Power Washing ?

[Janusz]

I've got enough hand brush washing my 40 ft trawler and I am looking for power washer.
Is it a good idea? What machine would you advise; Electric would be convenient, which brand, model would you advise?
Any tips?
Searching forum for "power wash" did not answer my questions.
Please help.

 

[tiltrider1]

A $69 electric power washer is all the power you want. Any more power and you could easily start doing damage.

 

[Scottwb96]

Whichever power washer you get, get a few "attachments"!!!

The deck washer is the BEST thing ever... Spray down a little deck cleaner, let it sit for 10-15 mins then use the deck washer to clean with ease!

 

[Larry M]

A $69 electric power washer is all the power you want. Any more power and you could easily start doing damage.

What he said. We had a dock neighbor who had a big gas powered pressure washer that he used regularly. When the rainy season started (summer in Florida) he had leaks. He had blown out caulk/sealant at seams, hardware attachment points and window bedding. The boat was clean but….

 

[rwidman]

I used a small electric power washer on my boat and it damaged the tape pin striping.

If you decide to do this, you must be very careful near anything that might be damaged by the high pressure water.

 

[hollywood8118]

I bought a sunjoe electric unit from Amazon expecting it to last a season or 2. I'm on #3 and the thing has far surpassed all expectations. I have a gas monster p/w that I rarely use because the little electric unit is so easy to move,use,prime,store.. and it works great. It fits in the dock cart at the marina and to this point works as well as day 1.
Hollywood

 

[DDW]

I'll second the small electric uint. I had a Husky from Home Depot and abused that thing for 15 years. In this use a cheap one (with a universal motor) is better than an expensive one (with an induction motor) as it will run on a long extension cord and crappy power without complaint. As with any tool, you can do damage with it if you operate it without care. Keep in mind that water jet cutters, operating at a bit higher pressure, regularly cut through 2" of stainless steel. A water jet can be pretty powerful.

 

[Datenight]

Have used an electric Karcher for the past five seasons.

Rob

 

[HeadedToTexas]

The flow from my anchor wash down is really anemic and I am thinking of replacing the host fitting with a quick disconnect fitting for a power washer wand using the wash down to feed a small electric unit mounted in the chain locker.

A short power washer hose for anchor duty and a longer one for washing bugs and spider poop off the decks.

 

[kthoennes]

We use a gas-powered pressure washer (Coleman Powermate - they're not made any more but you can find a lot of nearly identical PW's under other name plates, like a Dewalt model in yellow). We wash the boat, does a great job on carpets, canvas, cleans mussels and slime off the dingy's bottom -- but the other posters are right, if you're going with a higher power gas PW, you have to be really careful and by all means use a wide nozzle, not narrow. You're not blasting paint off a battleship. As I recall they make 25* or 40* wider-angle tips. The narrow tips will cut right through my canvas window screens (don't ask me how I know).

 

[Conrad]

We've had a Karcher for 5-6 years and it has never let us down. Against conventional wisdom however, I wish we'd purchased a more powerful one. At the time we could get either a 1600 PSI unit or a 2400 PSI unit, and we went with the 1600. We found right away that we had to hold the nozzle so close to the deck that every swath we made was very narrow, hence many swaths. A 2400 PSI unit would have allowed us to hold the nozzle further away and make wider and fewer swaths. Judicial use is the key here. And also, Blue Sky is all fibreglass so no teak or seams (okay, a few) to worry about.

 

[draakken]

You want to start far away with a wide angle tip, get closer until the dirt comes off, and then don't get any closer.


With a pressure washer once you have enough pressure to dislodge the dirt, what additional pressure gets you is a wider cleaning width. A wider pass is useful because you can more easily overlap cleaning passes so you don't make a zebra (clean/dirty stripes).



most of the electric units are light duty, homeowner grade machines, they'll last a few seasons but don't expect them to be a 10-year relationship.

 

[backinblue]

Never had or even heard of "spider poop" before!

 

[rslifkin]

Never had or even heard of "spider poop" before!

I don't ever remember having trouble with dock spiders as a kid boating in CT, but they're a menace up here. Spiderweb removal from lifelines, etc. is pretty much a daily boat chore. Yes, spiders poop (green or black depending on their diet). And it stains.

 

[backinblue]

Yuck! Barnacles are my menace, not sure which I'd rather deal with.

 

[rslifkin]

Yuck! Barnacles are my menace, not sure which I'd rather deal with.

I'll take the spider poop over barnacles. It's not totally awful to remove with a good coat of wax. And more importantly, I don't have to get in the water to do anything about it!

 

[kthoennes]

Yep, I've learned every part of the country has its own boat mess challenges. I don't remember spider poop on our boats as a kid in CT (Connecticut River) either, but here on the Missouri River it's spider poop specks, the unbelievable mayfly bloom (which almost never actually occurs in May), and the worst is birds who eat mulberries and then leave purple stains on white boats. I know other regions have boat moustaches -- bathtub rings on the bow. And we don't have barnacles here, but now we do have zebra mussels. Barn swallows nest in the anchor chain locker. PNW has otter poop issues apparently. Pick your region, pick your cleaning jobs.

 

[twistedtree]

I haven’t used one on a boat but have heard they do a great job removing all the wax that you so painfully applied.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

Yeah, spider poop is a real problem in western Lake Erie. So is the bird poop when they eat the spiders. No fun.

 

[Larry M]

I have to ask, why use a pressure washer? With having to store, move, set-up and the potential damages why not just clean the boat the old fashion way then wax every six months or yearly. With regularly cleaning a pressure washer is overkill maybe?

 

[BruceK]

I once effectively removed all the wax polish from a car with the pressure washer. Little alternative, I`d been behind a truckload of incontinent cattle on their way to the abattoir, while crossing a mountain range.

No reason to think a pressure washer would give a different result on a boat. Useful though, for removing old wax polish when desired.

 

[HeadedToTexas]

I want a built in one to make cleaning the anchor chain easier. Making deck cleaning easier is a side benefit.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Cleaning the anchor is about the only thing I’d do w a pressure washer.
Just too much pressure. Water can ingress to hundreds and more places that has rubber seals ect that can be damaged by pressure washers. The new idea .. pressure washers .. are just a failed product IMO.

But for anchor washing .. thumbs up

 

[kthoennes]

Power washing does a far better job cleaning the boat and boat carpets than I could do with a bucket and brush by hand, in about one tenth the time. Just need to be carful.

 

[rgano]

I've got enough hand brush washing my 40 ft trawler and I am looking for power washer.
Is it a good idea? What machine would you advise; Electric would be convenient, which brand, model would you advise?
Any tips?
Searching forum for "power wash" did not answer my questions.
Please help.

Once you're done carefully power washing, you could put down some Permanon to make it easier to wash future dirt off. I do not use a power washer across my Permanon, just dock water pressure.

 

[koliver]

Depends what part of the boat you need to clean

Every haulout, I PW the hull below the WL. The PW at the lifter blasts with the most pressure of any I have used. If you are careful with it, it will take off all the soft growth from about a foot away and hard growth from a few inches. Since I only get hard growth on the running gear, I can safely come in close enough to blast the barnacles away. I wouldn't come in that close to the FG.
I have never had blisters on my hull. I attribute that at least partially to being careful with the PW and never coming in too close.
I have teak decks, so that high pressure PW is not allowed up on deck.
I have one a home, a KMS Tools BE model. It is powerful enough to ruin a cedar fence in no time. I use it twice a year on the concrete. I takes everything off and will eventually wear down the surface layer by taking some of the fine sand every time. I am less than 20 years in and can see the concrete lasting at least another 20, so I will continue to use the PW on it.
I have tried the weaker electric PWs. Total waste of time.

 

[backinblue]

Once you're done carefully power washing, you could put down some Permanon to make it easier to wash future dirt off. I do not use a power washer across my Permanon, just dock water pressure.

Hi Rich. I never heard of Permanon. Looks very expensive. What parts of the boat are you usuing it on? Hull? Decks?

 

[rgano]

Hi Rich. I never heard of Permanon. Looks very expensive. What parts of the boat are you usuing it on? Hull? Decks?

Look at my avatar to see the off-white topsides - that's where I put on the Permanon. One 50ml bottle mixed per directions with distilled water covers it. I spray it one and just hose it off once or twice a year after a thorough soapy washdown, but if you are a glutton for punishment, you can wipe it off. Since it bonds instantaneously, why wipe? My hull is Awlcraft and gets only the specified Awlwash and Awlcare treatment. I am not going to blow smoke are over the place and in unmentionable places to say this is the miracle cure we have all been waiting for, but I don't spend any time scrubbing on my boat at wash time, and it seems to look good to my eye after a quick rinse of the grime that just collects on all things left outside in the weather. The boat is kept on a lift under a cover which has a lot to do with its good condition.

 

[backinblue]

Look at my avatar to see the off-white topsides - that's where I put on the Permanon. One 50ml bottle mixed per directions with distilled water covers it. I spray it one and just hose it off once or twice a year after a thorough soapy washdown, but if you are a glutton for punishment, you can wipe it off. Since it bonds instantaneously, why wipe? My hull is Awlcraft and gets only the specified Awlwash and Awlcare treatment. I am not going to blow smoke are over the place and in unmentionable places to say this is the miracle cure we have all been waiting for, but I don't spend any time scrubbing on my boat at wash time, and it seems to look good to my eye after a quick rinse of the grime that just collects on all things left outside in the weather. The boat is kept on a lift under a cover which has a lot to do with its good condition.

Thanks Rich, good info. The Pemanon is actually a concentrate it sounds like. I was wonering why the exorbidant price, but now makes more sense. Question, do you use it on non-skid decks or would that make them slippery? Is it just the topsides (minus the decks) where you use it? Sounds like it might be good to use on the hardtop as well since getting up there and waxing with a buffer is getting old (or maybe that's just me getting old!) I use Awlcare on the hull. I find that during the season when the boat is in the water, an occasional scrub of the hull with Awlwash does a great job as well.

 

[Comodave]

On our last boat we painted the decks with Kiwigrip. It is pretty great stuff but it does tend to trap dirt in the fairly deep nonskid. I found that after cleaning to put on Woody Wax and it would clean up much easier. I used a gas powered pressure washer once or twice a year followed by new Woody Wax. Neat thing about Woody Wax is how easy it is to apply and it can be used on nonskid. It was developed for surfboards so it isn’t slippery after it dries initially. You spray it on and rub it around with a brush to cover the deck. Let it sit for 20 to 30 minutes and then rinse off the deck and it is done. I was speaking to the owner of Woody Wax. Asked him what the best wax to use was. He said one that you will use frequently because it is easy to do.