Washing your boat.

[ghostlymoron]

Is it preferable to use fresh or salt water?

 

[RupertW]

Mostly I’m washing the salt off so freshwater if available. But on a longer trip, especially with Sarahan sand falling I will keep things clean with sea water and rinse it all when I’ve reached a marina.

 

[Boathook]

Fresh if possible.

 

[ghostlymoron]

Does salt damage the boat then?

 

[Robert Wilson]

Yes.
Saltwater is highly corrosive and will degrade the value of your boat by thousands of £s a year.
Or am I confusing it with depreciation and market forces

 

[duncan99210]

I don’t wash the boat. The Admiral, on the other hand, washes it with sea water or fresh water whenever the mood takes her. Downside of sea water is that it removes the dirt but leaves salt crystals behind. Using fresh water in some places in Greece is frowned on as water on some of the islands is scarce: other places she’ll happily disrupt life for hours playing round with the hose pipe.

 

[fredrussell]

Evian. Non carbonated.

 

[johnalison]

Salt water is fine if the boat is caked with mud and you want to clear it but the trouble can be that the salt gets onto and into everywhere and gets taken inside, where it is definitely not wanted. If you go to Holland, you will see Dutch sailors always hosing down the boat after a sea sail, and athlough not always possible, it is not a bad habit.

We were told that washing our teak decks down with seawater would keep them clean and looking OK. It doesn't. A chemical blitz is required.

 

[lw395]

Evian. Non carbonated.

You may have been joking, but that's more or less what we do with a racing boat kept on a swinging mooring.
We take bottled water with us, and what doesn't get drunk is used to rinse cleats and blocks after the race.

Our cruising boat, we use a deck wash pump to hose off bird mess and the general grime.
When abundant fresh water is available, we wash the boat properly.
In between, we might wash with seawater and rinse with fresh.

 

[Gentleman of Leisure]

You may have been joking, but that's more or less what we do with a racing boat kept on a swinging mooring.
We take bottled water with us, and what doesn't get drunk is used to rinse cleats and blocks after the race.

Our cruising boat, we use a deck wash pump to hose off bird mess and the general grime.
When abundant fresh water is available, we wash the boat properly.
In between, we might wash with seawater and rinse with fresh.

 

[Gentleman of Leisure]

I had trouble on one boat where rainwater had been trapped and caused the mahogany companionway to rot. I treated the rot successfully with Ronseal wood hardener by the way. Sea water doesn't cause rot and is in fact a good preservative.

 

[Wansworth]

Salt water is fine if the boat is caked with mud and you want to clear it but the trouble can be that the salt gets onto and into everywhere and gets taken inside, where it is definitely not wanted. If you go to Holland, you will see Dutch sailors always hosing down the boat after a sea sail, and athlough not always possible, it is not a bad habit.

We were told that washing our teak decks down with seawater would keep them clean and looking OK. It doesn't. A chemical blitz is required.

The Dutch run very tight ships and barges,always neatly painted and rust kept at bay,bought on of their very small buckets that enable water to be drawn up from the canal without excessive weight but enough water to splash away dirt.

 

[V1701]

I always fresh water rinse after the boat's been out and also after strong winds/storms leave a salty, greasy, grimy film that's permanently damp n 'orrible until rinsed off. Occasionally wash properly, i.e. with soap of some sort but using cold not hot water - hot water dissolves the salt better which then penetrates deeper in to places where you don't want it. High pressure washing also gets the salt in where you don't want it so I wouldn't do that either...

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

The Dutch run very tight ships and barges,always neatly painted and rust kept at bay,bought on of their very small buckets that enable water to be drawn up from the canal without excessive weight but enough water to splash away dirt.

Yes, a small bucket is the way to go. They can bought in varying sizes at a builders' providers. A full size bucket is quite heavy to lift on deck from water level. ad if dropped into the water on a lanyard when under way will either tear your arms off or break. Also, in the unfortunate event of having to use a bucket to remove water from below decks,a smaller one is more manoeuverable in confined spaces, particularly if it has to be done in a hurry.
It's also a good idea to remove the original metal or plastic handle and replace it with rope, rigged in such a way as to girdle the whole rim of the bucket and spread the load.

 

[Refueler]

As another has said - Freshwater rots Teak and Mahogany Hardwoods ... but Seawater actually doesn't .

My boats get 'green' mottling all over due to the trees and grass lands surrounding them in my channel. The river water is fresh unless baltic is suffering strong SW - W winds and then brackish water is forced up river.
The water at my house is usually around 1.002 .... with Baltic water it can get up to 1.007.

I use that direct for watering the flowers in the garden (submerged pump) and also supplies my Pressure Washer to blast my boats clean.

When boat was in UK ... I used seawater for all major cleaning and then a light rinse with fresh conserving water as much as possible. Its an interesting fact that a product called TEEPOL (industrial Washing up liquid basically) was designed to be used with seawater as well as fresh.

 

[eddystone]

[QUOTE="johnalison, post: 6908463, member: 23977".

We were told that washing our teak decks down with seawater would keep them clean and looking OK. It doesn't. A chemical blitz is required.
[/QUOTE]
Most chemical teak treatments seem to be bleach which I don’t think is good long term. Only chemical I would use is a fungicide. Salt water preserves teak; worst of all is jet washing.