Boat Detailing in Florida, Done Right at Your Slip
An insured marine detailer meets you at the dock or the driveway and brings the gelcoat back, priced by the foot with no surprises.
- We Come to You
- Licensed & Insured Pros
- Free Quotes by Phone
Per-foot rate confirmed on the phone before anyone steps aboard.
What Florida Water Does to Gelcoat
Gelcoat isn't paint. It's pigmented polyester resin, and unlike your car's clear coat it's porous, which is why boat detailing in Florida works best as a schedule instead of a rescue every third season. UV attacks the resin at the surface until it chalks over. Salt finishes the job. Every trip leaves crystals drying on the hull, and each one acts like a tiny lens for the next morning's sun.
Run your palm along the hull sides. White powder on your skin is dead, oxidized resin, and a glossy hull can get there in two or three uncovered Florida summers. Brackish water adds its own signature, that brown tannin mustache at the waterline, and boats sitting in gulf-access canals grow barnacles at the running gear faster than most owners expect.
Quick honesty before the details: Detail Gods FL is a free referral line, not a crew. One call matches you with an independent marine detailer near your water, one who carries insurance a dockmaster will actually accept, and the per-foot rate is settled before the visit.
The Gelcoat Oxidation Ladder, and What Each Rung Costs
Every marine quote starts with one question: how far gone is the gelcoat? Here's the ladder detailers use, top to bottom, with the per-foot money attached.
- Rung one: light haze, $15 to $20 a foot. The shine is dull but the surface still feels smooth. A machine polish and a coat of marine wax bring it back in a single visit. This is the cheap rung. Stay on it.
- Rung two: chalky bloom, $20 to $30 a foot. Colors look flat, and a dark cloth picks up faint powder. Now it takes a one-step compound before the polish, which roughly doubles the machine time on the hull.
- Rung three: heavy chalk, $30 to $45 a foot. Your palm comes away white and dark hulls read gray from the dock. This is heavy-cut compound work, multiple passes per section, sometimes a two-day job on a larger boat.
- Rung four: burn-through. Pigment has gone translucent and the fiberglass weave is ghosting through. No amount of detailing fixes this. It's wet-sand or re-gel work for a fiberglass shop, and an honest pro will say so instead of selling you a miracle.
The pattern to notice: each rung roughly doubles the labor. A season of neglect isn't free, it's deferred at interest.
Boat Detailing Prices: $15 to $45 Per Foot, Explained
Per-foot pricing sounds abstract until you do the math on your own boat. A well-kept 24-footer at $18 a foot lands near $430. That same boat after three chalky summers, at $40 a foot, is close to $960. Maintenance is the discount.
| Service level | Typical rate | What moves the price |
|---|---|---|
| Maintenance polish and wax | $15 to $20 per foot | Beam and flybridge time |
| One-step compound and polish | $20 to $30 per foot | Oxidation depth, hull color |
| Full oxidation restoration | $30 to $45 per foot | Chalk level, two-day jobs |
| Isinglass clean and polish | $50 to $150 add-on | Panel count and condition |
| Waterline and barnacle stains | $75 to $200 add-on | Access, tannin severity |
| Salt rinse program visit | $2 to $4 per foot | Frequency, dock access |
Dark hulls cost more to restore than white ones, since every swirl shows and the compound work has to be cleaner. And if a quote arrives sight-unseen at a suspiciously low rate, expect it to grow once the crew sees the chalk. Car-side numbers for the whole menu live in our Florida detailing price guide.
Got a length and a slip number?
That's all the phone call needs. You'll hear a real per-foot rate and this week's openings in about two minutes.
Dockside or on the Trailer?
Dockside, boat stays wet
The crew works from the finger pier and the boat never leaves the water. Everything above the waterline gets handled, and you skip the haul-out, which alone runs $10 to $15 a foot at most yards. The limit is obvious: nobody can compound what's submerged, so bottom stains stay put until the boat comes out.
On the trailer or lift
Full hull access, running surfaces included, which is where the waterline mustache and barnacle scars actually get fixed. Driveway jobs also pair well with the tow vehicle. Plenty of owners book a mobile detail for the truck during the same visit and knock both out before lunch.
Marina logistics matter more than most first-timers expect. Nearly every dockmaster wants a certificate of insurance before a contractor touches a slip, some gates need codes or an escort, and a few marinas restrict rinse water entirely, so crews bring their own tanks. None of that is your problem to solve. Mention the marina by name on the call and the detailer handles the paperwork, because they've done it at that gate before.
Isinglass Care and Salt Rinse Programs
Isinglass, the clear vinyl in your enclosure, scratches easier than anything else aboard. Wiping it dry grinds salt crystals across the surface, and ammonia glass cleaner clouds it for good. The right routine floods it with fresh water first, then follows with plastic polish and UV protectant. Panels run several hundred dollars each to replace, so the $50 to $150 add-on pays for itself the first time it prevents one.
A salt rinse program is the other habit that separates glossy five-year-old boats from chalky ones. It's a short scheduled visit between full details: freshwater rinse, chamois dry, spray sealant over the rails and glass, quick isinglass wipe. At $2 to $4 a foot per visit, monthly or after heavy weekends, it keeps salt from ever settling in. Some crews also offer marine ceramic on gelcoat, and the pitch sounds familiar because it's the same SiO2 story told on cars. Read our take on what ceramic coating really costs before saying yes at the dock.
What we'd tell a friend with a new-to-them boat
Pay for one honest assessment before any big correction. If the hull sits at rung two, spend the $25 a foot once, then wax every 90 days and rinse after every salt trip. Do that and you'll never meet the $45 rate. And don't accept a firm number from anyone who hasn't seen the boat.
Where the Marine Crews Run
The deepest marine coverage tracks the coasts, no surprise. We book crews for detailing in Cape Coral, where 400 miles of canals keep gulf-access boats sitting in salt all year, and for Sarasota boat and car owners from downtown to the Longboat Key marinas. On the east coast, Fort Lauderdale detailing runs busy for obvious reasons, the town practically invented the yacht slip. And mobile detailing in Tampa covers the bay from the ramps to the driveways. Outside those metros? Call anyway. Marine pros travel for good work.
Straight Answers on Marine Detailing
How is boat detailing priced by the foot?
You multiply the boat's length by a rate that reflects its condition. A maintained hull that just needs polish and wax books at $15 to $20 a foot, so a 22-footer lands around $330 to $440. Moderate oxidation that needs compounding runs $20 to $30, and heavy chalk pushes $30 to $45. Beam matters too. A wide center console carries more surface per foot than a narrow bowrider, and a flybridge adds real hours, so expect the quote to move for those. The rate gets confirmed on the phone before anything is booked.
Can the work be done with the boat in the water?
Yes, and most of it is. A dockside crew works from the finger pier and handles everything above the waterline: hull sides, brightwork, glass, cockpit, and enclosure. What they can't reach is the running surface below the waterline, so bottom staining and barnacle scrapes wait for a haul-out or a trailer day. If your boat lives on a lift or a trailer, the full hull is in play and the waterline mustache comes off properly. Tell us how the boat sits and the quote gets built around it.
Is heavy oxidation permanent, or can compounding fix it?
Compounding fixes most of it. Oxidation is a layer of dead, chalky resin sitting on top of healthy gelcoat, and a heavy-cut compound grinds that layer off to expose fresh material underneath. The catch is thickness. Gelcoat is thicker than car paint but not infinite, and a hull compounded hard every season for a decade may not have much left to cut. When pigment goes translucent or the fiberglass pattern shows through, the job has passed into re-gel territory, and a straight answer up front beats a shiny hull that fails next summer.
What's the right way to clean isinglass?
Fresh water first, always. Salt crystals are hard enough to scratch clear vinyl, so flooding each panel before anything touches it is the whole game. After the rinse comes a plastic-safe cleaner on a soft microfiber, then a vinyl polish and a UV protectant to slow the yellowing. Never use ammonia glass cleaner, it clouds the material permanently, and never wipe a dry panel. Replacement enclosure panels run several hundred dollars apiece, which makes a $50 to $150 isinglass add-on the cheapest insurance on the boat.
Will a marina let an outside detailer through the gate?
Almost every marina will, with paperwork. Dockmasters generally want a certificate of insurance on file before a contractor works a slip, and some add wash-water rules that limit rinsing or require captured runoff. The detailers we refer handle this weekly. They'll send the COI ahead and check quiet hours, and where rinsing is restricted they bring tank water. Your part is small: give us the marina name and slip number when you call, and mention any gate code or dock office check-in so the crew doesn't burn your morning waiting.
Chalky Gelcoat Only Gets More Expensive
Call while it's still a polish job instead of a restoration. The quote is free, and the per-foot rate is set before the crew ever heads to your slip.
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