Q about detailing boats in storage?

[Chubs]

I was just talking to a friend last night about detailing, boats in particular. He asked me how many boats I can handle. He has a friend that bought an old building where they used to make steel products. Now itâ€â„¢s empty and he stores about 300 to 500 boats in the winter. My jaw dropped. But thereâ€â„¢s one catch thereâ€â„¢s probably no electricity, heat, and water. The water I can probably work without besides what I need for my spray bottles. I can get a generator for the electricity, though I might have to worry about lighting. Now Iâ€â„¢m stumped on the heat problem, since it will be between 10 and 40 degrees outside and itâ€â„¢s a very large building it probably wonâ€â„¢t be much warmer. I know I could use a torpedo heater to keep me warm but what about the other chemicals Iâ€â„¢m using, wax will never setup and window cleaner and dressings will freeze on the boat before I wipe it off.



What I want to know is has anyone ever came across this or currently do this, and how they deal with the problems. This opportunity would be awesome and hate to pass it up if I can find ways to do it.



Any ideas on what to do would be great. Iâ€â„¢m running out of them.



Thanks,

Chubs

 

[joburnet]

I bet it doesn't get quite that cold indoors, if it does the only thing you can do is to wait until it's warmer.



A generator would work well for electricity but make sure to keep it outside because you don't want the fumes building up inside.



Your going to need water to detail boats, and probably quite a bit of it. At the very least you can bring several 5 gallon jugs, you can get them for about $10 each from walmart, lowes, or something like that. At best you could get a 65 gallon tank for about $100 and put it in the back of a truck, (if you have one), or tow on a trailer.

 

[imported_themightytimmah]

What you need is a BIG radiant heater, something that heats up objects rather than the air. You might need 2 or 3 kerosene or LP powered ones to work a boat. If the building is really that big, drive your truck in, keep the products in the cab, and then put a 65+ gallon tank in the back. Fill the tank with warm/hot water, and insulate it and the tubes that run between it and whatever you'll be using water with.



The size of the building should keep the fumes from choking you out too badly, and I'd get a generator and run it outside of the building, partially for fumes and partially for noise. The equipment cost is going to be pretty rough to start with, but amortize it into 300 boats, and just tack it on top of what your details normally cost .



For lighting, I'd use 3 1000 watt dual halogens. They will show you every imperfection in the boat. Also, bring a 12volt, high amperage charger. If you can find a battery lead on the boat, just hook the charger on to it and you can use the boat's lighting, depending on how theyre wired. Keep an incandescent worklight on a cord, just incase you need to work a cabin and you cant get the lights working.



Now that I think of the power needs, you are going to want a good sized generator, something in the 5+ kilowatt range. You might want to consider putting it just inside a door, cutting a small hole in the wall, and running the exhaust outside, that way you wont have to move it around and the location protects you theftwise. Get an old household fuel oil tank (you can probably find one in the local Uncle Henry's), fill it with diesel, and you wont have to worry about filling up more than once every coupla weeks.

 

[truckerbaer]

Most boats when stored for the winter have the batteries removed and stored some place warm or put on a tickler charge, the boats are also covered or sealed in a plastic, it doesn't pay to detail your boat after season, the thing will get dirty while it is stored, a simple clean up and power washing the hull if it has been left in the water during the season. Now if you live in the warmer areas it might be a different story.

 

[imported_mirrorfinishman]

Hey Chubs,



Most boat owners really are not thinking about getting their boat detailed in the middle of winter. They usually like to wait until the weather warms up in the spring. And then everyone want's it done before Memorial Day.