First Boat Detail

[route66detail]

Hello friends. Thanks for reading this.
So... We hooked up with our first boat detailing gig the other day. 2001 Wellcraft Dual Console. Very happy about getting the job and overall happy with our performance. Well... mostly. I'm not the type to gloat about things so with that you could guess I had some issues that kicked my a*s.
We got the call, and with our customer interview (we use a customer interview form to make sure we get info we need to do the gig and for future prospecting etc...) we were told the boat had "some oxidation" here and there throughout the hull. We figured our rate for light to no oxidation would be applicable.
We got to the job and the boat looked like it was covered with dry wall on the hull. LOL!
Well... we had only 10 hours to get everything done so the customer could SHOW HIS BOAT TO A PROSPECTIVE BUYER so we pressed on.
I was NOT going to be able to do a 3 step on the boat. (We would have charged him accordingly of course)

Here are my issues... Please help.........
1. When we got to the stern of the boat (scrubbing non skid), there were 2 fish boxes in
the deck filled with ALL the accumulated water from cleaning the front of the boat, previous rainfall etc.... Is this a common thing to have to do? I had to remove the water with a bucket that the customer had in the compartments. I could have used my wet/dry vac but I didn't. There were drain holes in the compartments but they must have been clogged. I don't know! It took valuable time away from us actually cleaning the boat. Do these things usually stay clogged up or should I have been able to find some sort of drain valve and released the water. I've never had a boat so I legitimately don't know. Yet... Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but.... I just need input.

2. DWP849X... I used this polisher with a 1 step 3M cleaner wax due to my time constraint with my customers 6:15 PM boat sale prospect. With my inexperience, I may have used a compound then followed by a 1 step cleaner wax OR even polish then wax if I had the time.
Is the 3M Cleaner wax usually so hard to remove? My technique is needing some serious experience and training. I kept the polisher at about 1500. Too high? Too low? And... should I polish until the product turns to a light haze or...
Additionally the polisher was taking me for a ride (I'm not too proud so Ill admit that). I'm a 41 year old guy in good physical shape and it was running away at times like a novice motorcyclist handling the clutch for the first time.


I'm not expecting anyone to answer all my questions. Any nugget of advice will help. Overall the boat came out ok considering the original condition and time I had to do the job.

[Hoytman]

Hello friends. Thanks for reading this.
So... We hooked up with our first boat detailing gig the other day. 2001 Wellcraft Dual Console. Very happy about getting the job and overall happy with our performance. Well... mostly. I'm not the type to gloat about things so with that you could guess I had some issues that kicked my a*s.
We got the call, and with our customer interview (we use a customer interview form to make sure we get info we need to do the gig and for future prospecting etc...) we were told the boat had "some oxidation" here and there throughout the hull. We figured our rate for light to no oxidation would be applicable.
We got to the job and the boat looked like it was covered with dry wall on the hull. LOL!
Well... we had only 10 hours to get everything done so the customer could SHOW HIS BOAT TO A PROSPECTIVE BUYER so we pressed on.
I was NOT going to be able to do a 3 step on the boat. (We would have charged him accordingly of course)

Here are my issues... Please help.........
1. When we got to the stern of the boat (scrubbing non skid), there were 2 fish boxes in
the deck filled with ALL the accumulated water from cleaning the front of the boat, previous rainfall etc.... Is this a common thing to have to do? I had to remove the water with a bucket that the customer had in the compartments. I could have used my wet/dry vac but I didn't. There were drain holes in the compartments but they must have been clogged. I don't know! It took valuable time away from us actually cleaning the boat. Do these things usually stay clogged up or should I have been able to find some sort of drain valve and released the water. I've never had a boat so I legitimately don't know. Yet... Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question but.... I just need input.

2. DWP849X... I used this polisher with a 1 step 3M cleaner wax due to my time constraint with my customers 6:15 PM boat sale prospect. With my inexperience, I may have used a compound then followed by a 1 step cleaner wax OR even polish then wax if I had the time.
Is the 3M Cleaner wax usually so hard to remove? My technique is needing some serious experience and training. I kept the polisher at about 1500. Too high? Too low? And... should I polish until the product turns to a light haze or...
Additionally the polisher was taking me for a ride (I'm not too proud so Ill admit that). I'm a 41 year old guy in good physical shape and it was running away at times like a novice motorcyclist handling the clutch for the first time.


I'm not expecting anyone to answer all my questions. Any nugget of advice will help. Overall the boat came out ok considering the original condition and time I had to do the job.

1. Either expect those boxes to be full and charge accordingly, or be specific with regard to asking questions about them to the customer so you know better what to expect...then don't count on what they tell you. LOL!

Some fish boxes and/or other compartments will have drain plugs while others with other boat manufacturers may have self bailing boxes meaning they drain on their own. If not cared for the self bailing type often get clogged with debree...the type with a drain can get clogged also again depending on how well the boat is maintained.

There are boats with fish boxes with zero drains in them. Some of the older Bayliner Trophy boats had fish boxes in the floor like this and the guy who designed them needed his head examined. He was probably neither a fisherman nor someone who kept is boat well maintained because those types of boxes are the worst and fill with all kinds of dirt and algae.

Other drain plugs often get clogged as well especially in area on the great lakes where leaves and such blow around a bit. I'm sure there are similar problems with boats and drain plugs in coastal areas as well.

As far as you rotary speed...
I won't say it's right or wrong, but I tend to run much slower than that an on occasion up to 1200 maybe a jag over, but typically under 1200, for me as I tend to like to work slow.

Some of those heavy oxidation jobs you may wish to sand first. Me, I won't sand one unless the owner knows full well what's involved and he knows full well his pocket book is going to get lighter.

That 849x is a big machine with tons of power and on a good sized boat can give anyone a good workout in the arms and shoulders. As far as it running off with you, could be fatigue, but most likely is technique. Mike Phillips has plenty of articles here on this forum to help you study your technique. http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...-phillips.html


It's hard to make good judgment calls on what to use without good pictures, but from what you described I would forget about cleaner wax and use some sort of one-step compound...a compound with diminishing abrasive technology that will cut hard at first then finish down like a good polish, then seal it up with a good long lasting wax like Collinite 885 paste wax.

captains compound, one step boat compound polish, compound for black boat

3M Marine Compound & Finishing Material - 06044

Meguiars M67 One Step Marine Compound

Collinite Paste Fleetwax # 885

Hope this was helpful.

[route66detail]

Bill,

Man..... Thanks! You taking the time to help my with these issues means a lot. I will use your advice with the one step compound with diminishing abrasives. Coincidentally I was watching a guy in YouTube that uses that. Sounds like that would have helped for sure. Bayliner guy getting his head checked.... LOL!!!!! I agree. I've only experienced this ONCE and I think he needs a lobotomy as well. Thanks for the links. Really. You and people like you have been so helpful in getting me get off the ground and running.... or helping me up when I stumble. Bill...... THANKS!!!!!!

Rob- Route 66 Mobile Detail

[Salmonbum]

Most boxes have some type of drain, be it gravity or a pump. Usually if gravity there will be a plug for a drain. As stated above they constantly get clogged with fishing line, scales, leaves, etc… Higher end boats will have a macerator pump that will not only pump out water, but chop up small debris. When I run across either situation where water is sitting in the fish box and not drain or pump out, I will use a garden hose at the drain in box to give the clog some coaxing.

If the hull was truly oxidized, then a compound is almost a must. I usually do a wool pad on rotary working small sections. Start out slow with med\hard pressure. When the product begins to break down, I will lighten up the pressure and speed up the buffer, constantly moving fast. This will blow off the residue to almost no wiping. Clean the wool pad often I would usually do a 3 step on a boat that bad, anything else just will not give eye popping results. But if time was an issue compound, then either 3M Finesse (fine wool or foam) followed by a spray wax (no need for long protection - boats for sale )or compound and the cleaner wax.

[Mike Phillips]

I'll stick to the answers I posted to your questions here,


First Boat Detail

[route66detail]

As usual... Thank you!!! Immensely. After all the input, I clearly see what I was doing wrong as far as the issues with my performance using the Dewalt polisher. Especially the cleaning part. Simple... yet so critical to get the job done right and more efficiently. I look forward to our next boat detail!