Recently got a 2019 Yamaha AR240 and was wondering about cleaning

[Narria]

First time boat owners here. How often should we wipe down the interior of the boat? After every outing? We live on a fresh water lake in Texas. What prducts do y'all use for the vinyl seats? Fiberglass? Windshield? I want to clean off the sweat and sun screen after we come back and wipe off the dust before we go out. clean water spots off the windshield. Any suggestions welcome!

 

[Crob83]

First time boat owners here. How often should we wipe down the interior of the boat? After every outing? We live on a fresh water lake in Texas. What prducts do y'all use for the vinyl seats? Fiberglass? Windshield? I want to clean off the sweat and sun screen after we come back and wipe off the dust before we go out. clean water spots off the windshield. Any suggestions welcome!

I use vinyl sauce to clean the seats and then put 303 aerospace on after to protect from UV damage. Also put 303 on my Bimini top and mooring cover. I bought a tint safe winder cleaner from my local tint shop since mine are tinted. Hot sauce is awesome for water sports and such on the outside. Buth vinyl and hot sauce are made by boat Bling

 

[Jores]

303 all purpose cleaner works great- I also use hot sauce to get rid of water spots and rejex to keep it polished. Recently tried a 303 ceramic water spot repellent on my car and will try it on the boat, ti worked great and was super easy.

 

[W3bexec]

I've seen volumes of posts from other owners about how they do some combo of wash, wipe, and wax every time they take the boat out. I am not that boat owner. I tried to keep up and couldn't. Unless it gets pretty trashed out I only wash inside and out probably every 4th trip. The boat still looks great. My advise is do what you can and want to and not feel guilty about it. Just enjoy your boat.

 

[ChrisM]

I am one of those boat owners...
After every outing, once home, and prior to going in the garage, I remove any trash, wet towels, spare clothing, and the cooler. I crank the stereo, and proceed to wipe down the entire interior, from windshield to cushions. The boat then gets garaged with the snap covers on.
During the week after work I return the clean towels, and dried out cooler to the boat, and wipe down the hull. Our lakes have clay bottoms and our water is silty, I always have a faint clay colored film on the exterior after being anchored at a sandbar. Once or twice a year I use a marine polish, and go over the hull too. The only thing I use is Eagle One Wipe & Shine Detailer.

Eagle One Wipe & Shine™ Detailer

 

[SCP1]

Obviously every outing would be ideal, however not in the cards for most. Key is to keep it as clean as possible (once you get water spots left on for a long time on the window or hull these become very difficult to get off).

 

[GTBRMC]

Airing the boat out as much as possible after an outing is a great preventative to one of the toughest boat cleaning challenges: Mildew. I always removed and dried out my snap-in carpet to minimize it, but only when I upgraded to SeaDek and pitched the carpet was the problem completely resolved.

As others have said, towels, wet life jackets, coolers are an every-use must. Other cleaning needs vary by your circumstance and expectations. Big plus one on recommendations for Boat Bling's Hot Sauce for both removing water spots and touching up polish on the hull. Also great for keeping windshield spot-free and leaving an almost Rain-X-like coating behind to help water sheet off when your glass gets splashed.

 

[Narria]

Thanks for the info. Yes we leave the cover off and remove all the wet stuff and the bimini up to completely dry out. We always cover over night otherwise we'd be over run with spiders and mud daubers. our lake is pretty clean so no issues with silt, but still a fresh water rinse of the outer hull is done too. We rinse the snap down carpets due to occasional spills every few runs and let them dry completely. I just dont want to start to get stains or cracks in the seats due to sweat and sunscreen. I'll look at the different products you mentioned and see what works best for us!

 

[JetBoatingUpstateNY]

First time boat owners here. How often should we wipe down the interior of the boat? After every outing? We live on a fresh water lake in Texas. What prducts do y'all use for the vinyl seats? Fiberglass? Windshield? I want to clean off the sweat and sun screen after we come back and wipe off the dust before we go out. clean water spots off the windshield. Any suggestions welcome!

I give the interior of the boat a full wipe down before my first outing of the year, then once again in the middle of the summer, then a final time before I put it in storage. It's in a freshwater slip on Lake Erie in Western NY. Any vinyl cleaner will be fine on the seats. I use a small amount of Spray Nine for any tough stains. As far as the fiberglass/gelcoat, my hull gets a full wash and wax at the beginning of the season before it goes in the slip and at the end of the season before it goes in storage. Regular car wash soap and water, then whatever cheap spray wax i have on hand. I do try to wipe the gunwale down every time i'm out because it gets spider webs and bird droppings on it. I just use a damp microfiber rag. I will also occasionally wax the gunwale in-season to make it easier to clean. I clean the windshield when it's dirty, and when i get a cloudy day. Any glass cleaner is fine.

I'm a lazy boater and I would kinda call this the "bare minimum" approach.