How Much Does Boat Detailing Cost? (2026 Per-Foot Price Guide)

Search for boat detailing prices and you mostly get forum threads, out-of-state guesses, and “call for a quote.” I’ll just answer the question. I’m Nate Bridges, I own Bridges Mobile Detailing, and I detail boats every week of the summer on Cedar Creek Lake and Lake Ray Hubbard. Here’s how boat detailing is actually priced, what moves the number up or down, and the honest math on doing it yourself.

Quick Answer: Boat detailing costs $17 per foot at Bridges Mobile Detailing — a 22-foot pontoon runs approximately $374, a 24-foot bay boat about $408, and a 30-foot cruiser about $510. Heavy oxidation removal typically adds $200–$600 depending on hull condition, and marine ceramic coating is quoted on-site. Every price includes travel to your slip, dock, or driveway.

How Much Does Boat Detailing Cost? The Per-Foot Model

Cars price by package because one sedan is roughly the same job as the next. Boats aren’t like that. A 30-foot cruiser carries far more hull, gunnel, deck, glass, and vinyl than a 20-foot fish-and-ski, and every one of those surfaces gets hand work. Length is the most honest proxy for hours, so my standard rate is $17 per foot — and the final number gets confirmed with you at the walk-around, before any work starts, not after.

The standard rate isn’t a rinse. It covers the exterior hand wash and chamois dry, light oxidation treatment, vinyl seat cleaning and conditioning, carpet vacuum and spot extraction, chrome and metal polish, glass and gauges, and the trailer wash when the boat travels on one. The size-by-size package breakdown lives on the boat detailing service page.

What Moves the Number

Boat size. The obvious one — but per-foot math means it’s never a surprise. Two extra feet of boat is a known quantity you can calculate from the driveway, not a mystery markup you find out about later.

Oxidation stage. Light gel-coat oxidation is treated as part of the standard detail. Heavy oxidation — the chalky, flat hull that has sat uncovered through a few Texas summers — adds a machine compounding stage with marine-grade product, and that’s real hours. It’s quoted on-site after I see the hull and typically adds $200–$600 depending on condition. This is the single biggest variable in boat detailing cost, and also the most preventable one.

Slip, lift, or trailer. Where the boat lives doesn’t change the per-foot rate — it changes where the hours go. An open lift takes the most sun, so topsides and vinyl need the attention. A covered slip trades UV for humidity, which is where vinyl mildew starts. A trailered boat dodges both and collects road film instead.

One craft or several. Multi-boat households get multi-craft pricing on the per-foot rate, and jet skis run $150 each — so the pontoon, the ski, and the truck can share one visit and one trip charge of exactly zero, because there isn’t one.

Worked Examples at $17 Per Foot

22-foot pontoon — approximately $374. The most common boat I detail on Cedar Creek Lake. Plan on 3–5 hours: exterior wash and chamois dry, aluminum log cleaning, deck and gunnel work, vinyl seats cleaned and conditioned, carpet vacuumed and spot-extracted, metal polished, glass cleaned, trailer washed when there is one.

24-foot bay boat — approximately $408. Four to five hours, adding hull cleaning with light oxidation treatment plus console, compartment, and storage wipe-downs to the standard exterior and vinyl work.

30-foot cruiser — approximately $510. Five to seven hours, including hull oxidation treatment, bow and gunnel work, carpet extraction, and a cabin interior wipe-down.

The lake-house combo. A Lake Ray Hubbard household books the truck and the boat together: truck detailing at $175 plus the 22-foot pontoon at about $374 comes to roughly $549 — one driveway, one morning. Add jet skis at $150 each and the whole dock is done in a single visit.

DIY vs. Pro: The Honest Math

You can absolutely wash your own boat, and you should. The post-outing rinse and chamois dry is the highest-value habit in boat ownership, because minerals that never dry on the gel coat never bond to it. Nothing I sell replaces that habit — it’s what keeps your future details at the base rate.

Where the DIY math falls apart is correction. Compounding oxidation out of gel coat takes a machine polisher, marine-specific compounds and pads, and the judgment to know how much material can come off before you’re through the gel coat — a mistake that doesn’t buff back out. A 22-foot pontoon takes me 3–5 hours with commercial equipment and a water tank on the rig; a first-timer working off a garage shelf should budget most of a weekend and still expect to leave the heavy hull sides for a pro.

The honest split: keep the rinse, the cover, and the wipe-down for yourself, and weigh the pro visit against the hours and equipment the correction work actually demands. If you want the full picture of what the lake is doing to your hull between details, I broke it down in what Cedar Creek Lake water does to your boat’s gel coat.

Why Summer Timing Moves the Cost

Texas sun works on gel coat year-round, but mid-summer is when the damage compounds fastest — long days, full UV, and a hull that’s wet and drying over and over. A hull caught early stays at polish level inside the standard per-foot rate. A hull that waits until fall goes chalky and needs the compounding stage, and that’s the difference between the base price and the base price plus $200–$600. The cheapest boat detail is the one booked before the hull fades.

Booking works in your favor here too. I run the Cedar Creek Lake route every week of the summer — Gun Barrel City, Mabank, Seven Points, and the rest of the shoreline — and lake bookings typically confirm within a week.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to detail a 22-foot pontoon?

Approximately $374 at my standard $17-per-foot rate — and pontoons are the boat I detail most on Cedar Creek Lake. That covers the exterior hand wash and chamois dry, aluminum log cleaning, deck and gunnel work, vinyl seat cleaning and conditioning, carpet vacuum and spot extraction, metal polish, glass, and the trailer wash when the boat travels on one. Heavy log oxidation polishing is quoted separately based on condition.

Does oxidation removal cost extra?

Light gel-coat oxidation treatment is built into the standard per-foot detail. Heavy oxidation — a chalky, faded hull that has sat uncovered through Texas summers — adds a machine compounding stage and typically runs $200–$600 on top of the base price, quoted on-site after I inspect the hull. The earlier it gets caught, the closer the final number stays to the base rate.

Is mobile boat detailing more expensive than hauling the boat somewhere?

No. The per-foot rate includes travel to your slip, dock, or driveway anywhere in my service area, with no mileage line item. The rig carries its own water tank and onboard power, so I never need dock utilities or your hose. What you save is the trailering itself — hitching, hauling, launching, and burning a lake morning at a shop instead of on the water.

Do multiple boats or jet skis in one visit cost less?

Per craft, yes. Multi-boat households get multi-craft pricing on the per-foot rate, and jet skis run $150 each, so a dock with a pontoon and two skis costs less to detail in one visit than in three separate ones. One booking can also fold in the truck or the lake-house vehicle, so the whole driveway and dock get done in a single morning.

Get a Per-Foot Quote Before the Hull Goes Chalky

Measure your boat, multiply by $17, and you’re within a walk-around of your real quote — no runaround, no mystery mobile surcharge. The complete package list by boat size is on the boat detailing page. Call or text (469) 770-9755 or book online, and I’ll meet you at the slip, the dock, or the driveway — the rig brings its own water and power either way.

Nate Bridges is the owner of Bridges Mobile Detailing — 5+ years of exterior care across Kaufman and Rockwall Counties through Bridges Mobile Detailing and Kaufman Pressure Wash.