Thought this might make a good basic reference post. Hopefully folks will add to it as they see fit.

Hulls- what is best for simple cleaning? Was thinking of going to the car wash and use their "foaming brush". NO WAX!

Replace wires every season or so. You can stretch the time a bit - anything up to 5 min before they break is fine. I was about 5 min and 1 second too late a few weeks ago.

Tiger Mike

Yeah, inspect stays regularly for busted strands and replace as soon as you find one.

I know the general thought is wax is slow, but I waxed mine this year and plan to every spring. I'd rather sacrifice a coat of wax to UV instead of my gelcoat. So, I may not have the fastest boat, but in ten years with 5 months exposure per year, I'm hoping to still have a nice looking boat.

One of these days, I'll get a cover, but even then I'd probably wax it anyway. I enjoy the looks of a waxed boat.

Pete:

I have found that Bon Ami works VERY good on the hulls. Before I got the inside storage, mine got REAL bad over the winter here in Texas. We have VERY high humidity and they get the green mold crap on them. Bon Ami knocked it right out and is only $1 at can. It will even get rust out if you make a paste and let it set for about 15 minutes. Try it. I broke my boom this weekend, the cap by the gooseneck came out, so I waited a little to late to do maintenance. NOW I am going over it the a fine tooth comb.

Doug

Doug and Ashleigh.

I clean with 1200 wet and dry.

Depends on the extent of the clean required.

I'm currently wet and drying my boat too but I don't think it was cleaned by previous owner for years...the white hulls are a dull shade of brown! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Plus it gives me a good opportunity to inspect the surface thoroughly then repair minor dings

Pete,

If you're not going to wax it, why not use some SPF 40, especially on the decks.

That 303 aerospace protectant is good stuff.

If my F16 feels slow and nothing really needs changing a good clean with baby wipes (or similar) does it for me. It's just a psychological boost, but a capsize soon after becomes alot of fun trying to stand on the hull.

A cut lemon rubbed over the hulls does wonders eliminating many of the brown pollution stains which accumulate over time.

Brown. Pollution stains in the same sentence suggests you are either going too fast or you should change your breakfast cereal. Sorry. This has nothing to do with boat maintenance so please carry on regardless. (It's Late)