Pressure Washer Suitability

[Peugeot 106]

I’m planning to get a cheap pressure washer to get the greenery off my boat after winter. Non slip gunwales, window surrounds, tonneau cover etc. I’ve been looking at a Karcher K2 Basic £69 B&Q.

It comes with 

Dirt Blaster and Nozzle

G120 Q High Pressure Gun

Are these the guns/ nozzles I need are are there some others I should be looking at? It’s for use in the marina so 240 volts is no problem. I realise the cordless ones are good for a quick clean on the cut or getting tree gum off but the muck on mine is too deeply ingrained. 
Any comments or recommendations will be gratefully received. Thank You

 

 

 

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Set yourself up at locks and have a small team to clean boats as they pass. 

top tip: start at the gunnels so as the boat gets lower…

you get the idea 👍

 

..or of course the top as the boat rises 

[LadyG]

21 minutes ago, Peugeot 106 said:

I’m planning to get a cheap pressure washer to get the greenery off my boat after winter. Non slip gunwales, window surrounds, tonneau cover etc. I’ve been looking at a Karcher K2 Basic £69 B&Q.

It comes with 

Dirt Blaster and Nozzle

G120 Q High Pressure Gun

Are these the guns/ nozzles I need are are there some others I should be looking at? It’s for use in the marina so 240 volts is no problem. I realise the cordless ones are good for a quick clean on the cut or getting tree gum off but the muck on mine is too deeply ingrained. 
Any comments or recommendations will be gratefully received. Thank You

 

 

 

 

I don't know about washers, but what I'd do is to strip off as much as can be cleaned ashore, particularly canvas, ropes etc. Give the boat a power wash or hose, then use brushes of all sorts and sizes with a bucket of a suitable detergent, warm.

The standard chemicals are likely to be very hazardous to fish, which is one reason to be very careful.

Depending in the gel coat or paint finish I'd use a bristle deck brush, and hand brushes to get in to nooks and crannies plus old toothbrushes

The autogleam products get a good review, but again, use as little as possible. Obviously depends on the the boat, but I dont think you'll save a great deal of time with a washer, you still have to finish by hand.

PS if planning on power washing in the marina, move the boat to an isolated area.

Edited March 8 by LadyG

[Peugeot 106]

21 minutes ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Set yourself up at locks and have a small team to clean boats as they pass. 

top tip: start at the gunnels so as the boat gets lower…

you get the idea 👍

 

..or of course the top as the boat rises 

I’m retired and don’t intend ever again to do any more work or exams. Enough is enough!

[Momac]

 

I recently did  a wash while the boat was  ashore with assistance from various brushes , a mop and microfibre  cloths .

I also used some  Demon Foam  mixed with plenty of water  which worked very well at dissolving muck from being ashore near trees . Brushing into the slip resistant surfaces  was necessary but the foam had done it work and the dirt lifted easily.

Some folks may worry about the  foam in the aquatic environment in which case the cleaning product may be used sparingly.

 

If you use  a jet wash then be prepared to clean the adjacent boats in the marina of all the muck that you may blast onto them. 

 

 

[Machpoint005]

If the OP is looking for a cheap pressure washer he'd do well to forget the fancy Kaercher stuff and get a decent Chinese knock-off instead. B&Q do a decent MacAllister one, better spec than the Kaercher model for similar money. I've had one for a couple of years.

 

I wouldn't use it on a boat, though: it's too easy to strip old paint with it.

 

 

[ditchcrawler]

I saw a chap on the Ashby making a good job of his textured roof with battery powered pressure washed and canal water 

[Machpoint005]

12 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I saw a chap on the Ashby making a good job of his textured roof with battery powered pressure washed and canal water 

 

Was he stripping it or painting it?

😀

 

[Peugeot 106]

13 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I saw a chap on the Ashby making a good job of his textured roof with battery powered pressure washed and canal water 

I’m coming round to thinking one of those may be a good idea. I saw a few boats using them last summer (including in a very crowded Paddington Basin). They actually seemed quite good and were really handy for washing muck off while travelling. I use a mop dipped into the canal when travelling but it doesn’t get into the nooks and crannies. My finish is workmanlike rather than polished but there are times when it gets covered in tree gum, dust, bird poo etc. I’m thinking that maybe a corded one could be too aggressive for most of the boat. 

 

13 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

If the OP is looking for a cheap pressure washer he'd do well to forget the fancy Kaercher stuff and get a decent Chinese knock-off instead. B&Q do a decent MacAllister one, better spec than the Kaercher model for similar money. I've had one for a couple of years.

 

I wouldn't use it on a boat, though: it's too easy to strip old paint with it.

 

 

Thanks for that I did look at the K2 and McAllister ones in B&Q. I’m glad I didn’t buy one as I’m now tempted by a cordless one for the reasons above 

Tap 2 Bar

Cordless 20 Bar

corded 100 Bar

14 hours ago, LadyG said:

I don't know about washers, but what I'd do is to strip off as much as can be cleaned ashore, particularly canvas, ropes etc. Give the boat a power wash or hose, then use brushes of all sorts and sizes with a bucket of a suitable detergent, warm.

The standard chemicals are likely to be very hazardous to fish, which is one reason to be very careful.

Depending in the gel coat or paint finish I'd use a bristle deck brush, and hand brushes to get in to nooks and crannies plus old toothbrushes

The autogleam products get a good review, but again, use as little as possible. Obviously depends on the the boat, but I dont think you'll save a great deal of time with a washer, you still have to finish by hand.

PS if planning on power washing in the marina, move the boat to an isolated area.

I use the Ecoworks cleaner which is incredibly expensive but not hazardous to marine life. 

[blackrose]

14 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

I wouldn't use it on a boat, though: it's too easy to strip old paint with it.

 

 

Yes that's the concern with using a pressure washer, but it should be fine as long as you keep the end of the lance a couple of feet away from the surface you're cleaning and remember to keep it at an angle. If you go in at 90 degrees and get it too close you even run the risk of stripping new paintwork.

[ditchcrawler]

6 hours ago, Machpoint005 said:

 

Was he stripping it or painting it?

😀

 

Just cleaning it. I think it would be a very poor paint job if it stripped it, even the high pressure one at Northwich wont strip sound paint off 

Edited March 9 by ditchcrawler
Spilling

[Rincewind]

On 08/03/2024 at 19:48, Peugeot 106 said:

I’m planning to get a cheap pressure washer to get the greenery off my boat after winter. Non slip gunwales, window surrounds, tonneau cover etc. I’ve been looking at a Karcher K2 Basic £69 B&Q.

I have used a Karcher with the Patio cleaning attachment on the roof of my boat with great results, cleans all the green muck out of the non slip sand surface with no elbow grease required.

[LEO]

13 hours ago, Rincewind said:

I have used a Karcher with the Patio cleaning attachment on the roof of my boat with great results, cleans all the green muck out of the non slip sand surface with no elbow grease required.

Also good for conservatory roofs. Use it conjunction with a Karcher extending lance, can reach up to soffitts on houses.

[Sea Dog]

Have you considered a cordless one? My son bought one from Screwfix or Toolstation for around £100 during a long hose pipe ban in Devon. Using it with a mains water pressure connection isn't far off a low end Karcher performance wise, but is a little more gentle sucking from a bucket. This might be much more suitable for boat use, both for freedom from mains electricity and mains water requirement and by being kinder to softer boat paintwork, window seals, canvas, etc. Haven't tried it myself yet, but it's on my to do list for spring.

[blackrose]

20 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

Using it with a mains water pressure connection isn't far off a low end Karcher performance wise, but is a little more gentle sucking from a bucket. 

 

Can any of these small pressure washers actually suck water up from a container (or a waterway notwithstanding weeds)? 

 

I've never tried it myself but I just assumed they needed to be fed pressurised water?

[Sea Dog]

19 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Can any of these small pressure washers actually suck water up from a container (or a waterway notwithstanding weeds)? 

 

I've never tried it myself but I just assumed they needed to be fed pressurised water?

The cordless one my son bought works on either a pick up from a container (or canal if you're on one and brave enough I suppose) or connected to a mains fed hose. As I said, it was bought for use in a hosepipe ban. It's more powerful when connected to a mains pressure hose, but perhaps that extra power is unnecessary or even undesirable for our application. 

Edited March 10 by Sea Dog
Missed a bit

[blackrose]

Interestingly in some European countries the term Kärcher is used as a verb for pressure washing, in the same way many people in this country use the brand name Hoover as a verb for vacuum cleaning.

 

In Germany I think it's pronounced more like "Gercher" rather than our UK mispronunciation "Karcher". Apparently it was also Chas & Dave's favourite brand of pressure washer.

 

 

 

 

[Sea Dog]

1 minute ago, blackrose said:

Apparently it was also Chas & Dave's favourite brand of pressure washer.

I don't care... I don't care...

[ditchcrawler]

33 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

Can any of these small pressure washers actually suck water up from a container (or a waterway notwithstanding weeds)? 

 

I've never tried it myself but I just assumed they needed to be fed pressurised water?

I posted about the guy on the Ashby using canal water and a battery pressure washer. You could of course connect it to one of the taps in the boat. I have hot and cold bib taps in the engine room.

[blackrose]

Just now, ditchcrawler said:

I posted about the guy on the Ashby using canal water and a battery pressure washer. You could of course connect it to one of the taps in the boat. I have hot and cold bib taps in the engine room.

 

Thanks, I'll try running mine using river water sometime. I can't imagine my little freshwater pump being able to keep up with the demand of a pressure washer but I guess it just supplies what it can and the pressure delivery of the washer reduces accordingly?

[Rincewind]

7 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I posted about the guy on the Ashby using canal water and a battery pressure washer. You could of course connect it to one of the taps in the boat. I have hot and cold bib taps in the engine room.

 

3 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Thanks, I'll try running mine using river water sometime. I can't imagine my little freshwater pump being able to keep up with the demand of a pressure washer but I guess it just supplies what it can and the pressure delivery of the washer reduces accordingly?

 

Mine does, keeps the washer supplied without reduction in output pressure but empties the tank faster than normal! 

[ditchcrawler]

We use to have the Karcher pressure washers offshore on out unmanned platforms for cleaning and they picked up sea water from a 205 lt barrel  stood beside it as we had no fresh water onboard.

[Peugeot 106]

2 hours ago, Sea Dog said:

Have you considered a cordless one? My son bought one from Screwfix or Toolstation for around £100 during a long hose pipe ban in Devon. Using it with a mains water pressure connection isn't far off a low end Karcher performance wise, but is a little more gentle sucking from a bucket. This might be much more suitable for boat use, both for freedom from mains electricity and mains water requirement and by being kinder to softer boat paintwork, window seals, canvas, etc. Haven't tried it myself yet, but it's on my to do list for spring.

Interesting. I’ve only seen them sucking out of the canal. I didn’t realise you could connect to mains water which would be handy for more pressure in the marina to clean the grime out of the non slip on the gunwales once a year.
I think I need to find out if my 12v 350W Sterling ProPower Q Quasi Sine Wave Inverter is man enough to charge the 20V lithium battery?

[jeanb]

I'm thinking of purchasing a cordless pressure washer, using canal water, for our narrowboat as increasing decrepitude is causing me some problems using the usual brush and bucket and I'm finding it difficult reaching across the roof. B&Q and Screwfix have them but does anyone have any other suggestions/recommendations please? Thanks.

[ditchcrawler]

A facebook posting last week

 

The decks and roof have filth from mud ground into the rough, non-slip paint.

I can scrub with a brush on a drill, but climbing up and down to fill a watering can in the cut to rinse off is a killer, and it's a very big roof.

I managed to find a cordless pressure washer on Amazon with a hose that I can dangle in the cut. Difficult delivery as too big for their lockers, so had to wait til I could moor near a road for the driver to find the boat. That was one job to be done today - except the washer won't suck water, so now I have the task of an awkward return for refund.