SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Pressure Washers

6K views 29 replies 20 participants last post by  TakeFive 
#1 ·
Before I had my sailboat I would borrow a gas powered pressure washer from a friend every couple of years to clean my patio. Now that I have a sailboat, and am planning to store it on the hard at a local yard that provides no cleanup services upon haulout (i.e., I need to do everything myself), it looks like my frequency of use will increase to a point where I should buy my own. My topsides could use some significant cleanup, so I'm considering going ahead and getting one in the next few days.

I realize that these things can actually cut through fiberglass if held too close, so proper use is essential. Do any of you have any other warnings or suggestions on selecting a washer, and/or tips for proper use?
 
#2 ·
Just my opinion here and others will disagree, but beyond washing the bottom when you haul the boat I see no use in a pressure washer on a boat. I have one and would not consider using it on a boat. A brush and soap will clean better and will not hurt anything. A pressure washer is a lazy approach.

Gene
 
#4 ·
There is no federal law on this, and apparently no law in my state either. All I know is what the yard manager told me, which is that they do not do this, but they do provide water and electric to do my own work on the boat.
 
#6 ·
Hello,

IMHO, a pressure washer is a good thing to have, and handy to use on a boat. So, if you accept that premise, which washer to get. Like many things, bigger IS better. I recommend that you buy the biggest unit you can afford.

You are correct that too much pressure can and will damage fiberglass. But, the difference between a big washer and a small washer is not really pressure. The major difference is flow - the more flow in gallons per minute the better. At the same pressure (they are all adjustable) the more powerful unit will have a wider jet, which will work faster. The boat will appear a lot bigger when you are under it, and the less time spent washing it the happier you will be.

You need a gas powered unit, electric won't cut it.

Good luck,
Barry
 
#7 ·
I'd second what Barry said. Properly used, a pressure washer can save a lot of work.
 
#8 ·
A maintenance fellow used a pressure washer on the topsides of two boats in our marina and did major damage to the gel-coat within the non-skid areas--which now look like they've been sprinkled with course ground black pepper--and the tape striping on the sides of the coach-roof of one of the yachts. I think it would be a very unwise move for the sake of saving a little elbow grease with a scrub-brush and a bucket of hot water, soap and some bleach. I have been using hot soapy water mixed with bleach and followed with a ligh scrub with Zip Car Wash/Wax on the top-sides of our boat and have had very good results.

FWIW...
 
#9 ·
Any power tool, including a pressure washer, in the hands of an idiot is going to cause damage. Properly used, a pressure washer can help make short work of cleaning a boat of bird crap and such...

Don't use a pressure washer on teak. Even cautious use of one on teak is likely to strip out some of the softer wood.

A maintenance fellow used a pressure washer on the topsides of two boats in our marina and did major damage to the gel-coat within the non-skid areas--which now look like they've been sprinkled with course ground black pepper--and the tape striping on the sides of the coach-roof of one of the yachts. I think it would be a very unwise move for the sake of saving a little elbow grease with a scrub-brush and a bucket of hot water, soap and some bleach. I have been using hot soapy water mixed with bleach and followed with a ligh scrub with Zip Car Wash/Wax on the top-sides of our boat and have had very good results.

FWIW...
 
#11 ·
Two years ago NJ put a law in force that makes it illeegal to wash the bottom of any boat unless you can catch all the runoff water and properly treat it. NO discharge that can run into lakes, streams, rivers, OR sewer systems or septic tanks. Enforcement was postponed 1 year, and now starts in September of this year. Essentially this means all marinas will be putting in large storage tanks and paying to haul it away at $1 a gallon. I work in the wastewater industry and have done a little freelance consulting with a marina on this issue. So far no one has succesfully demonstrated a system to meet the discharge standards. We can do it, but probably not at a cost that would beat $1 a gallon in the short term. Amortize over ten years though and we probably could get it down to $0.30 a gallon.
SO, expect to pay about $35 extra to get your boat cleaned this year if it takes 15 minutes or so.

Gary H. Lucas
 
#12 · (Edited)
By "all marinas" it sounds like you actually mean "all marinas in New Jersey." I will be hauling out in Pennsylvania, so this will not apply to me.

This fall will be the first time I haul out my boat, so I know little about the vile, stinky stuff that will come off the bottom aside from the believe that it will not include barnacles (fresh water), but will include a lot of slime and some grass. But I wonder what benefit this law provides (aside from providing artificial stimulus to your company) for boats that stay within coastal waters. I can see that boats that roam the ocean and could bring in dangerous invasive species from distant waters should have their wastewater treated. But boats that have stayed in local waters would just be putting back into the water what originated there - unless they're trying to avoid paint debris from going into the water. But I would think that's more likely to come from scraping and sanding a dry hull, which would be captured on dry tarps (like Maryland's regulations) rather than in wastewater.

So let me naively ask what's the explanation for this?
 
#13 ·
No one is really concerned about the biological crap on your bottom, if that is all there was. The big issue is that bottom paints are biocides, designed to kill living things, really really tough living things, like barnacles. So they are loaded with heavy metals, copper, tin, in the past lead, etc. If you look at NJ discharge limits, it is a whole list of metals. Metals are toxic, you can get brain swelling from getting bottom paint on your skin while scraping it off the bottom.

Sewer plants are biological plants. Metals interfere with that biology, and the metals get concentrated in the sludge, meaning it can't be land applied, it has to go to landfills for all of eternity.

Removing metals is very tough. My first job with this company was a metals job, took us 3 years to get it running right! So the this wash water issue is legit, and it will only be a short time before all states institute the same laws. I just wish we had a cost effective solution. Lots of business if we did!

Gary H. Lucas
 
#14 ·
For years we had boats in the Tacoma Yacht Club basin. Still have one there now. The basin was formed by a breakwater created as Asarco dumped the molten slag from it's copper smelting operation in Ruston. Not only did this make a great breakwater, and a great light show from the water as the slag was being dumped, but the slag had huge amounts of remaining copper, and other metals as well as high concentrations of arsenic. It was great. NOTHING would grow in the basin. Bottom paints were not needed. You would get a little grass growing at the water line, but once a year you put the boat on the grid and scrubbed it down really well.

Over the decades, most of the copper near the surface has leached out of the slag of the breakwater, making the water less toxic and creating a need for anti-fouling bottom paints again. <sigh?> Such is progress.

In WA, I don't believe we can any longer put our boats on a grid to clean the bottom. We have to haul out and the operator has to catch all effluent from bottom cleaning and painting for disposal. Interestingly, it is legal to have a diver clean your bottom. Most of us have a dive service that will scrub the bottom and inspect/replace zincs. Keep in mind that boats only get hauled here if they need below waterline repairs or need paint.

Dave
 
#15 ·
That brings up an interesting topic. My epoxy bottom paint (WM BoatShield) was allowed to dry on the hard for an unacceptably long time by the previous owner. Rather than repaint right away, I decided to get more familiar with the local water first, and have a diver do a midseason bottom cleaning.

Can anyone recommend a diving service who works in the Delaware River near Philly?
 
#17 ·
Better quality pressure washers come with a selection of wands that have different focus at the tip. I have one with three wands, one of which I use to wash the cars at home and it does no damage. The most aggressive wand on the same machine effortlessly strips paint. I use the different wands on different parts of the boat.

As was said some time ago on a varnishing thread, if you want to work hard you can always find a way but you don't need to. If you only have one wand and it could cause damage, just vary the distance of the tip from the surface to be cleaned.

As SD says, in the hands of a dumbo any machine can do damage.
 
#18 ·
Andre—

In the US at least, they don't use wands, but interchangeable tips instead.

The most useful tip, at least for washing and cleaning is the rotary scrubbing nozzle, which has less pressure than many of the other tips but moves in a circular pattern and scrubs the surface fairly well. Of course, if you use this tip, keeping it a safe distance from the easily damaged parts of the boat is key.
 
#19 ·
For a total newbie like me (who does not currently own a boat, nor has ever used a pressure washer), what is a safe distance, and safe nozzle? Can you give some guidelines for safe pressure washer usage on the various parts of a fiberglass boat? I was considering buying a pressure washer if I ever get someone to accept my offer on a boat.
 
#20 ·
This varies with the make and model of the pressure washer... pressure washers are rated in PSI for their maximum output using a 0˚ nozzle, and the electric ones are fairly weak, usually around 1400-1700 PSI, with some of the better gasoline powered ones reaching as high as 2500-3000 PSI.

Using a rotary turbo nozzle, like the ones described here, will do a pretty good job of scrubbing/washing the topsides, deck and bottom. However, it will strip ablative paint pretty damn fast too.

In general, avoiding things like hatches and portlights with a pressure washer, unless you're a good distance away, using a fairly low power tip, is a good idea.

Teak should be avoided as I said previously, as most pressure washers will strip the softer wood and leave the raised grain, leading to a need to sand the teak more often.
 
#21 ·
I have used a Karcher electric pressure washer that came with 2 different wands for the last couple of years to clean my topsides and canvas and it works quite well. I first got it when, as I was scraping bird dung off my canvas with my fingernail, I saw a guy in a neighboring slip easily doing the same task with a pressure washer which he recommended highly.

I like to use it in conjunction with West Marine boat soap. In fact, I'm going to use it tomorrow to do a cleanup.

I recently bought a kit with another wand, angle connectors and nozzle for use around the house.

I have not had any problems with the washer damaging anything on my topsides or canvas. I don't know how it would work for a bottom job. Since most of the boatyards in my area don't allow DIY bottom jobs, I will probably never know.

My $.02,

Charles
 
#22 ·
Last fall (after starting this thread) I borrowed my friend's pressure washer for the haulout, and after using it I could not imagine not using one to clean the slime off the bottom. A fresh coat of bottom paint this spring has failed to stop the slime, so I'll need a pressure washer again for the bottom, as well as some projects around the house. I've borrowed one so many times that I figured it's time to get my own.

I followed the advice provided here to get the most powerful one that is practical to store and transport, so I picked this up on sale for $360 at Sears last Sunday:


I still have not had time to get it out of the box, but hoping it works reliably.
 
#23 ·
RhythmDoctor: It looks like a decent machine. 3000psi will be sufficient and it looks as if it's a 2.7 gpm flow, also good.
I wouldn't go less than a 25 degree tip, and a 30 or 40 would be a good place to start - and I'd stay away from the rotating tips, they are zero degree (or close to that) nozzles that rotate quickly to cover a larger area. However, even at that, it is still a very concentrated stream of 3,000psi water being directed rapidly over an area.
Distribute the pressure over a fan area with a 25 degree nozzle and then move in only as close as it takes to remove the crud ands not the paint or finish. Remember, getting too close only once will cause damage, be extra careful.
Work in smaller, controlled areas so you can follow where you have been, and work toward the dirty parts from clean parts, you want the water in front helping to wet the surface you are about to clean to soften the crud you want to remove. Every now and then you can back off and rinse the areas cleaned just to make sure you didn't miss a spot.
You'll find lots of uses for your pressure washer - car washes (great with a bent wand and a broad nozzle 60* or so, for cleaning under the car and removing road salt, etc.), cleaning concrete, etc. but if you want to clean wood be very careful, it gets soft and will scar easily, use a wider nozzle than you think you'll need and maintain caution and distance.
Good luck
 
#24 ·
Completely ignoring the advice here to go bigger, I went out and got the smallest electric pressure washer I could find--just didn't want to invest over $100 in it. And I'm still thrilled. Used carefully, the washer gets grime out of the non-skid that even a brush doesn't get, and I'm not washing soap or detergent into the bay. And even the small one saves time and effort. Lazy? Absolutely. But I think, good lazy.
 
#25 ·
I have always avoided using a pressure washer topsides out of worry that it could damage the bedding compound around the hardware. It is pretty soft stuff and even a brief accidental blast could results in leaks. Since most of the crud seems to accumalte around the hardware, toe rail etc. I just use a brush and soap.
 
#26 ·
I've used both heavy, industrial gas washers and cheap electric Karchers and everything in between and for working on my own boat I'd go with a cheap electric. It's easier to hump to the boatyard and doesn't run out of gas in the middle of the job. :D The job IS longer though but they do just as good a job when it's done. They are cheap and last for several years - you can easily go through 3 or 4 before you match the cost of a bottom end gas unit. I've acquired both of mine with Air Miles so they were free.

Be very careful of anything soft like the bellows on outdrives (don't ask!) or around speedo paddles etc. Use the rotary nozzle on the bottom but NEVER take it on deck or use it on the topsides - they are extremely intense and I'm sure you can do a lot of damage very quickly if they get too close to the surface.

Stick to the fan nozzles for those surfaces. I agree about teak but if it's going to need sanding anyway, go ahead - you'll be amazed at how much salt comes out of unfinished teak! It was like I was swimming in the ocean the whole time.

Finally, my washer is just about my "most used" power tool - way beyond even a hand drill - cars, driveways, sidewalks, boats, cedar shingles, house siding, etc. etc.
 
#27 ·
I'm by no means an expert, but I have used the borrowed one several times so I've developed a bit of a technique. I always use the fan, and start at a good distance away where it's not effective. Then I gradually get closer until the muck is coming off without damaging what's underneath. With the borrowed one (which I think was about 2500psi/2.3 GPM) I had to get close enough that the fan was 2-3" wide. My hope in getting a more powerful unit is that I can back off enough for a wider fan to be effective. Wouldn't it be nice to knock off a 4-6" wide swath at a time? Wishful thinking, though.

Last fall was my first haulout, so my first chance to enjoy the pleasure of getting under the boat to wash it. :rolleyes: There were a couple of times where I fumbled with the wand and it almost touched the bottom, but there was NO DAMAGE! Man, that WM Bottomshield paint must have been tough stuff! With 3000 psi I need to be even more careful because that might cause more damage. This time around I have Pettit Vivid, which is a slightly softer hybrid paint, so hopefully the slime will come off a little easier. We'll see.
 
#28 ·
I just found this thread...

You asked for advice, so here you go;

I have a CHEAP electric from Home Depot. 1300 PSI, and it works for me.

I use it to with the fan tip to clean the natural teak during the season. I also use it at home to clean my natural teak patio set, and have done so for the last 4 years. Contrary to what you will read here and elsewhere, it works great at cleaning teak! I believe that the relatively low pressure is key to not damaging the wood.

Looks like this:


(Actually the URL where I found this image has a great discussion on pressure washers. Look here.)

You need to clean the bottom of your vessel, and I don't think that my dinky little washer is up to that task. However, for quickly washing the cockpit, and the deck, the teak, and clearing the cockpit drains, this thing is the bomb.
 
#29 ·
I tried a 1300 psi electric washer from Lowes on my topsides. I won't use it for that application again. We have lots of problems with spider and bird droppings and I thought this would be a easy and quick way to deal with the problem. To use enough pressure to get the spider droppings, I had to hold the spray close to the fiberglass., and didn't get much coverage area, so the process was slow. I am concerned at what the pressure will do over time to seals and beading materials. But what convenced me to go another way was damage to lines. There are lots of lines on a sailboat and if you aren't very careful, you will hit them with the high pressure. I ruined my furler line (had to replace it at a cost more than the pressure sprayer) and fuzzed my mainsheet in a couple of places. I've found something at Dollar General called Totally Awesome. It dissolves the spider droppings and most other embedded dirt with a normal washing. It's cheap, so that's the way I will go. Of course, each decides for himself and some like the pressue washer.
 
#30 ·
I have no interest in lugging the gas powered washer down the dock and onto my little 25 foot boat. In addition to being a pain, one good wake and it could end up in the water. I might have been curious in my initial inquiry a year ago, but no longer. It just so much simpler to squirt some Starbrite Nonskid cleaner and brush a few strokes.

My only intended marine use of this thing is for getting the slime off at haulout.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top