Update on Detailing boats

[LDPaul]

For some of you that remember me (Details3), I have been detailing boats in the DWF area. While I detail boats - customers have cars also. So here is what I have been doing lately and staying busy.



This first pic is a Sea Ray 280 - 28ft long with cabin. Here is the finished shot. After washing the boat, I use a cleaner wax - either Meguiars, Hammerhead, or 3M what ever is my fancy for the day. Then I apply Meguiars boat polish - I have tried others but none have produced the shine I wanted. Then I use Meguiars Marine grade wax on both exterior and interior. Since I started doing boats in March I have done over 100 boats in various sizes from 19ft - 48ft.

[LDPaul]

While many have complained about the durrmaid, I have had very few problems with mine. In fact the water line by the handle gets so hot I have to wrap it with a towel or I will burn my arm. It is the same with water coming out of the sprayer. I will admit that I have never put soap in the extractor. I have a sprayer with carpet soap that I spray on the carpet and then use a carpet brush to scrub the carpet. If there is stains I use spotshot and scrub the stain out. Then I use the extractor to pickup the soap and finish the carpet. Here is the before shot.

[LDPaul]

After shot of carpet with the cleaning process I discribed.

[LDPaul]

Cabin Crusier 34ft

[LDPaul]

These next two pics are boat dash shots. Before I started cleaning the cockpit of this boat there was 8 mud dobber nests (bees). This boat had been sitting for 4 years.

[LDPaul]

Cleaning the cockpit of this boat I went through 22 buckets of water. The mud on the floors, and seats were about 1/4" thick. Yes there was carpet below the mud. I broke up what mud I could and vaccum it up. Then I pulled the carpets and started cleaning rest of the mud out. After getting about 90% of the mud I then used degreaser to remove all the stubborn areas.

[LDPaul]

Here is one of my boat customer`s cars. He has a three story house with the bottom floor just for parking his 4 corvettes. This day I detailed two of his vets. Here is his collector Indy pace vet.

[LDPaul]

His wifes vet

[LDPaul]

Here is a 44ft that we detailed about two weeks ago. The bow of the boat was the hard part to wax since it was almost 5ft out of the water.

[LDPaul]

Yes that is me waxing this boat by hand. I also polish/wax the whole top of the boat by hand. It takes awhile, but customers sure like the results.

[Mr. Clean]

I`ll bet working from that little inflatable presents some challenges exerting pressure while you are doing the polishing step :eek:



Wouldn`t it be nice if they would have you perform the work while in dry dock. Needless to say, you`re earning your fees :up

[LDPaul]

This one is a Sea Ray 410 42ft. I currently contract out to 4 marina`s and the Sea Ray dealer in the DFW area. Next week I will be heading to Lake Texoma to work on a 48 ft yacht and meeting with the marina to discuss contract work. I contract out even during the winter months - customers want their boat cleaned even during the winter.

[LDPaul]

You sure are right Mr. Clean. I have dropped the cord and polisher in the water when I have had to use a light compound on the bottom of the boat. But I have learned a new trick today that will help in keeping the cord out of the water. Now if I can only keep the polisher out of the water.



I may not have posted a lot in the past since I have been working all summer from dawn to dusk one can only do so much.

[LDPaul]

If anyone in the DFW area is interested - I am looking to hire some help. It is hard work, but for the right person there will be room for advancement. If everything goes as planned, I hope to be running at least two crews by next spring (March in Texas). So shoot me an email.



On another note about polishing the chrome: I currently using Mothers as I have found none that produce the shine I like. I have not tried others, but not the new stuff from Meguiars.

[tpgsr]

have you thought about using a pneumatic polisher so wether you drop it or not, it wont matter??





Very nice work btw. How did you start with boats at the marina?