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09-06-2018, 05:48
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Monterey, California
Boat: Westsail 32
Posts: 783
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Keeping things clean when it never rains
I was presented with a problem in Bonaire that I haven't faced elsewhere: dust, and lots of it.
It literally never rains here, so anything that is out gets a nice coating of dust, as the trade winds are always blowing hard, and Bonaire is a desert island.
I've been using salt water to keep the deck clean, but this is ultimately probably a bad practice, and my guess is, if it didn't drive me crazy, that the boat would be better off with a protective coat of dirt, than rinsed with salt water constantly.
What creative strategies have you guys employed when fresh water is scarce to keep things clean? I can use small amounts of fresh water, but not gallons.
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09-06-2018, 06:17
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Houston, TX
Boat: Beneteau 461 47'
Posts: 927
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryban
I was presented with a problem in Bonaire that I haven't faced elsewhere: dust, and lots of it.
It literally never rains here, so anything that is out gets a nice coating of dust, as the trade winds are always blowing hard, and Bonaire is a desert island.
I've been using salt water to keep the deck clean, but this is ultimately probably a bad practice, and my guess is, if it didn't drive me crazy, that the boat would be better off with a protective coat of dirt, than rinsed with salt water constantly.
What creative strategies have you guys employed when fresh water is scarce to keep things clean? I can use small amounts of fresh water, but not gallons.
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I installed a sea-water washdown pump in the back of the anchor locker. The feed is from a thru-hull in the galley, and thr output is a stainless quick-release connector in top of the anchor locker. A switch/fuse connects it into the supply for the windlass.
I connect a hose pipe into this and I can wash down the entire deck as much as I wish (Solar depending).
1-1.5 buckets of fresh water, selectively splooshed, and a deck brush gets rid of most of the salt water before it dries.
If you keep the deck (in my case, antiskid) well protected (with woody wax or whatever your poison) then I wouldn't stress about the salt too much. A wipe-down with a camp cloth of the stainless rails and other items will keep the excess salt off.
A kettle of hot water over your blocks etc will remove much of the salt from the bearing surfaces.
__________________
"By day the hot sun fermented us; and we were dizzied by the beating wind. At night we were stained by dew, and shamed into pettiness by the innumerable silences of stars."
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09-06-2018, 06:24
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2016
Location: UK for the time being
Boat: Alubat Cigale 16m
Posts: 99
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
It looks like your choices are limited to gently abrading your decks with fine dust or washing them with salt water unless you have a supply of peacock feathers or some other electrostatic dust lifter (swiffer or equivalent) and even a 29’ boat is probably a daunting task!
I remember the continuous whine of vacuum cleaners on the docks in Newport during the America’s Cup before the NYYC discovered how much the rest of the world loved them after they lost the cup. Many otherwise normal owners will not allow shoes on their boats that have even touched land and so, on the basis that boats on long crossings seem to survive salt water, I suspect washing with seawater to be preferable.
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09-06-2018, 07:01
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#4
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cruiser
Join Date: Jan 2017
Boat: Retired from CF
Posts: 13,317
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
Some owners have watermaker systems with high enough capacity for regular fresh water washdowns.
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09-06-2018, 08:33
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Cruising, now in USVIs
Boat: Taswell 43
Posts: 1,038
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
If you have teak decks a salt-water wash is good for them-the salt is hydroscopic and helps suck moisture out of the air...keeps the wood from drying out.
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09-06-2018, 10:15
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Lake City MN
Boat: C&C 27 Mk III
Posts: 2,647
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
There’s a reason why sailors on wooden boats always swabbed the decks. :-)
__________________
Special knowledge can be a terrible disadvantage if it leads you too far along a path that you cannot explain anymore.
Frank Herbert 'Dune'
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09-06-2018, 10:21
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#7
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cat herder, extreme blacksheep
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: furycame alley , tropics, mexico for now
Boat: 1976 FORMOSA yankee clipper 41
Posts: 18,967
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
sea water not good for boats?? then why keep boat in sea water or even sail sea water, for that matter.
sorry i have little sympathy.
my boat LOVES her sea water washdowns. she hates fresh water washdowns, as it SHOULD be. my stainless is shiny, and decks clean. my wood beaufitul.
might want to invest in an r.o. system for your boat to avoid sea water.
oh~~!!!~~~~~~ forgot..might need to desal the oceans.
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09-06-2018, 10:21
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Skagit City, WA
Posts: 25,510
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
I used salt water all the time. Rinse with fresh if available. If yo are lucky it rains. Salt is good for teak decks. Yeah, red dust blows into the eastern Caribe from Africa.... quite common.
You are right though, the salt water is not great for hardware, aluminum or SS. Nice to rinse it off. Having a good water maker has this advantage.
__________________
"I spent most of my money on Booze, Broads and Boats. The rest I wasted" - Elmore Leonard
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09-06-2018, 10:40
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Bumping around the Caribbean
Boat: Valiant 40
Posts: 4,625
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ryban
What creative strategies have you guys employed when fresh water is scarce to keep things clean? I can use small amounts of fresh water, but not gallons.
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There's no magic bullet, just salt water. It's better than letting the dust accumulate. I would save the fresh water for rinsing blocks, clutches it.
Saltwater will take the dust and the old dried salt off, with a scrub. So you'll always have salt but it won't build up.
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09-06-2018, 13:07
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#10
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: aboard, cruising in Australia
Boat: Sayer 46' Solent rig sloop
Posts: 28,512
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
Ryban, sea water is harmless to fiberglass. Wash away. Do rinse blocks, and sheet stoppers if you have them, afterwards with a tiny bit of fresh water, but freshwater washing of boats is yacht club stuff, not the life of a cruising sailboat, which might get washed by rain sometime. Just, when it starts to rain, quick scrub the decks, if you're going to catch drinking water off them, and let the rain rinse them first.
Ann
__________________
Who scorns the calm has forgotten the storm.
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09-06-2018, 13:14
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: Australia
Boat: Milkraft 60 ex trawler
Posts: 4,653
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
Timber boats hate fresh and love salt.
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09-06-2018, 13:20
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Cape Cod USA
Boat: Cartwright 36 Cutter
Posts: 375
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
Just move up here to Cape Cod. This year the rain never seems to stop! :-)
I love Bonaire and have hundreds of dives there. I hope it is still as nice as I remember. It was starting to get a bit over built when Iwas last there in 1999...
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09-06-2018, 14:37
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Northern NSW Australia.
Boat: Adams/Davis 35ft 7in. Custom. 2007
Posts: 585
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
Part of the adventure. You have to get to like salt water I guess, just try and keep it on the outside. It's very annoying on materials below deck. Good luck with your voyage, you have a good boat to do it in.
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09-06-2018, 16:39
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#14
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Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: aboard, cruising in Australia
Boat: Sayer 46' Solent rig sloop
Posts: 28,512
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
Quote:
Originally Posted by picklesandjesse
Part of the adventure. You have to get to like salt water I guess, just try and keep it on the outside. It's very annoying on materials below deck. Good luck with your voyage, you have a good boat to do it in.
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Boy, you got that right!
__________________
Who scorns the calm has forgotten the storm.
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09-06-2018, 22:33
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 45
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Re: Keeping things clean when it never rains
And you chose to live there WHY ???
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