How To Care For A Boat With Ceramic Coating On It

Applying a ceramic coating to your boat is only a small portion of the journey when it comes to achieving the durability of an 18-24 month coating. The sun, salt and everything in between in a marine environment can do enough to harm your boats coating and break it down prematurely. Start by taking care of the coating and you’ll be able to preserve it as long as you can. 

After applying two coats of ceramic to your boat you’ll need to use the correct products, and recharge the coating from time to time to keep it working to the best of its ability. 

The biggest DOS and DONT’s of keeping your ceramic coated boat intact and working to its full potential.

DON’T:

• Use harsh chemicals to wash the boat. 

Using harsh cleaners and chemicals such as bleach, degreasers, simple green and things of that nature will prematurely break the coating down.

• Do nothing.

Doing nothing to the boat can be just as harmful. The boat needs to be maintained by eliminating the dirt, debris, and salt off of it. Leaving the ceramic coating unattended will cause it to wear away faster.

• Wash the boat improperly. 

Washing your boat with the wrong techniques and heavy brushes will also prematurely degrade the ceramic coating. Leaving you with less life to the boats ceramic coating. Interested in learning how to wash a boat the right way give this article a read.

• Using a wash and wax soap. 

This will clog up the ceramic coating and cause it not to perform as it should.

• Avoid using harsh abrasives on the surface 

DO:

Harsh abrasives erode the coating away quicker.

• Use proper care products to maintain the ceramic coating. These care products are not just so the installer or manufacturer can sell you hopes and dreams in a bottle after the install. They’re designed to maintain the integrity of the coating and preserve it.

Soaps – using soaps infused with SiO2 (the core ingredient in the ceramic coating) help to rejuvenate the strength of the coating during every wash. Check out Bubble bath our boat soap designed with this premise in mind.

Silica spray – a good silica spray is designed to enhance the coating helping the chemical bond of the ceramic to the boat and provide an extra layer of protection to the surface of the boat. 

• Rinse down the boat.

Even if you don’t plan on washing the boat give her a quick rinse and chamois to knock off the dirt, and salt not letting it sit on the ceramic coating and wearing it away under the sun. 

The beauty with ceramic coating is it helps to reduce the amount of washing needed because of the hydrophobic properties it helps to repel the elements easier.

The Regiment

Now that you have an understanding of what you should and shouldn’t be doing when it comes to keeping your beautifully ceramic coated boat looking great. Let’s unlock how to maintain its hydrophobic properties.

Start simple, rinse the boat regularly. Marinas, boatyards, etc are dirty there’s a lot of airborne contaminants floating around that will land on the boat and rain will help them drip all over your boat. 

Keeping the boat clean is the first and most common start to maintaining the ceramic coating on your boat. Allowing dirt and debris to stay on for extended periods will hurt the coating in the long run.

With its self-cleaning properties, you don’t have to put much effort into cleaning normal wear and tear. Simply rinse the boat down well, to get the dirt and debris off the boat. You’ll see just how this self-cleaning aspect works when the dirt effortlessly comes right off. Then chamois the boat down and you’re all set. 

Frequency we recommend to rinse your boat: weekly 

Washing the boat on a schedule. You still need to wash your boat even though the ceramic coating is self-cleaning. Using the correct soaps is required because the wrong soaps will harm the coating.

We prefer to use our soap Bubble Bath for two reasons. First, because it smells awesome and has deep cleaning powers. Secondly, and more importantly it is infused with SiO2 the active ingredient in our ceramic coating. In turn, this helps to reinforce the strength of the coating to your boat.

If you don’t want to use Bubble Bath, that’s cool to! Then just use a simple boat wash. No Wash and waxes, please! As mentioned above they will clog the pores in the ceramic on the boat and cause it to have a reduced hydrophobic effect. 

Frequency we recommend washing your ceramic coated boat: every other week unless you see the need to wash more frequently.

Using a Silica Spray regularly. We like using a silica spray monthly. Its an easy on easy off product that enhances the gloss, has glass like hardness and will reinforce the boats coating. 

This product also contains SiO2 like our soap. A silica spray will help to maintain the ceramic coatings hydrophobic properties and ensure areas such as brows are beading as they should. It doesn’t take long to go around the boat and apply this. It’s similar to a spray wax. 

Frequency: Monthly

A Ceramic Spray Coating is another product we use but not as frequently. This is a semi-annual product we use. We have taken our 9h ceramic coating solar defense and changed the viscosity to make it sprayable. 

Solar glow is a 9h spray which is the ultimate way to recharge the ceramic coating on your boat when needed. When the boat begins to lose some hydrophobic properties we step in and revitalize the coating with a little bit more oomph than a silica spray. This is the best way to ensure you keep the coating intact by applying a quick application over the boats coating and reinforce the ceramic to the surface of the boat.

Frequency: Every 3-4months 

There you have it in not so many words the proper steps to keeping a boat which is ceramic coated looking and acting like it was freshly installed month after month. Go enjoy your easily cleanable boat that will shine and repel dirt and stains for months to come. Have fun boating!