How often do you wash your boat?

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Over on Mobo one poster has commented.....



[/ QUOTE ]You sailors may laugh but weve gone out........had beer........come back........washed our boats.........and got back to our houses miles away.........before youve even left the habour!!![ QUOTE ]


Forgetting the Raggie/Stinkpot aspect I'm intrigued at the bit about washing his boat. The implication is that he washes his boat every time he uses it.

All I do is throw a bucket of water in the cockpit every now and again. I scrub the waterline and decks they need it and I feel like doing it. Beyond that other than a polish during the winter I really see little point in doing any more.

Should I hang my head in shame at my slovenly ways? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Depends what the birds have been eating recently.

We have another unique type of fouling in Cardiff. Spider pooh,Its no joke sets like cement needs some very serious scrubbing.

Its not as bad in the last few years as the balance of nature is slowly restoring itself after they damned off the Bay with the Cardiff Barrage and changed from Salt to Fresh water.Initially we had a plague of flies followed by the spiders who must have thought Christmas had come early..
 
I wash the deck, cockpit and all exposed gear every time I go to the boat, because any rain that falls in Marmaris brings down fine red grit from the Sahara. I also wash the salt off every few days when sailing.
 
I'm with you - an occasional bucket of water and leave the rest to rain (sadly lacking in the west this year!) and beating in a F5/6 against the tide with full sail (cleans off all the bird crap, spilt tea, coffee and red wine stains). Being on a swinging mooring does rather remove the opportunity for a daily hose-down even if I could be bothered.

However, I was in Campbeltown a week or so ago and there were several raggies washing their decks with the pontoon hoses despite the notices proscribing such activity.
 
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However, I was in Campbeltown a week or so ago and there were several raggies washing their decks with the pontoon hoses despite the notices proscribing such activity.

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A shame because the Campbeltown berthing master, was one of the most helpful I have encountered. Not only was he there tho take our lines on arrival a week ago, he stayed and chatted and gave us a candid run down of the facilities Campbeltown had to offer. His charges were a bit of a bargain as well.

I do admit I filled my tanks with water, and when they were full splashed some around the cockpit for a minute or so while the crew went to turn off the tap - maybe that's what you saw?
 
Imagine you arrive at the boat for a day out and find you have acquired a smear of mud all down one side. The tide is on the ebb and if you don't leave in the next few minutes you won't be able to get out. Which category do you fall into?

1) get out bucket, hose, detergent etc. and clean it off, even though you're going to miss the sail

2) go sailing but get back earlier than planned so you can clean up.

3) the sea will wash it off, if not, I'll do it next time we haul out.

4) sod the mud, let's go sailing.
 
No doubt, number 4.

Being on a swinging mooring my boat needs less washing than if I was in a marina. I tend to chuck a bucket of water around the decks and cockpit every day I use the boat, a good deck scrub every time the anchor is hauled aboard full of mud and maybe fresh water wash if I'm in a marina, which is a couple of times a year.

The waterline gets a scrub if it's growing a beard.
 
Gotta be number four surely? Did some boat cleaning yesterday morning 'cos the weather was rubbish, but would've gone sailing otherwise and let the grubby coachroof stay that way! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re:FAO awol

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However, I was in Campbeltown a week or so ago and there were several raggies washing their decks with the pontoon hoses despite the notices proscribing such activity.

[/ QUOTE ]

I do admit I filled my tanks with water, and when they were full splashed some around the cockpit for a minute or so while the crew went to turn off the tap - maybe that's what you saw?

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Come to think of it, there was a Gourock boat came in last Saturday night in the small hours, rafted up alongside our companions (a green hulled boat), left for Gigha next morning. Wasn't you was it?
 
Re:FAO awol

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Come to think of it, there was a Gourock boat came in last Saturday night in the small hours, rafted up alongside our companions (a green hulled boat), left for Gigha next morning. Wasn't you was it?

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Nope, not me. I was there the night before Gers got gubbed in Manchester, whenever that was. There were two boats washing their decks that night and neither was from the Clyde.
 
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However, I was in Campbeltown a week or so ago and there were several raggies washing their decks with the pontoon hoses despite the notices proscribing such activity.

[/ QUOTE ]
Perhaps they just had literesy problems and they thought it was obligatory? /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
My folks are Mobo's and try to wash/rinse down everytime they return to the marina, were on a swing mooring, and as most above make the most of marina facilaties the odd time were there, otehrwise it's a bucket sluising the cockpit. when i feel like it.

All that said, if i owned a couple hundred grand yacht in a marina, i'd be cleaning it after too!

But i don't and anyway you start to make friends with the marks and dirt after a while... what are they soo scared off?

Other than the odd salt rinse down it's mostly harmless...
 
3). I can't recall ever giving the boat a rinse with a hose, tho I often swish the deck down with a bucket of seawater.
A large Birmingham Gunboat stopped near me and started with the hose before the engines were off. No skin off my nose except when he laid the hose on deck and directed it down my open forehatch. No smile, no apology, makes you think.
 
I'd add a 5) go sailing, get back as planned, then clean up and go home late. That would be me. But we are based in a marina, with hosepipe adjacent to our berth, so it's a lot easier than it would be on a swinging mooring. Last autumn we had several weeks being blessed by particularly loose-bowelled starlings in large flocks, and it would have broken my heart to leave the poor boat in the state they left it. But on a normal sailing weekend, I scrub the decks before going home.
 
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