Cleaning The Sailboat

Article By Shorty


I shoveled out everything that I could, power washed her, and still she was the most dirty and disgusting looking boat I have ever brought home. So I broke out the elbow grease and started to eat the proverbial elephant. With a scrubby pad meant for dishes (not the metal SOS pads, but the plastic version of those), and with 25% bleach / water + some dish soap, I started on the stern and worked up the starboard side.

This picture was taken after the first hour of hand scrubbing.

With a little of the outside done, I cleaned a path to get inside and work on that a bit. I installed a stern drain for the interior of the hull, and wanted to prop up the bow while I hose the inside.

Cranked up the dolley jack as high as it would go, and use a step ladder to hold it up temporarily.

Next I put a car jack under the wheel pivot, and cranked her up some more.

Using the ladder again to rest on, she was just steep enough to drain most of the water out as I hosed inside.

NOTE: I had the wheels well blocked, to keep the boat from rolling down the driveway. Having it propped up like this is very dangerous, it could fall down at any time.

So in I went, and after the first day of scrubbing inside, I was cleaning up the driveway afterwards and found 4 new pets for the kids that had fallen out the stern drain....