Washing Out Boat

[dan144k]

Our boat lives on the trailer and we launch it 25-35 times each year in Chicago and Southern IL.
We wash the inside of the boat a few times a year. I usually S100 a soft deck brush and a powerwasher. I will chock the wheels and put a floor under the front of the trailer to rIse the front high and tilt it back. Then all the soap and water runs out quicker. Clean the center locker amd engine bay usually too.
Last year I got my son and wife trained so they help now and do most of the work. After I get boat angled for them.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I so wanted this to work at the end of my dock. It was supposed to suck water out of a bucket (or the lake) So it would have been perfect in theory.

Please DeWalt, come out with a 60v version so that I can wash my boat on the lift. I used to wash my boat all the time before we put it on a lift for the season.

Thanks for the real world test of that device! It’s a great concept, just a bit lackluster in performance.. I think most other pressure washers require a certain amount of water pressure to operate.

Seems to me that with power available at your dock you could just rig up a 120 VAC RV style of pump in the 5.5 GPM / 70 psi range and then feed the output into a garden hose. This should be more than ample to supply any pressure washer in the 2 GPM range, and should give you a good supply of water when just using a garden hose for a lower pressure / higher volume of water wash down system. If I’m not mistaken I saw a fresh water rinse / shower on the starboard stern of yiur boat, I don’t know where you get the water for that, but seems to me you could use a whole house water filter from the aforementioned RV style pump to filter the lake water for use in your shower tank?

I put a Sea Flo 3.3 GPM electric pump on my boat and tied it into the OEM raw water wash down system. I use it regularly to clean the deck of my boat while out fishing, and for that matter to clean the whole inside, anchor rode & chain etc. Its also good for removing the copious amounts of goose poop from the public dock at the boat ramp. Admittedly sometimes there is so much goose poop I dip my 5 gallon bucket in the lake and throw 5 gallons at a time to wash that away. Point is, that 3.3 GPM system supplies plenty of water for washing things down so I’d think a 5.5 GPM system would give you everything you need at the dock. Set it up with some quick disconnects and it’d be easy to remove for winter and reinstall when the water returns to its liquid state after winter.

BTW, that’s a very zoot dock set up you have!

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Looking for some opinions. I really want to take out the carpet and removable seats and then power washer and wash out, down, the inside of the boat and the swim platform as well as the engine bay. I have a 40 degree nozzle attachment which I use for my car so it won't tear into it. I want to run soap through it then rinse off, leaving all plugs open. Its amazing how much gets tracked in and out just after a couple of outings, and also I cover it every evening.

After this I have 303, Hot Sauce, Vinyl Sauce and Vinyl cleaner

Is this a bad idea or should I just do it all by hand? I know everything should be water proof and in the engine I do not plan on saturating the engine just the side walls and transom. Could I even wash/rinse down the engines I am worried they won't start of have an issue?

I don’t think you’d have any problems with engines and such, just keep the nozzle a long ways back while doing so. I just use a garden hose when washing down my engine bay, I give the engines and whole bay a good rinse, then soak everything with Motul Bike wash and let it sit until it’s just starting to dry, then rinse with with copious amounts of water. When I’m done washing I run the engines on the hose for at least 5 minutes, then the engines and all of the wiring and plugs get a thorough spray down with silicone spray. I do the same thing with the rear bilge area as well.

I‘ve used my pressure washer on the interior as well, again making sure to not get the nozzle too close to everything. The nice thing about pressure washers is they use so much less water when washing things down. Once I’ve washed everything in the interior, I use a hand sprayer with 1:1 ratio of water and vinegar to remove all the water spots, then all the vertical surfaces get a spray and wipe down with TEC 582 ceramic detail spray Amazon.com this stuff is so easy to use and it lasts quite a while. This is the product VANTAGE ceramic coatings recommended s a sacrificial coating.

All the vinyl gets cleaned with Star Brite cleaner then Star Brite protectant.

 

[biffdotorg]

BTW, that’s a very zoot dock set up you have!

Thank you, we are very happy with the Floe docks. And since it has to come out every year, that aluminum is awesome. Since nobody surf's, I use my ballast bags filled with air to move them around very quickly rather than just rolling them.

I am way over thinking the boat washing. I have a couple hundred feet of garden hose on a hose reel cart that goes to my wife's garden. If I wanted, I could run hose all the way down, as well as 120v for the pressure washer. I was just being lazy and thought that spiffy DeWalt would be cool to use with minimal effort. I could see myself pulling out the "big gun" a few more times after pulling my boat last fall and seeing just how bad it had gotten.