Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

So as the season is unfortunately growing shorter I started thinking about seasonal cleaning...specifically my carpet. My boat is less than 6 months old so carpet is pretty new but I have a few stains on the carpet. I was thinking since this carpet is "marine grade" could I take it to the local car wash and powerwash it with car wash soap and then rinse it real well? Or should I stick to treating it like indoor carpet cleaning? I'm lazy thus my question.....thanks!

I have a small electric washer at home that does a nice job-I do not know about your coin operated car washes but here around Houston they recycle the water and it smells bad. I guess that happens when you see someone washing the horse trailer out in the car wash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With our old pontoon I would just drop the trailer tongue on the ground and use a soft bristle brush and scrub the carpet down and rinse with the water hose. Then I used a window squeegee to get the rest of the remaining water out of the carpet. Worked very well.

With the new boat, I bought Bissell Little Green and use it now.

I would just treat the spots that need cleaning, why clean the whole thing if it doesn't need it.

The boat I recently bought had been used and abused by some raccoons. The carpet was spot treated in the worst areas then all of the carpeting was cleaned with a Rug Doctor and very hot water. It looks like new again.

Just use the powerwasher. I always have. Mine is gas, 2800 psi, use it a few times a year for 8 years with no problems. No soap is really needed. Just be careful around the seats.

Yep the psi at the car washes typically don't have the psi to do a real good job. Think I would rent a pressure washer for the day that way you might be able to do so other stuff around the house with it. I saw a 2800psi at Sams today for a little over 2 hundred dollars. The prices for those thing have come down alot since I purchased mine.
Oh, northern tool also has some good prices along with a pretty good selection
doc

Just last weekend I did exactly what you are asking about. It worked great and cost me only $6.
I spot treated the carpet bad spots, then used the high pressure wash to completely soak the entire carpet. Then using a spare bucket (visible in one of the pictures) I washed pontoon and trailer while the carpet soaked. After everything was lathered up I plunked in some more $$ and high pressure rinsed everything. The carpet turned out great (I wish I had before and after pictures, I can get some 'after' tonight)

The biggest issue I had was physically fitting the pontoon through the wash bay. With an 9' door and a 8'6" wide pontoon you really don't get a whole lot of wiggle room, and it should go without saying that the 'pucker factor' was very high, and on several occassions I though to myself "WFT have I just done, how am I going to get this all the way through and out without denting/damaging something" Luckily I did make it all the way through, but if you attempt to do this try and find a wash with an outdoor bay, or at least very wide berth leading up to the door and on the way out. And try to avoid obstacles...
And to negotiate the final turn I had to turn as sharp as I could, then I almost hit a huge boulder, then I had to back up ever so slightly and crank it hard again, thank god I was able to negotiate this turn. the driver side trailer tires almost pivoted right where they sat by the edge of that concreted in-place vacuum.. not fun. -ron

Sure glad we know of a few car washes with outside bays! That looks TRICKY!

I have a Karcher electric 1200 PSI pressure washer i got at Lowes 5 years ago for around $100.00, use it around the house and on the boat. does a good job on carpet, toons to get scum off, have been very happy with it, just be careful if you buy a pressure washer, your tempted to get a higher pressure unit, but you can really damage things with them. It works good to get the scum off the motor too. I buy Orange cleaner at the Dollar Store, spray the spots good let set 15 minuites or so them pressure wash till I get no more suds, carpet still looks good after 6 years.