What we do to a vessel.
From a weekly wash-down to full compound, polish and coating, dockside, at your slip.
Exterior Wash-Down
Salt, sand and airborne grime removed with marine-safe soaps and soft media, including the rinse-and-dry that stops water spotting.
Compound & Polish
Oxidised gelcoat cut back and refinished in stages to restore genuine depth instead of masking the surface with filler wax.
Ceramic Coating
A durable protective layer over corrected gelcoat so the next season's salt and UV have something to attack besides your finish.
Bright Work & Metals
Stainless, chrome and rails polished and protected, with attention to the fasteners and welds where corrosion actually begins.
Interior Detail
Upholstery, headliner, galley and heads cleaned and conditioned, with real attention to the humidity that lives below deck.
Teak & Deck Care
Teak cleaned, brightened and sealed with the grain, not scrubbed across it, the difference between decades and seasons.
A finish is maintained, not rescued.
Every hull we've ever had to fully compound was a hull that went too long between washes. Regular, unglamorous maintenance costs a fraction of correction and keeps the vessel looking like it's cared for, because it is.
We come to your slip, no haul-out required for most work
Marina-approved, environmentally responsible products
Scheduled programmes or one-off detailing
Gelcoat corrected in stages, not buried under wax
Sail and power, tenders to sportfish
Exterior Wash-DownSalt, sand and airborne grime removed with marine-safe soaps and soft media, including the rinse-and-dry that stops water spotting.
Compound & PolishOxidised gelcoat cut back and refinished in stages to restore genuine depth instead of masking the surface with filler wax.
Ceramic CoatingA durable protective layer over corrected gelcoat so the next season's salt and UV have something to attack besides your finish.
Dockside serviceWash, correction, coating and interior work performed in the water at your slip.
Marina-approved productsEnvironmentally responsible products that comply with the rules of the marinas we work in.
How the job actually runs.
Walk the vessel
We assess the finish honestly, including where it's fine as-is.
Scope the work
What needs correction, what needs maintenance, what can wait.
Work the slip
Done at the dock, on a schedule that suits your use of the boat.
Protect it
Coating or wax applied so the work lasts past the first weekend.
Who does the work.
Detail Lead
Assesses gelcoat honestly and works correction in stages, rather than burying a tired surface under filler wax for a weekend.
Wash Crew
Handles scheduled wash-downs including the rinse and dry that prevents water spotting, the unglamorous work that preserves a finish.
Bright Work & Teak
Polishes and protects stainless and chrome, and cleans and seals teak with the grain to preserve soft grain rather than scrub it away.
0DOCKSIDE SERVICE
0HAUL-OUT NEEDED
0SCHEDULING
0CREW PER VESSEL
What customers actually say.
"We brought our 92-ft Viking in for a pre-tournament detail in Stuart. They had her stripped, polished, and ceramic-coated in three days. Owner couldn't believe it was the same boat."
Capt. Mike R., Stuart, FL
"Fort Lauderdale, pre-show detail on a 108-ft motor yacht. Marina HOA was strict on noise and water reclaim. These guys handled all of it. Sold the boat the second day."
Paula E., Fort Lauderdale, FL
"Teak deck on our 65-ft sailing yacht looked tired and gray. They didn't flood the seams, didn't over-sand, honey color came back beautifully."
Jen R., Verified Customer
Marinas we work.
Fort LauderdaleLas OlasPier 66Bahia MarHollywoodDania BeachAventuraHallandaleMiami BeachSunny IslesBoca RatonDelray BeachPompano BeachLighthouse PointHillsboroPalm Beach
Straight answers.
Do you need the boat hauled out?
For the great majority of detailing work, no. Wash-downs, compound and polish, coating, bright work and interior detailing are all done in the water at your slip.
How often should a vessel be detailed?
Regular washing is what preserves a finish; correction is what you pay for when washing was skipped. A maintained wash schedule with periodic protection costs a fraction of a full compound, and the vessel simply looks cared for year-round.
What is the difference between wax and a ceramic coating?
Wax is a sacrificial layer measured in weeks under Florida sun and salt. A ceramic coating is a harder, longer-lived protective layer applied over corrected gelcoat. Coating costs more up front and lasts substantially longer.
My gelcoat is chalky and dull. Is it finished?
Usually not. Oxidation is a surface condition and, provided there is enough gelcoat thickness left, staged compounding and polishing brings genuine depth back. We assess honestly, including telling you when a surface is too far gone to correct.
Do you work on teak?
Yes. Cleaned and brightened with the grain and sealed appropriately. Aggressive across-grain scrubbing removes soft grain and shortens the life of the deck considerably.
Why South Florida is harder on a finish than almost anywhere else.
A vessel sitting at a slip in Fort Lauderdale, Miami or Palm Beach is not sitting still in any meaningful sense. Salt aerosol rides the onshore breeze off the Atlantic and settles on every horizontal and near-horizontal surface, and it does this whether the boat moved that week or not. Add subtropical UV that runs close to overhead for most of the year, humidity that rarely drops below the point where surfaces stay damp overnight, and afternoon thunderstorms that mix fresh rainwater with salt residue into a mildly corrosive film, and you have conditions that would be considered extreme almost anywhere else in the country. Boats kept in the Pacific Northwest or New England see a real off season where the gelcoat, metal and teak simply rest. In South Florida there is no off season. The attack is constant, twelve months a year, and it does not pause for a busy month or a owner's vacation.
Wind direction plays a bigger role in this than most owners realize. A slip that catches a steady onshore breeze off open water takes a heavier, more constant salt load than one tucked behind a seawall or a row of taller vessels that block direct spray. Boats on an outer face of a marina, closer to an inlet or a fuel dock with more open water exposure, generally need a tighter wash interval than an identical boat sitting two rows further inside the same marina. This is one of the reasons a generic, one-size-fits-all interval printed on a brochure is less useful than an assessment of where a specific vessel actually sits.
This is the reason a wash-down schedule matters so much more here than the marketing language around it usually suggests. Salt is hygroscopic, meaning it pulls moisture out of the air and stays damp on a surface long after a splash has dried. A film of salt sitting on gelcoat under direct sun does two things at once: it holds moisture against the surface and it concentrates UV exposure into micro-abrasive crystal structures that etch the clear coat on a microscopic level every single day. None of this is visible on day one. By month three or four, a hull that has gone without regular washing starts to show a dullness that no amount of wiping restores, because the damage isn't sitting on top of the gelcoat anymore, it's embedded in the first few microns of it.
What oxidation actually is, and why staged correction works.
Gelcoat is a resin layer, not paint, and it does not fail the way an automotive clear coat fails. Oxidation is the slow breakdown of the resin's outer molecular structure under UV exposure, which is why a chalky, dull hull rubs a white residue onto a rag, that residue is degraded resin, not just surface dirt. Left alone, this degraded layer keeps growing deeper, which is why a hull that goes two or three years without attention eventually reaches a point where compounding removes so much material that the pigment layer underneath becomes visible, and at that point no amount of polishing brings the color back.
Light oxidation responds to a single compounding pass and a finishing polish
Moderate oxidation needs staged cutting, working from an aggressive compound down to a fine polish
Heavy oxidation may need wet-sanding before compounding is even useful
Beyond a certain point, correction becomes cosmetic rather than restorative
Assess honestlyWe tell you when a hull is a maintenance job versus a correction job before any compound touches the surface.
Work in stagesAggressive cut only where needed, finishing polish everywhere, so the surface doesn't get thinned unevenly.
Protect what's correctedA freshly compounded surface is more vulnerable to salt and UV until it's sealed, so protection follows immediately.
Building a wash schedule that actually matches how the boat is used.
There is no single correct interval for washing a vessel, because the right schedule depends on how the boat sits and how it's used, not on a generic rule of thumb. A sailboat on a mooring ball with no bimini shade takes more direct salt exposure on deck than a flybridge motor yacht tucked under a marina slip's covered dockage. A boat that runs offshore weekly gets a heavier salt load from spray than one that sits quietly at the dock all month. Wet season in South Florida, roughly June through October, brings near-daily afternoon rain that at least rinses some salt off passively, while the dry season winter months can go weeks with nothing but dew and aerosol settling undisturbed.
As a practical starting point, most owners who keep a boat at a South Florida marina full time do best with a wash-down every one to two weeks, with bright work and glass getting attention every visit and a full compound-and-polish evaluated once or twice a year depending on how the gelcoat is holding up. Boats that go weeks between uses, whether because the owner is traveling or the season is slow, still need attention, since standing salt and humidity below deck cause damage whether or not anyone is aboard to notice it. A scheduled program removes the guesswork, and because it's priced as an ongoing arrangement rather than negotiated fresh every visit, it tends to be the more economical route over a full season compared to calling only when the boat already looks tired.
Metals, teak and the parts of the boat that get overlooked.
Stainless steel on a boat is not actually stain-less in the marine environment, it is stain-resistant, and the distinction matters because the failure mode people call rust bloom or tea staining almost always starts in the same three places: crevices where two pieces of metal meet and trap moisture, the heat-affected zone right next to a weld where the metal's chromium content was disturbed by heat, and any spot where a fastener or bracket creates a shadow that never fully dries. Polishing the visible face of a stainless rail looks good for a season but does nothing for the corrosion starting in the places nobody wipes down. A proper bright work pass works those crevices deliberately, and a protective sealant afterward slows the next cycle of attack rather than just making the surface shine for the next rain.
Teak decking fails for the opposite reason people usually assume. It's not the sun that kills a teak deck fastest, it's aggressive scrubbing across the grain, which strips the softer spring-growth wood between the harder grain lines and leaves a rippled, prematurely aged surface that no amount of oil or sealant reverses. Teak wants to be cleaned along the grain, with the gentlest method that gets the job done, and it wants a sealer chosen for the specific look the owner wants, whether that's a natural silver-gray patina maintained with minimal intervention or a warm honey tone maintained with regular oiling. Down below, cabin humidity in a boat that sits closed up in South Florida heat creates the conditions mildew needs, which is why interior detailing isn't a cosmetic afterthought, it's part of protecting the vessel's structure and air quality both.
What actually matters when choosing who touches your boat.
It also matters whether the same person or crew returns visit to visit. A detailer who's worked a boat before knows where the old scratches are, which stainless fitting has a stubborn water spot that needs a second pass, and how the owner likes the teak finished. That continuity is worth more than it sounds like on paper, because it means less time re-explaining preferences and fewer surprises about how a particular vessel behaves during a compound job.
Ask, too, about how a detailer handles water during a wash-down. Some marinas restrict runoff, requiring biodegradable soaps and a controlled rinse rather than an open hose left running over the side. A crew that already works within those boundaries as a matter of habit, rather than needing to be corrected by a dockmaster, is a reasonable proxy for how carefully they'll treat the rest of the vessel too. Small habits like this, capturing wash water responsibly, keeping tools off gelcoat, walking the deck in soft-soled shoes, tend to correlate with the same attention to detail that shows up in the finished surface.
Wet season, dry season, and storm season all treat a hull differently.
South Florida's wet season runs roughly from late spring through the fall and brings frequent, short, intense afternoon downpours. Owners sometimes assume this rain does the washing for them, but rainwater mixed with settled salt and airborne particulate actually leaves its own spotting on glass and gelcoat once it evaporates, especially on a hull that hasn't been rinsed in a while. The dry season winter months bring lower humidity swings and stronger, more consistent breeze off the water, which increases salt aerosol deposition even without a drop of rain falling. Each season calls for a slightly different rhythm rather than a single fixed interval applied all year.
Storm season adds another layer that has nothing to do with cosmetic detailing but everything to do with protecting the investment. A vessel that goes into a storm with a fresh coat of protection on the gelcoat and clean, dry canvas and covers is simply better positioned to come through cleanup with less staining and less standing salt residue baked into the finish by the time the owner can get back to the boat. None of this replaces an owner's own storm plan for lines, fenders and haul-out decisions, but a boat that was already on a maintenance rhythm before the weather turned is easier and faster to bring back to standard afterward.
Let's look at the vessel.
An honest assessment at your slip and a scope that matches how you actually use the boat.
How a first call usually goes
Most owners start with a short phone call. Tell us the vessel type, the length, where it is berthed, and what you are seeing: dull gelcoat, rust bleed under rails, gray teak, or a salon that smells of damp. From that conversation we can say which service fits, whether a visit to the boat is needed first, and how the work would be scheduled around your marina rules.
Quotes are given by phone only. Larger jobs such as full correction or coating usually need a look at the vessel before a number is discussed, and any service call charge is explained on the call before anyone is sent. Have the marina name, slip or dock number, and any access instructions ready, along with any past work you know of, such as earlier coatings or sealers, because that changes how the surface is prepared.
If you are not sure what the boat needs, describe it and ask. A good detailer would rather advise a simple wash program than sell a coating the surface is not ready for. Call when you are ready and we will go through it together.
Describe the situation by phone and we will tell you what the job involves. Quotes are given by phone. Jobs that cannot be quoted without seeing them need a technician on site, and the service call charge is explained on the phone before anyone is dispatched.
(954) 719-3572