Sprucing Up Your Old Boat

THEY SAY THE TWO happiest days in a boater’s life are the day he buys his boat and the day he sells it. However, selling your boat can feel like you’re sawing your leg off.

One way you can make that day happier than it might otherwise be, is to get top dollar for that old boat. To do that, the key to resale value is a well-maintained boat.

In fact, there are a few specific measures you can take that will have a disproportionate impact on just how good your boat looks, how much your boat sells for, and how big your smile is as you head for the bank.

1. Give your outboard engine cowl a never-ending beauty treatment. This starts off with two thick, protective coats of paste wax at the beginning of the season. Then, after each trip, give it a wash with a soft mitt and gentle soap. Never ever, under any circumstances let a scrub brush touch the cowl. Brushes can make micro-scratches in the finish that give it a hazy or cloudy look.

If your boat is stored outdoors and you don’t use it for a couple of weeks, give the outboard a quick wash-down anyway. Bird droppings, pollen, and other contaminants will settle on the finish and can cause staining or discoloration if allowed to sit there for weeks on end.

Midway through the season, give the outboard a more substantial wash and then give it another coat of wax. Over time waxes break down. Reapplying it eery six months should be considered the bare minimum.

Follow this regimen, and a decade later that outboard will still be gleaming — and any buyer who comes to look at your boat will be wowed from the start.

2. Prevent mold and/or mildew from infecting your vinyl seat cushions, padding, and coaming bolsters. Once those little black dots begin to appear, you can bet they’ll rapidly multiply. This is true even after you clean them off the exterior surfaces because mold and mildew can settle into the foam cushion underneath the vinyl. Then, it’ll repopulate from the inside out.

The very best way to prevent mold and mildew growth is simply to keep your vinyl clean. Those microbes don’t actually start out by growing on the vinyl itself. New vinyl usually is coated with some form of anti-microbial at the factory.

Rather, the microbes attach to bits of dirt, dried liquid spills, or bird droppings. Then as they grow and reproduce, work their way into the material.

Fighting against mold and mildew growth is sort of a never-ending battle, which you’ll never completely win. Yet, by washing down the boat’s vinyl with a gentle soap as often as possible, you can hold those microbes at bay.

3. Protect the plastics. Almost all boats have a plastic piece or part here or there, and while today’s plastics are much more UV resistant than those of the past, they can still take a beating from the elements. Eventually they become brittle and then break, and nothing looks shabbier than a cracked hatch or a broken plastic knob.

Lots of plastic cleaner/protectants are available. They seal the pores in plastics and create a clear barrier coat. This defends against yellowing, becoming brittle, and discoloration from oils or other contaminants. At least once a month hit all the plastic parts of you boat with this stuff, and it’ll improve the plastic’s looks and longevity.

4. Regularly wax the sides of the hull and all smooth topside gel-coated surfaces. Like most other glossy finishes, gel coat is to some degree porous. Waxing with a paste wax as a base coat, followed by wash-downs with a boat soap containing carnauba wax will fill those pores and prevent oxidation. Like that outboard cowl the fiberglass should get protective paste wax at least a couple of times a season. Otherwise, it will wear away after months on end in the sun and weather.

An added bonus of keeping the topsides thoroughly waxed is that fish blood and chum stains will be a lot easier to scrub away. Remember that aggressive scrub-downs can remove the wax coating even as they remove the mess. If you have a few particularly messy trips in a row that require lots of scrubbing at the end of the day, consider hitting the topsides with an extra coat of paste wax in addition to your bi-annual wax jobs.

5. Once a year, treat any unpainted surface that can corrode with a corrosion inhibitor. Which you choose is important because there are some snake oils out there. Make sure to get one that meets MIL-PRF (military performance specs) for naval and aviation use.

These products can radically slow corrosion and in some cases displace corrosion from the metal at a molecular level, keeping items looking like new for years on end, even when they’re used in the saltwater environment.

That said, don’t just spray corrosion inhibitors willy-nilly all over your boat. Many can stain fiberglass and discolor soft goods. Instead, get a rag and soak down small sections with this stuff. Then dab or wipe it on the metal surfaces. Keep a second clean rag handy, and when you accidentally swipe some of the inhibitor on fiberglass (which is bound to happen) immediately wipe it away.

The good news? Use all five of these maintenance tips and your boat will look great when you go to sell it. The bad news? Not only will a great-looking boat bring a higher price, it’ll also sell faster. This means you won’t have a boat to go fishing in anymore.

Of course, that isn’t really bad news, because we’re pretty darn sure that you’ll take all the money you just pocketed and use it as a down-payment on your brand-new fishing machine.

 

Email Lenny Rudow at ContactUs@fishgame.com

 

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