Boating Tips and Tales

May 2007: To Clean or Not to Clean

Written by Ed Stone - Commodore, MiraBay Mariners Club

I stood on the deck of the boat looking at the mess from a day’s fishing.  The fishing, sadly enough, wasn’t all that good but the mess was still the same.  It only takes a few fish to really mess up a boat.  And if it’s not from the fish it’s from the bait, especially if you are using cut bait.  It’s one of those things you just can’t get away from, that is unless you want to give up fishing. 

So there I stood (or rather leaned) and I remembered a line from Shakespeare where that famous question was asked: “To be or not to be, that is the question?” My question was “to clean or not to clean.”  Unlike Prince Hamlet, I knew perfectly well that the answer to my quandary was, “to be.”  Then another popular line from the great bard came to mind.  In the tragic drama, Macbeth, Lady MacBeth laments:  “Out damn’d spot! out, I say”.  Well it seems that Lady MacBeth never did get her spots out.  I knew however, that I could (at least I hoped) get my spots out.  Then another question blasted forth in my mind, but this one a more modern one came to mind (I guess I would rather think up questions than actually getting down to the job at hand)--what do I use to clean this mess?  I have a box full of “stuff” but is it right?

Now most of us don’t sit around remembering, or much less reciting Shakespeare in our heads. And to be quite honest, for the most part, neither do I.  For many years though, most of us have questioned what the best types of cleaners to use for various jobs around the boat and off, for that matter.  And over the years, with the excessive proliferation of “new and improved” cleaners, cleansers, chemicals, waxes, polishes and an abundance of products for every application, it’s more and more confusing to even get started.  Any boating supply house has shelves upon shelves of products for each and every application and a variety of brands for each.  Every catalog has pages and pages of products.  It is confusing to say the least.  Read the labels and each one is better than the next.  If you question 50 boat owners as to their preference, you will get 50 different and diverse answers.  And astonishingly enough, each and every one of them is right.  After all, they are boat owners.  In the past we all have used whatever products were available from the kitchen to the garage to clean with.  From dishwashing liquid and laundry soap to liquid carwash and even bleach. 

However, today we are faced with a more vital and increasingly significant dilemma.  For those of us (and we all should be) who are sensitive to the environment, we want to insure that we keep as many of the harmful chemicals and pollutants as possible from entering our water system.  That simple question of what to use is now even more complex and extremely more important.

The question facing us now is more than just: “to clean or not to clean”, but “how to clean and how to clean safely?”  There are myriads of bio-degradable products that are dedicated to keeping the environment clean. These environmentally friendly products are readily available at all of the marine supply houses as well as the various “big box” stores.  In fact, in one boating catalog alone, there were132 products listed.  These consisted of washing, cleaning, waxing and polishing and combinations of one or more.  Needless to say, we have our choices and it is up to us to make sure we make the “right” choice.  All one has to do is take a minute and read the label before purchasing the product.

Now the all important question, “Do they work as well as the products that I’ve been using?"  I say yes.  But that’s what I say.  And I am a boat owner.  The only way to be sure is to give them a try yourself.  Try to read through the “hype” on the labels.  You know, “New and Improved.”  Most of that is just advertising.  You might even find that some of the new household cleaners are now bio-degradable and environmentally friendly.  It just takes a minute to read the label.   Ask questions.  Find someone who is using a particular product and get their opinion.  If you dock your boat in a marina, ask the guy next to you what he uses.  If you are in an “in and out” dry storage facility, ask the people that run the facility and the guy that cleans the boat what he likes.  These professionally run establishments must (or should) comply with the standards set up by the EPA and other environmental groups.    

I should mention that this applies to ALL boat owners, whether you keep your boat on a trailer, in a marina or on a dock behind your house.  Whatever product you clean it with eventually gets into our water system, either directly, like from those who live on the water, or through the storm drains for those who live inland. 

Though this is directed primarily to boat owners, I would also like to include our automobile owners as well.  The same situation applies to car, motorcycle and RV cleaning.  I would venture to say that the number of car wash products available would equal or surpass the numbers dedicated to the marine industry.  To you I say, just watch what you use.   

With the growing number of boats in the Tampa Bay area, countless thousands of gallons of cleaning products flow into the system especially each and every weekend.  We should all strive to make it as environmentally friendly as we can.  After all, it is our water system and for us boaters, it’s our playground not to mention all the fish that call it home. 

Well today, here I stand looking at the same mess hoping that by some miracle it will all get cleaned by itself.  I honestly realize in my heart this is not going to happen because I know I am the miracle that is going to have to do the work.  I have the “right stuff” equipment wise (not to be confused or compared to Chuck Yeager), but where to start.  It’s getting late so no more Shakespeare and back to the original question; “to clean or not to clean” and we already know the answer so now what?  The only quote that I can think of right now is, “A journey of a 1000 miles begins with the first step.” Or to put it another way, “A task of a 1000 scrubs begins with the first push on the handle.”  I just noticed, where are all my helpers?  My crew?  Figures.  Guess they don’t like the classics.   Oh well!  Where’s the brush?

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