Eco Boat washing service business idea. Opinions gratefully received.

[keep-on-keepin-on]

Hello All, I am new to the forum, although have spent many nights going through the endless information available on previous posts. I moved on to the canal about 6 months ago. I’m currently on the lea near hackney and plan to stay around London. Unfortunately the honey moon has to end I am now in search of employment. I would like to run an idea by you and welcome any input

I come from the automotive refinishing and custom paint (airbrushing) industry. I also offered A range of paint restoration/correction, machine polishing and valet services. I’m moving away from paint for a while as its was effecting my health.

Since living on the canal I can’t help notice that most boat on the water are in desperate need of a through wash. I see some really expensive boats that have been left for so long that its not going to be long before there looking at a new paint job.

I have done some research and am finding mad prices like £5 per for a basic exterior clean. That’s madness considering you can have several blokes go at your car with mirco fibers for a fiver.

Although I understand that many boaters enjoy and want to clean their own boat and also many boaters just don’t care. I was wondering if a boat washing service that is reasonably priced and tailored to the boaters needs could be a good part time income.

I would be offering low cost basic washes for boaters on a budget. using the latest eco marine products. And I would be trailering the kit on bike.

Extras can include stern boards engine room or what ever the customer wants pressure washing.

I could also offer more in-depth paint restoration, colour rejuvenation ,polishing services if there was the demand.

So in brief! Your boats filthy, a chap comes past your boat with petrol pressure washer taking filtered water from the canal. He has a good understanding of how to treat your paint and isn’t going to blast wildly at your window seals chipped paint etc. And while his very excited puppy is trying to lick your face off, he offers to thoroughly clean your boat exterior for £20ish to save yourself the back ache, is it a goer?

Any comments would be great Cheers Rich

[Boat&Bikes]

Problem with this is that I have found boaters on the whole to be very careful with their money.

 

ian

[BlueStringPudding]

Sounds like a great idea. However to wash both sides the boat owner has to be able to take the boat through however many locks to a winding hole, turn it round and moor up again. That might get a bit less convenient unless people want half a clean boat. Or unless you position yourself near a winding hole or pontoons.

[Alan de Enfield]

How far North will you go - my £20 is awaiting collection

[the barnacle]

it might be ok for the odd boat but i would of thought making use with your painting and airbrushing skills would be more profitable, can you not do this in the open air to avoid health problems - as you have said boaters like to wash there own and those that dont might not care, however i think maybe there is a market - the problem is is it big enough for you to live on and you would need to travel to marinas - could you do a valeting service - maybe hitting the boat share boaters? as i would think this is who would want a clean boat before there arrival and not want to polish it but enjoy there weeks afloat.

[Bod]

Might be an opportunity, with your background, in paint work tidying, on boats for sale.

I know you wanted out from the paint, but this would be only small touch up/good polish work.

If you were prepared to travel, there are large quantities of boats crying out for this in the midlands. (thinking of one not far from Long Buckby)

Anybody considers "I can wash my boat". When it comes to large areas of dull paint work, the attitude changes to "thats bl***ly hard work"

 

Bod

[Paul's Nulife4-2]

Hello & Welcome to the Fourm.

Really good idea I like it,

One point that you may want to consider is insurance for the times that a Customer is going to say stuff like

My Solar panal wasn't cracked before you started, Or My VHF Areal wasn't Broke, or My Horn worked fine ect ect. You know what I mean.

[FidoDido]

Tis a good idea. I'd pay £20 every couple of months, as I'm very busy, and its one less thing to do..

 

There are various people around who offer this service within marinas, but not any that do online moorers, at least in the midlands area, that I know of..

[luctor et emergo]

How far North will you go - my £20 is awaiting collection

 

I'm in Wakefield tonight, where do I collect the £20?

[tree monkey]

£20 to wash a boat, are you sure that pricing is right, i would imagine the price would be based on length but even on a 40ft boat i would suggest £20 is cheap.

 

Look at it this way

 

travel

petrol for jet wash, plus of course servicing filters oil etc

wash fluid

wax

insurance (maybe?)

odds and sods, eg. washing cloths buckets

 

and then of course your time, when i wash mine it takes about an hour a side and a bit more for the roof, i would expect at least to clear £20 an hour for it to become worth while

 

Don't get me wrong i would pay for a service like this, i hate washing my boat, but seriously £20?

 

Good luck with you plan and if i ever see you around count me in as a customer

[Wanted]

I'd happily pay it! Good idea

[Dave_P]

I'm in Birmingham. My boat is 55'. Will you come and remove all my roof junk (half hour), wash my boat (2 hours), rinse my boat (half hour), wax my boat (6 hours), and return items to roof (half hour) for £20? If so, how do I make a booking?

 

p.s. My boat is filthy :-)

[muddywaters]

Just trying to be realistic here and tell it how it is.

But when I get my boat ho,pefully some time in the near future, I intend cleaning it myself

[roland elsdon]

Why would you wash the boat when a) it's in primer and it's covered in cr*p on the roof?

[Ally]

I'd pay £20, but I think it sounds a highly unrealistic price. Though...pressure wash....what happens if you're asked to do a boat with chips or flakes of paint?

I'd encourage insurance!

[FidoDido]

I wouldn't want pressure wash.. windows will leak, soft paint will be torn from undercoat.. Go with a sponge and a bucket..

 

Dave_P - 2 hours to wash your boat, and 6 to wax it?? Blimey.. At 40 minutes to wash my 70ft boat, and a further hour to wax / polish off, its a once a year only job.. Which is why I have the joy of repainting it this year.. which will take many, many hours of my time!. grrrr

[Phil Ambrose]

Hmm nice idea but I did a spell as a marine valet on the Broads and I really think your notion of £20 a boat is way of the mark, insurance would be a must and we never ever used a pressure washer. But give it a go, you never know you might be able to make it work.

Phil

[RichardH]

Problem with this is that I have found boaters on the whole to be very careful with their money.

 

ian

 

Agreed. We spotted a gap in the market for 4ft fitted sheets and still have plenty left 3 years on!

 

If there was someone offering what you are doing for that money I would snap their hand off so don't let it put you off

 

Good to see the usual comedy nonsense when you ask a serious question.

[keble]

I'd pay for that. I don't enjoy doing it so it doesn't get done as often as it should.

Please come to the South West!

[tree monkey]

 

Agreed. We spotted a gap in the market for 4ft fitted sheets and still have plenty left 3 years on!

 

If there was someone offering what you are doing for that money I would snap their hand off so don't let it put you off

 

Good to see the usual comedy nonsense when you ask a serious question.

and very good they are too, i bought some off you a few years ago, makes makeing the bed easy

[bizzard]

Apart from the likelyhood of pressure washers damaging old, dodgy paintwork they aren't much good for cleaning grime off paintwork. Grime on paintwork needs to be disturbed with a sponge or soft brush with slow running water.

[keep-on-keepin-on]

Hello Thankyou very much for your comments. Ok plucked £20 out the air with no details behind it. Let me be bit clearer and also explain this is a very fresh idea that is a means to getting work in, while I work on transferring airbrushing skills to a lot less dusty, t-shirt painting.

The pricing would have to be on a scale. From a basic wash and wax for the owner who keeps on top of it but would rather not. To more intensive clean for the owner who really can’t be arsed! It took me 2days to clean my boat (70ft) when I bought it but now its clean to keep on top of it (every 2months ish ) i can run round and have it done in just over a hour or so without a pressure washer. The pressure washer would mainly speed up the rinsing process and a means of using the water from the canal but also with care and low pressure much quicker to clear out nooks and crannys,as well as to dispense fluid, certainly not be used on flaky paint .

flaky paint is an issue that would be discussed with every customer but as mentioned is a good up selling point for touch up etc

I am interested in painting boats. Using a brush would minimise the health issues .I will be painting mine next year so if this idea was to work out well and I built a good customer base it would be pretty easy to branch out.

I would be happy with around £20 an hour as a basic, average boat size around here seems to be around 50ft and surprisingly, unlike me alot of people seem to be pretty minimalistic with their roofs. That being said it’s needs to be taken in to consideration.

So the £20 figure is an average that I believe given the advancement of modern eco-friendly cleaning products , waxes and the use of a pressure washer I could clean your average sized boat in an average state of cleanliness. I want to price low to attract consistent return custom, .

Cleaning the other side of the boat. Again it depends on how much work is needed but if its just needs a wash and wax using a harness clipped on to the hand rail should give me enough support to do the job. How would you feel about it being done this way? The other option would be to use a small stable boat to tie on and stand in, though this does go down the licencing route I wanted to avoid until it picked up

Public liability for valet services is reasonable and could be paid in a good days trade. Although most polices out there not worth the paper there written on which is a big concern for any business venture. My other idea was kayak rental but after reading the horror stories that come with that line of work...i think not!

[BlueStringPudding]

Hello Thankyou very much for your comments. Ok plucked £20 out the air with no details behind it. Let me be bit clearer and also explain this is a very fresh idea that is a means to getting work in, while I work on transferring airbrushing skills to a lot less dusty, t-shirt painting.

The pricing would have to be on a scale. From a basic wash and wax for the owner who keeps on top of it but would rather not. To more intensive clean for the owner who really cant be arsed! It took me 2days to clean my boat (70ft) when I bought it but now its clean to keep on top of it (every 2months ish ) i can run round and have it done in just over a hour or so without a pressure washer. The pressure washer would mainly speed up the rinsing process and a means of using the water from the canal but also with care and low pressure much quicker to clear out nooks and crannys,as well as to dispense fluid, certainly not be used on flaky paint .

flaky paint is an issue that would be discussed with every customer but as mentioned is a good up selling point for touch up etc

I am interested in painting boats. Using a brush would minimise the health issues .I will be painting mine next year so if this idea was to work out well and I built a good customer base it would be pretty easy to branch out.

I would be happy with around £20 an hour as a basic, average boat size around here seems to be around 50ft and surprisingly, unlike me alot of people seem to be pretty minimalistic with their roofs. That being said its needs to be taken in to consideration.

So the £20 figure is an average that I believe given the advancement of modern eco-friendly cleaning products , waxes and the use of a pressure washer I could clean your average sized boat in an average state of cleanliness. I want to price low to attract consistent return custom, .

Cleaning the other side of the boat. Again it depends on how much work is needed but if its just needs a wash and wax using a harness clipped on to the hand rail should give me enough support to do the job. How would you feel about it being done this way? The other option would be to use a small stable boat to tie on and stand in, though this does go down the licencing route I wanted to avoid until it picked up

Public liability for valet services is reasonable and could be paid in a good days trade. Although most polices out there not worth the paper there written on which is a big concern for any business venture. My other idea was kayak rental but after reading the horror stories that come with that line of work...i think not!

Clever. A harness clipped to the roof wouldn't work on all boats as it depends on roof rail type, roof junk and so on. But it might well work on many. Certainly a little dinghy would sort that out but would need a bit of ingenuity to transport it on your bike. Inflatable maybe.

 

The rare occasions I wash my boat, the paint flakes off in sheets. If happily pay someone else to do that job.

[Ally]

You'd have a job to clip a harness on to an average trad hand rail! Cruiser rail maybe.

[bizzard]

You could walk on the water with a huge pair of inflatable shoes or enormous wooden clogs. I've seen a lot of hand rails that I wouldn't grab hold of never mind hang from them.