The boat and motorhome are among the most beautiful passions for those who love travelling and living in the open air, but those who own one of these vehicles know how important and tiring their cleaning and maintenance is. These operations can become easier with the use of tools such as a pressure washer.
Those who go by boat have to fight against salt and seaweed, while those who travel by motorhome can run into dirt, dust and muddy areas.
These residues lurk everywhere, especially in the narrowest areas which are most difficult to reach by hand: for this reason, a pressure washer ensures accuracy and speed when cleaning these vehicles.
There are, however, some precautions to be taken to avoid damaging the bodywork and delicate parts, and it is good to know the many types of pressure washers, their specific functions and various accessories available to make the best purchase.
There are many alluring destinations to reach by boat even in winter, but the vast majority of yachtsmen and sailors prefer to dry-dock their boat at the end of the summer season.
This is the best time to carry out routine maintenance of your boat, so as to find it in perfect condition when the weather will be milder and you can go back to sailing with the sun on your face and good sea.
Maintenance, however, is a very expensive phase, if you consider the costs for towage and storage, as well as any extraordinary repairs for engines and systems that must necessarily be carried out by professional technicians. This is why it’s convenient to carry out yourself the cleaning of the hull, keel, deck and all those parts that are easy to handle even for the less experienced, saving a lot of money with the purchase of a semi-professional pressure washer.
DISCOVER THE COMET RANGE OF PRESSURE WASHERS DEDICATED TO SMALL BOATS MAINTENANCE AND CLEANING
Cleaning the outside of the boat is the first operation to be carried out, but it’s not the fastest one, since the keel and hull surfaces are very large: using only sponges and mops means taking a lot of time and effort, without the certainty of a well-done job.
The pressure washer, with the right pressure and water flow rate, is much more effective and faster, especially when you have to deal with salt residues, limescale and seaweed. Many people make the mistake of scraping off incrustations with metal brushes or unsuitable tools, seriously damaging the surface. With the semi-professional pressure washer, on the other hand, the pressure produced, much higher than a simple water hose, is able to dissolve any type of dirt.
In addition to models that only use cold water, there are hot water pressure washers, even more effective, and models with special tanks for the use of detergents. The latter are very suitable for removing the remaining layer of antifouling paint.
A thorough cleaning of the hull makes it possible to identify any damage suffered by the fibreglass or wood and proceed with their repair: these are the areas where it is more likely to form incrustation and failure to remove it could hide the origin of a crack that is then difficult to repair.
Contrary to what you might think, handling the pressure washer around a boat is very comfortable, using the special trolleys on many models and the hose reels that avoid the classic “water hose” tangles.
In addition, lances and practical nozzles allow you to reach any space and instantly switch from a wide jet for large surfaces to more precise jets for smaller gaps.
There are also more compact models that can be stowed and transported on board for a "flash" cleaning to be carried out at the first port of call during the cruise: the connections to the water mains, in fact, are universal.
The pressure washer can also be used on deck areas without fear of damaging the finest woods of floors and walls thanks to the possibility of adjusting the water pressure and the use of special brushes and polishing heads.
Cleaning the exterior of portholes and glazed parts does not involve any risk and the result is optimal. Using special extensions you can reach the spaces below deck, to disinfect and sanitize, for example, the bathrooms in the cabins or the galley kitchen.
If you use maximum power, coarse scale can be removed from fenders, anchors, ladders, propellers and chains, while a reduced pressure can be applied to the remaining steel parts, such as handrails. A jet of pressurised hot water or the addition of degreasing detergents remove grease from bilge pumps and engine compartment.
The most daring motorhome travellers travel in their “house on wheels” even in winter: they are advised to buy a small pressure washer and keep it always at hand, so that they can remove dust, mud and dirt from the motorhome in a short time and at any time and always travel in total safety.
As for the boat, even for the motorhome, the most thorough maintenance takes place at the end of the summer season, when you clean the vehicle from top to bottom before leaving it in the shed.
In this case, the use of a pressure washer is very similar to what is done to wash a car, with the obvious advantage of being able to clean the exterior of a very large vehicle in a short time and with a reduced effort compared to what you would do with simple water, soap and sponge.
Bodywork, large and small windows, rims, headlights and various compartments: the pressure washer is suitable for cleaning the motorhome in all its parts.
Among the few precautions to be taken is not to operate with a too powerful jet and close to the joints between the seals and the bodywork, to avoid water infiltration on the oldest and most worn parts. The professional and semi-professional pressure washers, however, have special adjustments that allow you to always have the right jet.
Thanks to very long lances and swivel heads, it is possible to reach the upper parts of the motorhome even while on the ground.
The pressure washer is also the ideal tool to remove any accumulation of sand, salt and soil from the underside, so that the motorhome can be left in the shed without fear of corrosion.
Carpets and rugs, if removable from the interior, can be finally washed and sanitized with the jet of the hot water washer or with the addition of sanitizing detergents.
With a semi-professional high pressure washer you can clean your boat or motorhome effortlessly and save on maintenance and gain time to devote to your passion.