board. The damage to the material is usually disproportionate to the supposedly faster cleaning success.
- Hard deck scrubbers and brushes damage window and teak joints. They also wear off wax polishes very quickly and make paintwork look dull. Long soft bristles are therefore better.
- Mechanical cleaning with a scouring pad and cleaner usually involves time-consuming polishing.
- Clean the deck early in the morning. The blazing midday sun and heat cause water from cleaning agents to evaporate more quickly. This increases the concentration of solvents on the surface and plastics can be attacked.
- When rinsing on deck, always follow the sheer (usually from the bow to the stern). This allows water to run off easily and takes dissolved dirt with it.
- High-pressure cleaners should not be used on deck. The jet damages joints and lifts off bonded deck coverings.
- Gratings in the cockpit can be conveniently hung overboard in the water with a line before scrubbing, allowing stuck dirt to soak off.
- Furniture polish on floorboards - looks great, but can make getting around the boat a slippery task at the first drop of water.
Cleaning aids
Hinnerk's summary:
Using your boat is certainly more fun than cleaning it. But when your boat is clean, sailing it is a much more enjoyable experience. But not only that, a clean boat is much more likely to stay a clean boat and most people will be encouraged to keep it that way.
This also applies to the parts that are not visible, such as behind the engine cover, in the bilge and around other equipment. Your boat will not only look great, it will also be safer. This is because, the cleaner it is the easier it will be to notice changes quickly. For example, a new oil stain will only be visible once the old ones have been removed.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
About Hinnerk:
Hinnerk has been living and working on board her IW 31 sailing yacht ‘Paulinchen’, which is just over nine metres long, since April 2009. On board, she takes photos, makes videos, travelogues, specialist articles about sailing and the ‘Segelradio’ podcast about life at sea. It's very authentic and personal and always close to the subject matter. Everyone can sail with Hinnerk without getting wet.