[Navagear readers will appreciate this piece by Lenny Rudow over at MadMariner today. —Tim]

Miracle Workers: From Sealant to Polish, We Bring You the 10 Best Boat Care Products – Ever

Few products become legends, but it does happen. Duct tape, for example, has become a part of American culture – and I’ll bet everyone reading this article has at least one roll stashed someplace at this very moment.

WD-40 is another such product. It’s become known as the galaxy’s ultimate spray lubricant and can be found in virtually every household in the country.

But what about us boaters?

Do we have any products that have become universally useful – or are destined to do so in the future? And after testing literally hundreds of boat care products through more than a decade of writing for boating magazines and websites, a few have become fixtures in my boat maintenance arsenal.

These are the best that have been invented yet (Note: products less than one year old have been excluded from the running, since there hasn’t been time to thoroughly test them yet.) Among them I’m sure we’ll find one of those legends that lives on forever. In any case, you’ll want to know about this stuff – and perhaps test it out yourself.

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[This press release reminds me: It’s time to get out and clean all the crud off my boat! —Tim]

After spending a day cleaning their boat, owners can feel frustrated when the craft’s glass and plexiglass are marked with water spots. Shurhold’s Serious Shine and Shur-Dry Water Blade efficiently and effectively wash these delicate surfaces, leaving only a clean shine behind.

An extremely versatile and waterless spot marine detailer, Serious Shine protects virtually any solid surface. A unique formula provides a high-gloss shine and a coating that repels water. Containing UV inhibitors and featuring anti-static properties, it also keeps plexiglass soft and flexible.

To eliminate water streaks while drying any surface, Shurhold’s Shur-Dry Water Blade completes the task fast. Effortlessly molding to curved surfaces, it’s gentle on glass and clear vinyl. Due to the blade’s patented T-Bar edge, it offers a spotless shine in one-third the drying time. It also removes the need and waste of paper towels or chamois.

The Water Blade’s easy-to-grip handle provides a comfortable grasp. The optional Shur-Dry Water Blade Adapter enables users to adjust the blade 180˚ and extends their reach by attaching it to longer Shurhold handles.

A 14 oz. aerosol can of Shurhold’s Serious Shine is available for $17.98, while the Shur-Dry Water Blade is priced at $26.98. The Shur-Dry Water Blade Adapter costs $14.98.

Dedicated to educating boat owners, Shurhold offers a free guide of 5 key tips for boat value preservation at www.shurhold.com/tips. Inventor of the One Handle Does It All system, Shurhold manufactures specialty care items and accessories to clean, polish and detail.

I love Cap’t Pauley’s sketchbook. This time, he’s tackling the intricate mysteries surrounding cleat installation. It’s all about keeping water OUT, you know…

And notice how there is no sealant on the inside. I don’t know how many installations I’ve encountered with sealant on the inside! If the water gets past the first line of defense, you WANT to SEE it. You want it to pass through the deck unobstructed. Otherwise, you’re just trapping water inside the deck.

[This sounds pretty useful, especially for those of us who are getting tired of forcing zippers. Anybody have real-world experience with this product? —Tim]

Snaps and zippers exposed to the corroding effects of rain, dirt and grime often stick and rip the surrounding canvas or plastic. A quick dab of Snap-Stick lubricant from Shurhold Industries eliminates fighting with fasteners and hinges on awnings, straps and other outdoor items.  

Unlike gels, liquids or sprays, Snap-Stick is applied directly to the head of a snap, along a zipper or on the barrel of a hinge without causing a mess.  One easy application from the handy tube lasts up to three months.  Non-toxic and biodegradable, Snap-Stick won’t harm fabrics, plastics or metals.

The suggested retail price of a .45 oz. tube of Snap-Stick from Shurhold Industries is $6.48.

Dedicated to educating consumers, Shurhold offers a free guide of 5 cleaning tips at www.shurhold.com/tips.  Inventor of the One Handle Does It All system, Shurhold manufactures specialty care items and accessories to clean, polish and detail.  The Virtual Captain on the Shurhold website answers any questions about cleaning.

[Information provided by the manufacturer. Is there something wrong with me that I both (a) embrace ecologically friendly products and (b) resent the many "green" marketing campaigns now underway, which feel vaguely Machiavellian somehow? By the way, this isn't about Pettit, in particular. I just had Two Lucky Fish's bottom painted with Pettit Vivid, and I couldn't be happier with it. —Tim]

Green products are all the rage right now, and with good reason.  However, Pettit Marine Paint was developing its clean formulas long before anyone was talking about global warming or climate change.  The company has made a long-term commitment to the research and development of the highest quality, most environmentally gentle marine paints and coatings.

“Pettit has developed additives and formulations that leave greatly reduced chemical footprints, some with nearly zero trace,” said Pettit general manager John Ludgate.  “Riding the wave of the future with breakthrough technologies, Pettit will continually introduce innovative new products for a cleaner tomorrow.”

For example, with Pettit’s composite copper technology, the traditional cuprous oxide is replaced with silica, reducing the copper content by up to 40%.  The result is a copper antifouling that provides superior protection and is made from materials naturally found in the ocean.

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Two Lucky Fish has a Wallas stove/heater, which is a pretty handy gadget. It burns diesel or kerosene, and all exhaust is vented overboard. In fact, I used it today both to heat the boat and cook lunch. Cozy!

Anyway, this spring I discovered a problem with my stove installation. Not with the stove itself; it’s working fine. Perhaps you remember this photo from my recent haulout:

The Wallas exhaust vent is on the right. Rust stains were only part of the problem. Even worse was that water would enter the cabin through the through-hull. Not all the time; the ingress occurred only in choppy weather when waves would strike from the starboard side, where the through-hull is. Water would be forced into the exhaust hose, where it should drain right back out the way it came in. But it wasn’t all escaping; some was leaking into the cabin. And rust-staining the hull, inside and out, in the process!

Here’s what I encountered when I started in on this project. There was a lot of rust, but the flexible exhaust hose looked fine, and the through-hull didn’t appear to be the source of the problem either.

A bit more disassembly revealed more rust.

Near as I can figure, all the rust-staining in the two photos above is the result of this hose clamp, which wouldn’t even disengage in the conventional way. It just broke when I tried to unscrew it.

Doug McElroy of Scan Marine confirmed my diagnosis and helped me identify the solution. I took it all apart, cleaned up the parts, and put it back together again with fancy Permatex Ultra Copper high-temperature RTV silicone from the auto parts store. You don’t have to use this copper-colored variety; any of the high-temp RTV silicones will work, and it’s available in black and white.

In the process, I replaced the sock and the hose clamps with new ones provided by Scan Marine. The new hose clamps look much more robust, and are obviously made of high-quality stainless steel.

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People don’t always appreciate what I mean when I tell them the C-Dory has a flat bottom. Maybe this will help.

See, it’s actually flat, starting only about a third of the way aft from the bow. That’s why Two Lucky Fish planes so easily at 12 knots or so, but it’s also why she pounds so hard in a 2-foot chop.

Anyhoo, the fine folks at Seaview East Boatyard in Ballard have done a great job. The old antifouling bottom paint was applied four years ago, and the boat has been in saltwater for almost all of that time. It was definitely time for new paint.

I mentioned the trim tabs earlier, but take a look at the paint on the transom. Black = paint. White = gelcoat where the paint has ablated away completely. The pressure-washing certainly removed a bit more paint, but even so: This paint was done!

It’s tough to get good pictures of the bottom, because it’s mostly a dark surface in shadow. But this gives you an idea what it looked liked, after the pressure-washing. This is taken from beneath the bow, port-side, looking aft. The really nasty scrape and its twin on the starboard side are where the hull makes contact with the trailer bunks when retrieving on a ramp. I’m going to radius the bunks and add some slippery synthetic surface in hopes of mitigating this. (I’m open to suggestions about this, by the way.)

But beyond the scrapes, look at the rest; what a mess. No, it’s not nearly as bad as some boats you see tied up at marinas, but nevertheless, this is just…ugly.

But Not Anymore.

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She’s up on blocks at Seaview East Boatyard in Ballard. See, it’s time for new antifouling bottom paint. Four years is really longer than you can expect antifouling to last! She’s getting scrubbed and prepped, and will get a shiny new coat of Pettit Vivid.

And anybody who’s seen Two Lucky Fish in person recently will probably want to take this opportunity to remind me that the trim tabs look like an aquarium exhibit!

I’ve taken lots of pictures today, but luckily I FAILED to get any good “before” pictures of the trim tabs. You’ll have to be satisfied with this post-pressure-wash picture I took with my phone just now:

The folks at Seaview seem to have everything under control. They’re going to rough up these trim tabs, so the paint will stick, and add a little zinc slug to each one to minimize corrosion.

The weather’s great, and it should be done Wednesday.

Apparently, High Tech Fabric Guard by 303 Products is THE STUFF to restore the water repellency of Sunbrella boat canvas.

I sure hope so! My cockpit bimini top started leaking this summer. Not so much “leaking” as “the water soaks in instead of running off, and eventually starts dripping from the bottom of the fabric.”

So yeah, leaking, I guess. Anyway, I’ve just used up a whole 16-ounce, $18 spray bottle of the stuff I got from the helpful folks at Seattle Fabrics.

Sixteen ounces is supposed to coat 40-80 square feet for heavier fabrics. I guess I overdid it a little, since my top measures about 30 square feet. Oh well, what would I do with a leftover four ounces of this precious stuff?

By the way, I cleaned the fabric the day before, with Woolite in the washing machine on “delicates” cycle, as recommended by Sunbrella. I let it air-dry overnight, and through the first half of the day today. It’s windy, reasonably warm, and partly sunny today, so the magic spray should set up pretty well on the fabric.

Now, I’ll just let it dry. Four to 72 hours, depending on conditions. I’ll hang it in the carport and leave it until my next trip down to the marina. With school (and work!) starting up again this week, that’ll be at least 72 hours from now.

I learned about RejeX at the Seattle Boat Show last winter, and figured I’d give it a try as a window coating. It’s made by the same folks who produce CorrosionX, another magical concoction I’ve been using around the boat.

You know, sometimes these amazingly unbelievable coatings actually work as advertised. That appears to be the case with RejeX.

Here’s what I did yesterday morning while tied up in Prevost Harbor. I rinsed all the saltwater off, washed the windows with Windex, and then applied the Rejex as directed, to the port-side cabin window only. The starboard window only received the cleaning.

Here’s what I was NOT able to do as directed: I didn’t let it cure for 12 hours. We went out and put it to use immediately. After a bumpy crossing with lots of saltwater spray on both windows, you can see the difference:

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