Vessel Cleaning and Maintenance Tips from USA's National Park Service's Green Marina Initiative

Clean Carefully
✓Wash your boat frequently with a sponge or nonabrasive pad and plain water. This approach is very effective at removing salt. Additional “elbow-grease” may be required to remove stains.
✓When detergents are necessary, use those that are phosphate-free, biodegradable, and non-toxic. Use soaps and detergents sparingly, because even non-toxic products can be harmful to wildlife. For example, detergents destroy the natural oils on fish gills, limiting their ability to extract dissolved oxygen from the water.
✓Wax your boat, if appropriate. A good coat of wax prevents surface dirt from becoming ingrained.
✓Clean teak with a mild soap and abrasive pads or bronze wool. This method is safe for the environment and better for the boat than the solvents found in standard teak cleaners, which tend to damage both wood
and seam compounds.
✓Avoid detergents that contain ammonia, sodium hypochlorite, chlorinated solvents, petroleum distillates, or lye.
✓Try some of the alternative cleaning products listed on the reverse side of this page.

Maintain Mindfully
✓Collect all paint chips, dust, and residue. Dispose of in trash.
✓Share leftover paint and varnish rather than storing it or throwing it out.
✓Leave empty paint cans open to dry out before disposing of them.
✓Use less toxic propylene glycol antifreeze instead of ethylene glycol.
✓Select a bottom paint developed for the mid-Atlantic region and apply the proper amount. Do not overapply.

Recycle Regularly
✓Recycle used oil, oil filters, and antifreeze.
✓Bring used solvents and waste gasoline to collection points on local hazardous-waste collection days.
✓Ask your marina manager for locations of recycling centers and information about hazardous waste collection days.

Click here for the full US NPS Green Marina Guidebook

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Publish Post

Great 3 Part Clean Boating YouTube Video produced by the state of California

Green Boating Twitter Feeds

I will be switching to twitter feeds to update news on Green Boating. This should make everybody's life a lot easier. Fingers crossed. Check out the feed here:
http://twitter.com/greenboating

Green Ship Technology Conference 2009 in Hamburg Germany

Green Ship Technology Conference 2009 in Hamburg Germany, March 24 & 25.

Green Boating Open Source Project

Green Boating is currently seeking interested parties to contribute to the development of an open source project exploring innovative designs, products, and best management practices for the marine industry. All interested parties are welcome.

You may join or just view the group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenboating.

I have also created a wiki at http://greenboating.wikidot.com/.

As only one person I am severely out manned when it comes to covering the full depth of this topic. It is my belief that it is in the best interest of the marine industry for me to open this discussion to the public, so that together we may share our collective knowledge, experience and ideas for solutions to problems. I am passionate about this issue and am looking for others to help evolve our ability to deal with the effects that the boating and shipping industry has on the marine environment.

Contributions may be monitored by other members for greenwashing promotions.

River Gym NY

Here is a green way to get your workout, commute, and boat all at the same time. Mitchell Joachim and Douglas Joachim have designed this concept for commuters in New York City. While this may be more about exercising than boating, it is a practical and logical solution to achieving a more active and clean commute. To see more about this innovative concept go to River Gym Project.