Water Spots Be Gone!

Here’s another seemingly simple chore that’s actually a pain—washing down your boat. To get the proper look that modern skippers want, it’s necessary to dry the boat with a chamois or microfiber towel after a full washdown. If you let the water dry naturally in the sun, it often leaves crusty spots of dried minerals that can be a trial to remove. It’s all the fault of hard water, the kind of fresh water most folks get from the tap. If you live in an area with soft water, rejoice—you might not have to dry your boat to keep it spot-free. But then again, you might.

Water that carries high concentrations of minerals is classified as “hard” water, while “soft” water, conversely, is mostly mineral-free. Whether water is hard or soft depends on where it came from. Water exposed to limestone or chalk en route to your