Washing boat without running water

[convergent]

Any tips for washing a boat that I keep at a storage facility that doesn't have running water?

 

[82rude]

Try a waterless wash product .

 

[shrew]

5 gallon collapsible water jugs. A Bucket. a sponge and some white 'shop rags' as drying towels. Essentially, you are giving your boat a sponge bath. We frequently do this with a bucket and melted cooler water when we want to wash the salt off the boat when we're on a mooring or an anchorage on vacation.

 

[GA_Boater]

Simple way is to drag it home or to a quarter car wash (showing my age). You need water.

 

[Illinoid]

If there is a lot of dust I would start with compressed air or a leaf blower.

 

[crazy charlie]

Wait for a day that the forcast is for heavy rain and pull it out of storage and attack with brush/mop etc.When done pull it back inside,towel it down and cover it .make sure to come back on a sunny day and pull it out again to dry up.

 

[Grub54891]

Clean it completely before putting it away, Cover it when it's dry and it should be pretty good when ya go back to it.

 

[roffey]

Simple way is to drag it home or to a quarter car wash (showing my age). You need water.

My thoughts as well. Love to bring my boat out in the drive way and detail it with my favorite beverage in hand and the radio in the background. Its like Christmas day for me, lol.

 

[Scott Danforth]

pull into your local splash-n-dash car wash on your way home, hose it off, dry it with towel, put it away for nest time

 

[jsparks747]

Give it a quick spray of water over the hull, soap it up using a 5 gallon bucket with a soap water mix and a sponge. Rinse the soap off.

 

[Teamster]

I wipe mine down every time I put it on the trailer after a day on the water,..

I keep a spray bottle of 50/50 white vinegar and water to spray it down and wipe dry as I go,..

To make it look spiffy I spray it with Lucas Slick Mist and wipe dry after the "wash",...

 

[Brandon5778]

I wipe mine down every time I put it on the trailer after a day on the water,..

I keep a spray bottle of 50/50 white vinegar and water to spray it down and wipe dry as I go,..

To make it look spiffy I spray it with Lucas Slick Mist and wipe dry after the "wash",...

We do the same. It is a real PITA, I get all underneath the hull and everything, because if we don't it'll leave nasty water spots (our lake has a high amount of lime). 50/50 vinegar works very well! We started using a spray wax product that also seems to keep the shine on longer between really waxing it.

 

[EricT71]

You can get one of those portable pump and spray bug sprayers to use as a portable pressure washer (albeit a weak one).

There are cheapie $10-15 jobbies, or you could go for this $80 backpack style and go all ghostbuster on it
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Husqvarna-4-Gallon-Plastic-Tank-Sprayer-with-Should-Strap/1000092467

 

[Old Ironmaker]

You can get one of those portable pump and spray bug sprayers to use as a portable pressure washer (albeit a weak one).

There are cheapie $10-15 jobbies, or you could go for this $80 backpack style and go all ghostbuster on it
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Husqvarna-4...rap/1000092467

I like this. I haven't had much success with the no water cleaners. The best detail I do is right before I shrink wrap her or as in this year I covered it with the mooring cover and put it indoors. Nothing like a nice clean boat in April and smells like Irish Spring soap. I detail boats and cars as a barter. I did a boat when there was no way it was going outside plus the water was shut off. I had great success using a bottle of Spray 9 and 5 gallons of warm water I brought with me before I put the de oxidizer to her . It worked just fine on a glass 18 footer. The shop was heated. I wouldn't wax etc below 50F.

A tip from someone washing and waxing vehicles since 11 year old, that's 51 plus years. Don't bother paying the price for car wash additives that are not cheap. The best soap for both painted metal or fibreglass is a dollop of Head and Shoulders shampoo. Hair shampoo has waxes in them and will not harm any finish, second best is Dawn dish soap. I'll say it first, no unsightly flaking if the vehicle is black.

 

[convergent]

You can get one of those portable pump and spray bug sprayers to use as a portable pressure washer (albeit a weak one).

There are cheapie $10-15 jobbies, or you could go for this $80 backpack style and go all ghostbuster on it
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Husqvarna-4-Gallon-Plastic-Tank-Sprayer-with-Should-Strap/1000092467

I have used a small portable sprayer at home to apply the hull cleaner. I get a residue on there and the hull cleaner is the only thing that will take it off. Unfortunately the one I bought was for spraying herbicides and apparently the hull cleaner is a lot harsher because it dissolved some parts of the sprayer. But that is definitely a good way to apply the cleaner... then just need to be able to rinse it off. Maybe taking this to the do it yourself car wash would be good. The problem at the car wash is that the ones I've been to its a pressure washer so not an easy way to get a bucket of soapy water to hand wash and the sprayer is on a timer. I'll have to check them out around here to see if one serves the purpose I'm looking for.

Thanks for all the ideas.

 

[Maranvin]

For starters keep a good coat of wax on her and that'll make cleaning it easier no matter how ya clean her.

 

[airshot]

This will only work if you have a pickup truck....pickup a plastic 55 gal barrel (they are cheap in my area) and then a 12v washdown pump. Good ones are 60 or less from family farm and home. Fill drum in back of pickup with water, haul to boat, screw in 12v pump in threaded hole in top of drum (laying on its side in bed of truck and clip onto battery terminals. Wet the boat, soap it down and rinse. Unless you have a really big boat you should have enough water if you don't waste it. Have done this for many years a while back when we did not have running water at site. Total coat will be less than 100 bucks and it will work for years.

 

[rallyart]

Better to find a way to wash with water but sometimes that is a lot of effort if the storage site has none. So just bring a package of baby wipes and use those. They are handy to leave in the boat anyway. I just buy a box of several packages from Costco. Use them around the house often.

 

[dingbat]

Guessing nobody here has a washdown system on their boat.

The boat is cleaned up and washed before we hit the dock....