Boat Waxing: A Beginner’s How-To Guide
If you are fortunate enough to be the owner of a beautiful boat, it makes sense that you would want to ensure that your boat stays looking as new and shiny as possible.
Owning a boat is exciting, but you have to take as much pride in your boat as you would your car or any other asset that you have bought for your enjoyment.
Waxing the boat doesn’t just keep it looking beautiful, either; it keeps it protected from the elements and the water to which it’s constantly exposed.
Learning how to wax a boat is important, and marine waxing will keep your boat protected from the UV rays of the sun.
A poorly waxed boat is evident in the marina, and you want to ensure that your boat shines!
How To Wax A Boat
Boats can still look dull and discolored if you aren’t taking care of it and waxing is a very simple process.
Buffing a boat ensures that you get it looking the way that you want it to and if this is your first time, follow these steps and tips!
Buy High Quality Wax
You can’t learn how to wax a boat without the right products designed specifically for boats. You want to get the right boat wax as many waxes work with both cars and boats.
Some people will use car wax for boats and others are right to aim for the specific boat wax for buffing a boat.
Rinse the Boat
Before you wax anything, rinse over the boat with plain water at a low pressure. This’ll work to remove grime and surface dirt. It’ll also remove dry salt!
Inspect For Cracks
The last thing you want is to find wax seeping into chips and cracks in the hull of the boat. Use a repair kit to make any quick repairs before you add wax to the boat.
Optional Extra – Remove Old Wax
Some people prefer to remove old wax before they add the new stuff to make it shinier than ever before.
Cover Antifouling
Some boards have antifouling paint on the hull and if yours doesn’t, it’s time to add your own. You can cover this with painters tape and protect it from the wax products you’d use for your boat.
Buffing The Boat
Buffing the boat is important but they are abrasive so make sure that you’re not too heavy handed with it. Move in a circular motion with a soft cloth in sections, and you’ll see the boat come up very smoothly.
Apply Wax
Take out any removable fittings and apply the wax onto the boat surface. Use another soft cloth and move in circles with the wax to avoid it streaking along the surface. Manually wax any tight spots, too.
Let It Dry!
Don’t take the boat out until it’s dry, and it’ll take around 10 minutes for this to happen. Let it set so that it doesn’t get streaked and you have to redo your hard work.
Buff Again
Buff the wax and clean the boat down to remove the hazy appearance due to the wax. You’ll end up with a shiny boat!
A boat is expensive as an asset, so making sure that the surface is clean and waxed is important!
Check Out This Tutorial On How To Wax A Boat
Conclusion
Having a boat is quite a privilege and a fun hobby to pursue. When you own such a treasure you want to make sure to take care of the little things such as clean the boat often and waxing and buffing as often as you can. Considering that you invested a good chunk of cash on the boat, why use cheap wax on it, that quite frankly, won’t do the job?
Save yourself a headache, and invest in quality materials for your boat. They may seem like a lot at first, but they’ll save you money in the end, due to the fact that you’ll have to buy the cheap stuff first, learn the lesson the hard way, then have to buy the high quality wax afterwords.
Last but not least, be methodical. A job is only as good as the one holding the buffer. So take you time, section by section, and be sure to get full coverage over the entire boat.