Boat Maintenance Made Easy by Boatdacious

Total Score: 8.16 -GREAT

Introduction: At the end of the day there is no bigger job of a boat owner than maintaining our gear. It's generally the side of the sport that no one even realizes until they take on the responsibility of caring for a fiberglass boat. As a guide here in Orlando, Florida this is a process that is repeated 300 times a year as I pull my boat out of the water at the end of each trip. Enter Patrick Tryon from BOATDACIOUS Advanced Boat Cleaning Systems out of Ramona, CA. Would anyone be surprised to see a company out of the West Coast leading the way in an outdoor category? After years of fine tuning their products they came out with BOATDACIOUS in 2009 designed as an advanced boat cleaning system with products that cover your boat from top to bottom to help maintain a showroom look.

Field Tests: I used these products for three or four months at the beginning of 2010 to get a true gauge of their effectiveness and overall usability. It would be beneficial for readers to know that my personal search for a quality and effective boat cleaning product has been a long one. In Florida we have what I would consider to be harsh water especially on Lake Toho where I guide. If you are not able to keep up with the bottom part of your hull here it will not be long before it turns an orange-ish color. So, this was a great product for me to test considering after working 40 days straight I do tend to miss a few days of wiping my boat down. My boat is also an older boat and therefore requires a product that does more than look shiny when you first put it on.

The Boatdacious One Step Detailer offers UV protection for your boat.

The products tested were the BOATDACIOUS Boat Soap, One Step Detailer, Vinyl Cleaner, and Vinyl Conditioner. First up was the boat cleaner which was very impressive from the start especially with the size of the bottle. The directions recommend using a desired amount but for these tests two capfuls were used in a 3 gallon bucket. When adding water the soap lathered up very well and using a two sided armorall sponge did a great job at removing any dirt that was on the hull. Rinsing was very easy and left no residue afterwards. At 32 oz you are definitely getting your money's worth and then some. The only downside would have to be that at this point Boatdacious does not offer a cleaning sponge for use with their product. Maybe this will be something to look forward to in the future.

The Boatdacious Vinyl Conditioner offers UV protection for the vinyl surfaces of your boat ...

Next up was the One Step Detailer. Compared to other one step type detailers I have used in the past I have to give Boatdacious an above average review. Previous detailers used would only coat the hull for a few hours and then the hull would feel untreated. Boatdacious left a coat that lasted for days and made cleaning the boat at the end of the day very easy. In this part of the test I would have to say it performed very well in regards to its ability to provide protection from UV damage and oxidation leaving a good coat on the hull after use.

While the cleaner cleans and prepares your vinyl surfaces for the conditioner.

On a new hull these signs may not be as obvious but mine being an older boat, the difference is very easy to see vs other hull detailers. The only downside I saw with the detailer was how well it cleaned the boat. This is not necessarily a bad thing because using harsh chemicals on your boat over time can do serious damage. If you live outside of Florida this product probably will perform as advertised.

The Boatdacious Boat Soap is an effective cleaner for hull.

Finally, the Vinyl Cleaner and Vinyl Conditioner were tested on the seats and console area. Probably the biggest surprise in performance was the Vinyl Cleaner because results were immediate and easy to see. The vinyl cleaner immediately lessened up water stains, mildew and dirt making it easy to wipe clean with a cloth. From the Boatdacious Website "BOATDACIOUS Vinyl Cleaner is the most effective, best working, easiest to use vinyl cleaner on the market. Specially formulated to remove dirt and oily build-up from those long days on the water, our exclusive blend emulsifies the contaminants bringing them to the surface for easy removal with a clean towel."

The Boatdacious suite of boat care products.

This description is spot on with my results but this wasn't the surprise. Because of the age of my boat I am having a tough time getting grease and dirt off so I decided to try the vinyl cleaner on my hull to see its effectiveness and if it would be as harsh as other hull cleaners. In the past I have used magic eraser which after seeing the damage it has done to my boat I would not recommend anyone use it on their boat. The vinyl cleaner did not appear to have the harsh chemicals that magic eraser has so I wanted to see its effectiveness on the hull. Who knew but it did the job better than any other cleaner I have used before and did not seem as harsh. I wouldn't recommend trying this on a new boat because of how much repairing the paint on your boat can cost. Ultimately, keeping up with cleaning your boat when it comes out of the water is the best recommendation with regular waxing to protect the gel coat. The Vinyl conditioner was the last to test and it also performed well as advertised. At this point I cannot give a downside because only long term use would reveal the effect using the cleaner has on the vinyl seats. Most boat manufacturers do not recommend using any type of chemicals on the seats so check with yours before using any.

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