Mobile boat detailing
Boat detailing services in Hampton Roads, where the salt never stops working on your gelcoat
We detail boats at the slip, so yours stays in the water and you carry on with your week. Priced by the foot, booked into a window we hold, and carried out by the same crew that looks after the underwater half.
What a year in Hampton Roads salt water does to a finish
A boat kept in the water here takes it from three directions at once.
01
Salt
Sits in the surface and holds moisture against the gelcoat.
02
UV
Breaks the resin down through the summer. Dark hulls go chalky, white ones go yellow.
03
The waterline
Leaves a rust colored stain that won’t come off with soap.
The before cleaning video and after cleaning video makes you feel that you’re right there. Makes you feel good on where your money is going.
Left long enough, oxidation stops being a cleaning job. Getting to it early is the cheapest version of this by a wide margin.
What is included in the premium detailing package
Detailing runs on a scale, and where your boat sits on it depends on how long it’s been. Here’s the full range, and we’ll tell you honestly which parts yours actually needs.
Premium detailing package
01 of 07
We use marine safe products to wash down the hull, topsides and deck, while adding a waterline treatment for the staining that a normal wash leaves behind.
The same boats, before and after
Detailing is the one thing we do where the result sits above the waterline and you can see it from the dock. Drag the line across to see the difference.
Above and below
The same crew works under the waterline
Most detailers stop at the waterline and most divers never come above it. We do both, so when the paint is due we’re quoting off a hull we’ve watched all year.
One company, one invoice and one number to call.
See hull cleaningWhat detailing costs
Every tier is a starting figure, priced by the foot from there. Condition moves the number more than size does.
Boat detailing questions
Our premium wash and wax starts at $500, and a premium wash with compounding starts at $1,000 where the gelcoat has gone chalky and needs cutting back. Those are starting figures, and length and condition move them from there. The thing that moves the number most is how long it has been since the last one: a boat detailed every spring costs considerably less to keep up than one that has gone three seasons.
Per foot. It’s how the trade prices detailing, so you can compare quotes properly. Hourly pricing rewards working slowly. It also leaves you with no idea what the final bill will be until it lands.
A wash cleans the boat. The premium detailing package restores the finish and then protects it. Washing removes salt, dirt and waterline staining and leaves the surface clean. The premium package adds compounding to cut back oxidized gelcoat, polishing to bring the depth back, and a wax or sealant to hold it, and it starts at $1,000. If your gelcoat has gone chalky, a wash won’t touch it.
A 40 to 60 foot boat generally takes one to two days for the premium detailing package, and longer where oxidation is heavy enough to need more than one pass. A maintenance detail on a boat we already look after is usually a single day. We give you a timeframe with the quote and we tell you if the boat turns out to need more than we expected.
At your slip. The boat stays in the water and stays where she is, at any of the marinas we cover across Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Lower Hampton and Chesapeake. You don’t need to be there.
Most of the time it can be removed. Oxidation is a dead layer on the surface of the gelcoat, and compounding cuts through it to sound material underneath. It comes back beautifully on the majority of boats we see. Where the gelcoat has worn thin, usually on a boat over about 20 years that’s been compounded repeatedly, there may not be enough left to cut, and at that point painting is the honest answer. We tell you which one you’re looking at before any money is spent.
The premium detailing package once a year, usually in spring, with maintenance washes through the season. Boats here take UV and salt continuously and a finish that’s protected annually stays serviceable for decades. One that gets detailed every four or five years spends most of its life oxidizing, and each recovery cuts more gelcoat away than the last.
Yes. Hull cleaning below the waterline is our main service and it’s carried out by divers, in the water, with footage of every visit. Plenty of owners have us detail the boat in spring and dive her monthly through the season. It’s the same crew either side of the waterline.
Tell us about your boat
Send the length, the marina and roughly how long since the last detail. We’ll come back with a price, usually the same day, and a realistic timeframe.
Or call (757) 453-4159