Mobile Boat Detailing in Raleigh, NC

Boat detailing is the full restoration and protection of a boat's exposed surfaces, and it is a different job from a wash. It covers the hull and topsides, the waterline, the deck including non-skid areas, and the soft surfaces: vinyl seating, canvas and clear windows. The core of it is gelcoat work, because gelcoat is what fails first on a boat that lives outdoors, and correcting it is what returns the finish rather than cleaning it.

It is quoted per boat, driven by length and by how far the gelcoat has oxidized. A covered boat that has been maintained is a straightforward wash and protect. A boat that has sat uncovered for several summers needs machine correction across every exposed surface, and that is where the hours go. Send photos and the length and we will quote the actual boat rather than an average one.

Gelcoat is a pigmented resin surface rather than paint, and sunlight breaks down its outer layer until it goes porous and chalky. The test is to run a finger along the hull; if color comes away, the surface has oxidized. It is corrected by machine, cutting back the dead layer until sound resin is exposed and then refining it until it reflects. Once oxidation has gone deep enough that machine correction cannot bring the color back, that is a refinishing job rather than a detailing one, and we will tell you which side of that line a hull is on from photographs.

We come to the boat. We carry our own water and power, so a trailered boat can be detailed where it is parked, at home or at a storage lot, with nothing to arrange in advance. Tell us where the boat is kept, including whether it sits at a marina slip, when you send photos, and we will confirm access before booking.

Usually, and it is treated separately from the wash. That brown or yellow band is mineral and organic staining that has bonded into porous gelcoat, so it does not respond to the soap that cleans the rest of the hull. It is worked on its own before any correction begins. How completely it clears depends on how long it has been there and how porous the gelcoat underneath has become.

This service covers the hull above the waterline, the deck and the soft surfaces, not the bottom of the hull below it. It is worth asking about specifically when you get in touch, because bottom work and topside detailing are different jobs and boat owners often assume one quote covers both. We will be clear about what is included before anything is booked.

Once a season suits most boats in this climate, timed either before the boat goes back in the water or before it is put away for winter. What matters more than the interval is whether the boat is covered between uses and whether there is protection on the gelcoat, because an unprotected hull chalks again from the first sunny stretch regardless of how well it was corrected.

No. That is fiberglass repair rather than detailing, and it is a different trade. Polishing around damage makes the rest of the hull look considerably better and leaves the crack exactly where it was. We will tell you from photos which of the two you are looking at, so you are not paying us for work that will not solve the thing bothering you.