Washing a ceramic coated boat


Last weekend my wife Stacy and I were invited to go out on my buddy Royce's custom-built, 1966 23' Formula Center Console Boat. Royce and I machine corrected the gelcoat and then ceramic coated the inside and outside of the boat using 3D Ceramic Coating back in August.

This is the first time I've been out on this boat and I have to say I'm totally impressed with Royce's boat building skills. Royce purchased the boat after it sat in a field for years - left to die in the South Florida sun and rain. The boat runs great and we hit a top speed of 48 miles per hour. It gets a lot of thumbs-up by other boaters and I'm confident that most people really dig the custom built Pilot House that Royce custom fabricated himself.

After doing some fishing and cruising around we took the boat home and Royce and I gave her a thorough wash.


Visible FILM on the gelcoat

To just stand back and look at the boat (before washing), she didn't look dirty. You couldn't SEE the film of dirt or scum on the side of the hull. But when moving a soapy wash mitt over a large, flat section of the hull, you could instantly see a brighter, cleaner richer section of gelcoat. On the section of unwashed gelcoat next to the section just washed I could easily see this film. It was brownish/grey film but it didn't show up until after first cleaning a section first - then this film stood out like a sore thumb.

It really drives home the importance of always washing your boat after a day on the water. If you don't - this film will dry and then build-up each time you take the boat out and don't wash afterwards.

This film washed of easily, as in super easy. I do believe the 3D coating help to prevent the film from bonding or staining the gelcoat and of course the 3M Boat Wash worked really well to remove the film.

Here's a few pictures I was able to take as we washed the boat.


Of course, start at the top and work your way down.






We coated all the glass to help keep it clear when running in the rain and to also make it wash fast and easy.





Can't see the film
Before we washed the boat and even in this shot where Royce is just starting to do the initial rinse of the hull - you simply do not see any film on the hull. The boat looks clean.







3M makes great products. This is the first time I've used this 3M product but it seem to work just fine.






My cell phone camera could not pick up the difference between washed and unwashed sections but IN PERSON - I could see the difference, I just couldn't capture it.






We coated the engine and actually coated everything inside and outside the boat.







This is after washing and then rinsing...












After washing, even though this boat sits outside - we still dried it using Absorber synthetic chamois. These things work GREAT!











Will have more to add to this story down the cyber-road.


Looking forward to the next time Royce invites us to go boating!