Fort Lauderdale Boat Detailing
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Mobile boat detailing across Fort Lauderdale, Las Olas, Harbor Beach, Coral Ridge and the New River — from a maintenance wash between weekends to a multi-stage gelcoat correction on a boat that has spent two summers baking in the sun. We come to your dock, slip or dry storage with our own water, power and product.
- Fully mobile
- Insured
- Marina & dock access
- Salt-water specific process
What boat detailing actually involves
Detailing is not a car wash on the water. Saltwater, UV at 26° north, dock spray, exhaust soot and bird traffic attack a boat from four directions at once, and each of those needs a different chemistry. A real detail is a sequence: decontaminate, correct, protect, then dress. Skip a step and you either grind defects deeper into the gelcoat or seal contamination underneath a coat of wax.
On a typical Fort Lauderdale boat we start at the waterline. Hard water spotting, salt crystallisation and mineral scale get dissolved with a pH-controlled acid wash rather than scrubbed off, because scrubbing scale is how gelcoat gets scratched. From there the hull is washed top-down with a marine-grade soap that will not strip existing wax or coating, then dried with soft towels and forced air so nothing dries into a spot in the Florida heat.
The full process, step by step
1. Walkthrough & condition assessment
We inspect gelcoat under raking light, check oxidation depth with a test spot, look at stainless for tea-staining, and note isinglass, teak, non-skid and vinyl condition. This is what determines the quote — length alone never tells the truth about a boat.
2. Decontamination wash
Top-down foam wash, waterline acid treatment for scale and rust run, and a clay or chemical decon on smooth gelcoat to pull embedded fallout that washing leaves behind.
3. Compound / polish (if the condition calls for it)
Rotary or dual-action machine work with marine-specific compounds. One stage for light dullness, two or three for chalky oxidised gelcoat. We measure by result, not by pass count.
4. Protection
A high-carnauba marine wax, a synthetic sealant, or a ceramic coating depending on how long you want it to last and how the boat is stored. Waterline and transom get extra attention because that is where protection fails first.
5. Interior, non-skid & detail work
Non-skid cleaned without loading the texture with wax, vinyl cleaned and conditioned with UV protectant, isinglass cleaned and polished with plastic-safe product only, stainless polished and sealed, teak addressed as its own job.
6. Final walkthrough
We walk the boat with you (or send photos if you're not on site), point out anything we found — soft spots, failing sealant, corroded hardware — and tell you when it should be seen again.
What gets covered
- Hull sides, transom and waterline
- Deck, gunwales, coamings and non-skid
- Hardtop, tower, radar arch and flybridge
- Stainless rails, cleats, hardware and exhaust ports
- Isinglass, acrylic and glass
- Vinyl seating, bolsters and headliners
- Cockpit, livewells, fishboxes and gutters
- Teak and synthetic decking (as scoped)
Why Fort Lauderdale boats need it more often
Boats kept in the ICW and New River sit in brackish, silty water with heavy traffic film. Boats in open slips along the beach take constant salt spray. Both get roughly 20% more UV load per year than a boat in the Northeast, and gelcoat oxidises as a function of UV exposure and heat cycling, not age.
Practically, that means a Fort Lauderdale boat that gets washed every two weeks and detailed twice a year holds its gelcoat almost indefinitely. The same boat washed 'when it looks dirty' will be visibly chalky in 18 months and need compounding — a far more expensive, and finite, repair, because every compound cycle removes gelcoat you cannot get back.
What it costs
Starting prices are for boats up to 25ft in average condition. Final pricing depends on length, condition, storage location and access. Every quote is written after we see photos or the boat itself.
- The Quickie — maintenance wash+$8/ft over 25ftfrom $295
- Big Deck Energy — full detail+$38/ft over 25ftfrom $1,150
- Ship Faced Reset — restorative detail+$60/ft over 25ftfrom $1,650
- Big Yacht Energy — 40ft+ / multi-deckCustom quote
Questions people actually ask
Do you come to my boat in Fort Lauderdale?
Yes. We're fully mobile and work at private docks, marina slips, dry storage and boatyards throughout Fort Lauderdale, Las Olas, Harbor Beach, Coral Ridge, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and Pompano. We bring water, power and everything else unless the facility requires we use theirs.
How long does a full detail take?
A maintenance wash on a 24ft centre console is around two hours. A full detail with machine polish on the same boat is a full day. A 45ft express with a flybridge and heavy oxidation can be two to three days with a crew.
Do I need to be there?
No. Most clients leave a gate code or dock access instructions. We send before-and-after photos and a written condition note when we're done.
Can you detail a boat in the water?
Everything above the waterline, yes — that's the majority of our work. Bottom paint, running gear and below-waterline work require a haul-out or a diver, which we can coordinate.
Will detailing remove scratches?
Machine polishing removes defects that sit within the gelcoat's clear top layer — swirls, dock rash haze, oxidation, light scuffs. Anything you can catch a fingernail in needs gelcoat repair first, which we'll flag during the walkthrough.
Related services
A professionally applied ceramic coating puts a hard, chemically bonded layer over your gelcoat, paint, stainless and glass. Salt rinses off instead of etching in, waterline scum releases with a wipe, and UV hits the coating rather than the pigment underneath. Done correctly in a controlled prep, it lasts years — not the weeks you get from wax.
Read moreOxidation is gelcoat that has been broken down by UV until the surface turns porous and chalky — the powder that comes off on your hand. It cannot be washed off or waxed away. It has to be physically cut back to fresh gelcoat with machine compounding, then refined and protected. Done right, a boat that looks finished comes back to a wet gloss.
Read moreA scheduled wash program is the single highest-return money you can spend on a boat. Salt that gets rinsed off every two weeks never etches. Waterline scum that never sits never needs acid. Gelcoat that stays protected never needs compounding. This is the service that stops you paying for the expensive ones.
Read moreYou lookgood on aclean boat.
Send photos, tell us where she's kept, and we'll come back with a real number.
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