Easy Steps to Clean Your Boat with Salt-Shark Like a Pro
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As much as we love saltwater, the combination of salt and metal on boats in the ocean is a killer! All salt wants to do is devour your lovely shiny metal fittings and gear — stainless or not — leaving a trail of corrosion in its wake.
Over time, the outdoor environment will always win. While superyachts have crews that literally clean the boat from one end to the other, day in/day out to keep everything in top condition, for the rest of us mere mortals — what’s the solution?
Salt-Shark! The good news is with this high-performance salt remover boat wash, you CAN keep corrosion away onboard and your gear going strong for years.
If you’ve got a small sailboat or trailer boat you can easily wash it with Salt-Shark after each use, and you’ll keep your vessel in good nick (especially if you can cover it afterwards or store it out of the weather). But for larger boats kept in a marina slip or in constant use out cruising, it’s a never ending battle against rust. Fortunately, using a salt remover helps really eliminate any build up in tricky spots on your yacht or launch, and keeps engines running smoothly.
Simply, if you’re after the best value salt wash that’s 100% biodegradable, and will last you a long time (seriously, like yeeaars long) — you need Salt-Shark. Here’s a rundown of how to easily look after your boat and gear like a pro.
First up, what’s Salt-Shark?
Launched in New Zealand, Salt-Shark is a new salt remover boat wash on the international market, and it’s turning heads for its innovative formula with super economical use.
Many salt wash products require 45ml-100ml used per wash but with Salt-Shark you only need 5ml! This gives you far more bang for your buck (or wash for your boat). Perfect for those of us that love economy use!
You may recognise Super Yacht Chief Engineer, and Parlay Revival Youtube Star, Colin MacRae who has partnered with Taylor Shields to take Salt-Shark from New Zealand to the rest of the world!
Part 1. I give Salt-Shark a go on my cruising yacht. Here’s my review:
Our 34ft cruiser — always salty and loves a good wash
We have plenty of fittings and gear onboard that we need to maintain and keep running as smoothly as possible for our safety — plus we want her looking sharp (with as little time spent cleaning since we prefer being out there enjoying life!). Salt-Shark offered me their Boatie Pack onboard to help with this, which comes with the foam sprayer and engine flush attachment (we haven’t used this on our 2hp outboard yet — stay tuned).
The Boatie pack has 1L of concentrate salt remover, the Salt-Shark foam sprayer, and the engine flush attachment
It's a salt remover but a great boat wash too — cleaning up salt and dirt (and bird poo) build up
This safety pin I'd forgotten about under a cover is a good reminder of how quickly salt eats anything metal onboard — especially non-stainless!
Super easy to set up
With our boat currently on a mooring, we’ve been connecting our Salt-Shark bottle to our deck hose, which we can run with an extension to reach the whole boat. We’ve been stoked with how easy the spray system is to use, and how well it foams up for a good deck scrub (there are always a few bird poos in amongst the salt!).
As someone who’s not keen on faffing around when it comes to cleaning (I’m the just give me a bucket and a rag and I’m away type of gal) — the Salt-Shark foam sprayer is super quick and easy to set up. It’s way more fun than it should be (wait, do I need to get out more?!)
Clear instructions
The instructions that come with the Boatie Pack are clear and simple — although the very first time I used it I was just super excited to start spraying, so I did miss the note about the economy setting on the Gear Wheel (as kindly pointed out by my husband) but then flicked that to ‘one’ as instructed and off I went.
I can’t believe how little concentrate I need for the whole boat
One pump of solution = 5ml (such a tiny amount!)
Add in 250ml water - now ready to connect to the hose
One pump looks like such a tiny amount in the sprayer and I was slightly dubious at how long it would last, or how well it would work. Turns out the 5ml (the same amount as a teaspoon full) is plenty! It foams up super well, and I can get the whole deck clean, the cockpit and solar panel all off one pump. The 1L bottle of salt concentrate is literally going to last me years.
My favourite use for it
There are plenty! In the past, when we’ve rinsed our inflatable paddleboards for stowing we’ve always found some salt residue left but since using the salt wash these have been much cleaner packed away (holding less moisture inside which is super important for us in our battle against mould).
Our BBQ which is notorious for rusting has been enjoying its new treatment, and our solar panel post wash seems to stay cleaner for longer — which plays a huge role in keeping our power supply topped up. But actually the whole deck, tracks and lower standing rigging cleans up well with Salt-Shark!
Plenty of stainless and aluminium hatches which come up shiny with a good clean
BBQ usually takes a beating with salt — now it's cleaner when under it's cover
Part 2. A chat with Salt-Shark’s founder
I recently caught up with Taylor Shields — the founder of Salt-Shark to ask a few of the tough questions about his product.
Hey Taylor, so yachties (in my experience) don’t wash their sailboats quite as often as we should…
Well, based on Colin from Sailing Parlay Revival’s experience out cruising, the boat’s always covered in salt, so rather than wash the boat day after day, it’s all the extra toys you can look after that makes a difference. The outboard motor on the tender, foil boards, fishing reels and rods — anything like that that’s sitting there that gets salt on it you can wash off, especially if it needs to get packed away. Then anytime you call into a marina you can give the boat a wash too.
Can’t someone just use fresh water instead?
Fresh water helps but Salt-Shark removes 100% of the salt buildup to prevent corrosion and stop rust.
I know you can’t give away your secret recipe but can you give me any hint what the ingredients are?
Haha just like KFC doesn't tell theirs! I worked with chemists to develop a super high concentrate, which is made here in New Zealand. Our product is 60-80% plant based active ingredient (in comparison to others which are 5-10%) — so Salt-Shark is undiluted concentrate. That means you use far less product, and it’s the lowest price per wash you’ll find!
What makes the foam sprayers special?
It makes it super easy to see how much you need without measuring anything! It shows you where to fill for how many pumps. One pump with 250ml is enough to wash a 5m boat! I’ve got a 6.5m boat and use two pumps which is still only 10ml of product. Just connect your hose and off you go.
The spray bottle tells you everything you need to know!
Do you need to wash it off?
It’s not needed, but recommended that you give it a rinse off any shiny surfaces like windows or boat vinyls.
In summary
We reckon Salt-Shark is the perfect salt removing boat wash, and one we’ll be using onboard regularly. That way, we can spend less time treating corrosion and rust, and more time enjoying life on the water. And if you’re like me, you might enjoy spraying this around!
Where can you buy Salt-Shark?
You can pick up Salt-Shark through its Indiegogo campaign which runs until 18th September 2024 or visit Salt-Shark online. The big launch in the USA is at the Annapoulis and Fort Lauderdale boat shows, and will also be available soon on Amazon (stay tuned!).
And if you ever have any questions about Salt-Shark — hit Taylor up — he’s a great guy who’ll help get your salty boat issues sorted!
