When it comes to taking care of a ship, there’s a lot of things to take into consideration. After all, the open water has a lot of aspects that can add serious wear and tear to your boat, things that other types of vehicles don’t even need to consider. That’s why we need to talk about how important wax is for your boat. Checkout PontoonCleaners for more!

Protecting Your Boat From Discoloration

There are many elements out in the open water that pose a threat of discoloring your boat. This includes sunlight, the water itself, algae and the salt that can be found in saltwater. All of these things will go a long way in taking the color out of your boat and fading its finish, over time. Waxing your boat provides a protective finish for the vessel.

Of course, there are other valuable things that affect how important wax is for your boat. More on that below.

Wax Makes it Harder for Grime and Blemishes to Stick

Wax is a protective coating on the outside of your boat, that lies on top of the gel coat finishes many boats have. If you wax your entire boat, anything that sticks to the surface is actually sticking to the wax coating on the outside. At the same time, waxing will also protect your boat from chalking or hazing.

While the wax coating will eventually be worn down by these things, you can ultimately replace the wax coating again and no permanent damage will have been done. This is much cheaper than letting something important getting damaged, and being forced to repair that.

Wax Protects Decals and Graphics

If you want to put graphics or decals on your boat, you have to understand that they suffer the same risks as the reguarl gelcoat on your boat. If you don’t keep them protected, the aforementioned elements will wear them down and make them fade as well.

That being said, a coat of wax will also protect any decals and graphics from being worn down or faded. This is pretty much included in protecting your gelcoat, but it’s a different benefit nevertheless.

Waxing Your Boat Increases Performance

If you really want to know how important wax is for your boat, then consider this valuable benefit that isn’t immediately obvious: wax increases the performance of your vessel. Wax helps prevent things from sticking to your boat’s hull, and that means less drag when moving through the water.

This mens it is easier for your engine to push your vessel through the water, and that means less fuel is consumed. After a fresh waxing, you boat will have better fuel efficiency and glide through the water more easily.

When is it Time to Wax a Boat?

While waxing your boat is important, you need to know when it’s actually time to go about waxing it. After all, wax is still a consumable item you have to buy and you don’t want to waste it if you don’t have to. Unfortunately, there’s no direct concrete answer: fact of the matter is, it depends.

Major factors that impact the frequency of waxing are climate and storage. If your boat is stored in water, it’ll probably need waxing more often than if it were stored on land. On average though, it is recommended to wax your boat at least once or twice a season, though it certainly wouldn’t hurt to wax it more often.

Of course, darker boats will need to be waxed more often if you want to keep the color at that shade. After all, darker colors are more easily lightened or bleached by sunlight and the other elements. In that case, you may have to wax your boat 3-4 times per year.

Conclusion

Ultimately, waxing your boat helps keep the gelcoat safe from the elements, as well as maintain the color of your boat. It keeps grime and blemishes from getting on the gelcoat, and thus makes it easier to clean your vessel. Finally, a fresh coat of wax reduces drag in the water and increases fuel efficiency.

As for how often you need to wax, at least twice a season, but three to four times a year for darker boats.