First Boat Detail!

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OnTheSpotMobile

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Hi all this is actually my first post to this forum under this name but I've been here for years before I got into detailing as a profession. Anyway I went down to quote this boat for a broker that is selling it and I'm charging $10/foot to sale prep it. It's a 32 foot carver. I'm just gonna dive into it after reading all of the boat posts on just about any forum I could find. Here's a few pics:



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Right now I'm scrubbing it down from top to bottom, shampooing interior, taking the mold off the seats and everything else, and of coarse dress all the vinyl, clean the glass, etc just a basic sale prep is what I'm calling it but it's going to take most of the day with one helper.



I've never detailed any boat before and this is a nice one to start with ;) I had to buy a ladder just to get in the thing! Now I got a call today and the new buyer is apparently going to want me to come back and buff it after this job is done! This is where I could use any advice anyone could give me. Every square inch of the upper surface of this boat is extremely oxidized and looks like chalk. I'm going to do a test patch on that today. I'm using a rotary and a PC, many foam pads and wool pads, a selection of various compounds and polishes from optimum, menzerna, and turtle wax.



Any advice on chemicals I can use to get the oxidation minimized before I start buffing? Also there are barnacles and years worth of crap built up on the rear inboard/outboard and prop. I'm pretty much lost on what to use for that short of a file.



Progress pics to come people.







Andrew
 
Are you just doing the hull for 10/ft? If you have to do interior or top side too they got a screaming deal from you. How did you derive 10/ft? That is a huge hull also. Don't mess with the anti fouling part of the hull. don't wax/sealant ANY areas with rised tread. for hard water spotting or build up, you need a 3:1 hydrochloric acid wash. The barnicles are like stones and you will have to chip them away.



I hope you didn't bite off more than you can deal with. If you have to do more than 1 step the paint, take 800 mg of Iburprophen before you start and 800mg on your way home, repeat for the next 2 days........lol boats are TON of work in that condition.



I re read the post and now see the hull was not part of the price. if its gone chalky, that is a HUGE HUGE job. I would bet you need to sand the gel coat, then polish, if you don't remove the old GC it will return chalky in a few short months. I would also let the customer know that when a GC goes chalky it will never be the same. Forget the PC idea, it might make it look better but it mainly will just "feed" and optically make it look better, but will fail in time.



I know others on this forum have much more experience on larger boats like this, hope they chime in.



Cheers,

GREG
 
Wasn't sure what to charge here but I believe my $10/foot price was good just to clean it. I spent about 6 hours with a helper today and got most of it done. Shampooed interior carpets, all walls, ceiling, floors, bathroom. Scrubbed every exterior surface with a high powered cleaner from a local supplier, power washed to remove. Just about every part came back to pure white again with the exception of a couple of hard to reach areas that have a rusty appearing stain that I will try a few different things on tomorrow.



The vinyl seats look terrible. I only made a small dent in those. They look like they need to be replaced. Any ideas from anyone regarding this? They're white but stained grey from weathering, mold, etc. They are outside in the weather as well.



The raised traction areas are all over the boat everywhere, they look like they'll probably destroy a buffing pad quickly. Any ideas here or should I just leave them and make sure they are white as they can be with chemical cleaners? No sealants or wax on the raised areas.



I'm buffing for $20/foot tomorrow if the guy gives me the go ahead. That's on top of what I've done today. This price includes buffing the top surfaces and the hull. Does that still seam low to you guys? I figure it'll take me 2 days. I had a better look at the surfaces up top today and they're not as bad as I had thought at first. There's little shine left but it doesn't look hopeless.



One thing I noticed is that as soon as you clean an area, its dirty again ten seconds later because you have to move around on the boat and my boots seem to hold a lot of soil lol.
 
Here are some pics. I didn't really get any good pics since it was raining and I didn't really find the time to do it but I'll get some after ones tomorrow.



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A vinyl cushion running around the bed area, covered in mold from a leaking skylight/hatch.



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After



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The carpet arond the bed area was shampooed, sorry no after pic yet



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The entire ceiling inside was coated in this mold, mold was removed, again no after pic yet.



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The boat has just had it's winter wrap removed and is still sitting on wooden frame waiting to be craned to the water
 
For what it's worth, I charge $9/foot for wash jobs and to clean up the brightwork and Isinglass windows. For full compounding, depending on the size of the boat, I start at $15/foot. Above 80', I start at $20/foot. These prices obviously include washing the boat before, and after detailing it.



There's a LOT of money to be made in yacht detailing.



For your compounding, I'll echo what Greg said. That bottom-of-the-hull area is pretty wicked if you get it on your skin. It's highly toxic. Also, I'll again echo the heavy self-medicating. You might want to look into getting some heavy-duty compound for it. Meguiar's "Velocity" line has some great products.



Meguiar's Velocity 81 Mold Compound Gallon PN# MV8101



I use that quite a bit. With a wool pad, it'll get most of the oxidation out, then you can chase it with some Meguiar's M82 Swirl Free Polish and a foam pad, and then wax it afterwards. That's been my go-to combo, and here's what a Carver Four-Fifty 45' yacht looks like after that:



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For your seat concerns, I know it's not typical "Autopian" method, but Tide powder works VERY well. Spray the seats with a hose, sprinkle on some Tide, get a stiff bristle brush, scrub it with all of the anger and hate you have in your body, and then rinse it off. Put some vinyl cleaner/protectant on it, and you're set, for the most part.





Hope that helps.





**edit** here's a link to a post I made about a similar situation...

http://www.autopia.org/forum/motorc...28914-first-boat-detail-help.html#post1371793
 
ok.....Carver's have probably the worst gel-coat (valspar) on the market. Even worse than Viking. The only way to correct it once it oxidizes is to sand. I would even dry sand at 800 or so on up. After that and a 5-6 step compound and polish you will be there. Tell the customer to keep it sealed very often (like once a month or so depending on region.

Your price for cleaning is fair. But to buff and wax the gel-coat topside & hull for $20 per ft. and do it correctly, you ate it. For me thats a $2500 job easy.
 
Well I've been at this since about 6am and half the hull on one side almost complete. This guys definately getting a discount because this ain't working out. I tried automotive rapid cut compound first and it did nothing. Now I'm usin meguiars 67 compound with a wool pad and at least it's getting the waterspots off after about three tries in the same area lol. This is not like doing vehicles at all. If I don't find something that works better than I'm outta the boat world after this.
 
Alright Here's what I got today it didn't turn out too bad just got frustrated because it took so long to polish that I didn't notice how far along it came.



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Patience Grinder!
 
So how many mg of pain killers are you up to? LOL



How long did it take for the one side?



You might want to find some 3M Heavy Duty compound. Its rocks in a bottle but it cuts pretty fast. Its nasty stuff, so wear a mask, and since you're outside thats good. Use a twisted wool and level that coat.



Too bad you don't have a pneumatic sander, you could do all that is half the time.



While I bid stuff by the foot, I also have to add in the deep hull.



Cheers,

GREG
 
Haven't had any pain killers yet! I've been working at it for about 6 hours/day till I can't hold the buffer above my head anymore then packing up and moving on to something else for the day. I think it took about 9 hours to complete the one side in the pic. I've got the other side about half done so I'll be finishing today and then hopefully I won't be seeing this boat again lol. Now on to a 25 foot speed boat next, we'll see how that one goes!
 
Boat/yacht detailing is no joke. I got kinda tricked into it, a few years ago, by some boaters that came into the bar I was working at. They were like, "you know how to detail a car?" I obviously said yes, and they said, "it's like a big car... but you can't really hurt the paint." 7 days later, on a 65' Sea-Ray, and popping Vicodin like they were M&M's, I realized it was a LOT more than just a "big car." That paycheck at the end made it worth it, though.
 
Just a follow up to this the customer was quite pleased with the results. There was a bit of learning to do here for me but I've got a good idea of what boat detailing is like now. Here's the other side of the boat after:



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Thanks to greg nichols and vanity detailing for your help on this! I'll definitely be picking up some of that meguiars mold compound for next time. Anyone know of a good online supplier? Also I did some research on a product called aqua buff found here:



Product



I'll be ordering some of this to try it out as well. Carry on.
 
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