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Pressure Washer Cleaning...

TwoTone

TwoTone

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Somewhere in Cabo... or Central Oregon...
I'm considering picking up one the electric pressure washer from Costco...

They only go up to 1800psi verses the fuel ones that go up to 3600psi...

Is it safe to establish the habit of cleaning the entire boat with this option?

Vinyl, Seagrass, Aluminum (interior and exterior), Engine, Trailer, etc...

Of course I wouldn't spray the helm directly or the speakers...

My hope is that there would be enough pressure to wash and remove away all the dirt and then just wipe down with a dry cloth...

Anyone else clean their whole boat this way?
 
You'll never remove all the dirt with a pressure washer. You have to hand wash panels or you'll just grind dirt into paint. I pressure wash my white truck with 3200 psi. It removes the heavy dirt, but still lets a film that needs hand washed off. Be VERY careful with a p/w on vinyl. You can blow a hole in it quick. Make sure to use correct tips for the job and you should be fine.
 
I'd never turn my PW on to the interior of my boat. The Honda PW I have is only around 2800 PSI and will dig a hole in a concrete driveway. I wouldn't take a chance on tearing up the interior of my boat, not even at 1800 PSI.
 
The interior of my boat has ever been dirty enough to use a power washer. I've used one to clean the toons and the trailer but I would never do the seats, upholstery, carpet etc.....
 
I use my pressure washer (1800 psi)  only on my floor maybe once month and it works great. I use a medium spray and pressure.
 
I have spent literally thousands of hours on the end of a power washer wand. Everyone gets focused on psi and the true worth in a pressure washer is the gallons per minute. That is what is important. You can essentially cheat the psi by changing tips on the wand from 40, 25, 10, 0 or a rotary nozzle to achieve the desired "pressure". 1800 psi is plenty but look at the gpm rating. I agree with previous poster that some grime may only be removed with some elbow grease.
 
And remember, PSI is at the tip, not distance. I've "washed" my deck off , "cleaned" my deck, and "damaged" my deck all based on distance from the tip.
 
I just got through putting a new pump on my pressure washer.  It's one of those tools that you really miss when they're broken. 

The most popular size pressure is a 5-6 hp gas engine and 2800 psi pump.  You can go with an adjustable pressure wand, or go with different size nozzles for different uses.  I have an adjustable turbo wand on mine presently.  They're available for around $300ish online and at Home Depot/Lowes.

You can go up to a higher pressure pump, but you'll just blast the paint off any item you wash.  They're more for cleaning backhoes for repainting, and will eat the wood down to the grain when cleaning a deck.

My pressure washer originally had a CAT brand pump, but the rebuild gasket kits are about $80--for nothing.  I ended up replacing the pump with a cheap "throw away" axial pump that's so strong I can hardly hold the wand. 

I'm now in the process of cleaning vinyl siding on our lake house, and it really does the job--without scrubbing.  Time to crank the motor back up for another run.  Then it's cleaning all the sidewalks before I get to cleaning the boat dock.
 
I have a Karcher washer with a 6.5 hp engine.  I use it to clean the boat but only run it about 1/4 throttle.  Full throttle would probably tear up the carpet and the plywood :)

Had small black spots on top of the seats.  Old fella at the marina told me to use Tilex.  Worked great!
 
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