A quote for deck washing usually fails on the detail, not on the machine. Buyers send one line, "yacht deck cleaning", and receive a machine that matches nothing in particular. Below is the information a supplier needs in writing before a deck quotation means anything, and what a yard should expect back in return.
Name the deposit and the surface carrying it
Write down what has to come off, as a substance. Salt left by spray, algae settled into the moulded pattern of a non-skid deck, oily drips around stern gear or a generator vent, and sun-baked residue along a rub rail each answer to a different combination of heat, dwell and pass technique. Name the surface beside each deposit as well: gelcoat, painted steel, bare alloy, varnished or oiled timber, moulded non-skid, an epoxy barrier coat, plus the gaskets, deck sensors and deck fittings that water has to be kept away from.
Two facts decide whether this is a steam job at all. First, whether the deposit has been baked on by sun or by machinery heat, because a baked film responds to heat and dwell rather than to more pressure. Second, whether the surface and its fittings tolerate water reaching an edge. Ask the supplier to price against the named pair of deposit and surface, not against a service name.
Record the deck layout and how the unit moves aboard
Deck space is the constraint a paper specification cannot settle. Measure the narrowest clear gap the unit has to pass, the width of side deck it has to cross, and every step, hatch, gangway or bulwark between the water point and the area being cleaned. A driving-style unit suited to a quayside or a hard-stander becomes a liability where the work sits a beam-wide side deck away from the supply. The PowerDe cleaning equipment range covers fixed, hand-pushed and driving-style movement forms, so the question to send is which form fits the route, not which model to buy.
Record reach at the working position too: hose length, wand extension, and how far the operator walks from the unit to the far end of the deck. Confirm power and water at the point of work rather than on the pontoon. On afloat and marina sites, note how the unit is supplied where it stands, whether a battery variant is needed on deck, and where loosened residue and run-off are contained and disposed of under local rules.
State the working window around the tide or haul-out
Send the window the job actually has, including the time to isolate, cool, mask, contain and return the deck to service, and the fixed points around it: a tidal berth, a booked crane, a haul-out date, a delivery date. That window decides whether one machine covers the whole deck or the crew works in sections, and whether the cleaning happens afloat or ashore after lifting.
Then ask for one measured trial on the worst area of the vessel, and record the variables that produced the result: steam mode, dwell time, nozzle distance and angle, number of passes. Set a written pass-or-fail finish the crew can check without a gauge, and keep the trial settings as the reference for the rest of the fleet. Any application not already documented on the product page should be agreed in writing as a defined scope before it is priced.
Separate what is documented from what is custom
Product pages list what a model is documented for, and marine deck work may not be on that list. Treat the gap as a specification question rather than an assumption. The items to have in writing are duty cycle, hose and wand lengths, the nozzle and lance set for non-skid patterns and rub rails, spares, service response in the region where the vessel is based, and what falls outside warranty. Where the requirement does not match a catalogue configuration, customized steam cleaning equipment is the route that answers against a written brief.
Shenzhen PowerDe Automation Precision Equipment states that it works to a written process requirement, with customised configurations and technical support. That matters here because a properly recorded trial, even an inconclusive one, is the most useful thing to attach to an enquiry: it turns "will this work on my deck" into a scope both sides can price.
Send a site sheet and require an answer against it
The sheet that produces a quotable answer is short. Deck areas and their surfaces. Each named deposit, with photographs of the worst case. Measurements of clear gaps, steps and reach. The supply available at the working position and the containment or drainage arrangement. The measured working window. The trial result with its recorded settings. Ask the supplier to answer point by point against that sheet, and treat any figure not published on the product page as a question in writing rather than an assumption.
A quote is comparable only when every bidder has been given the same sheet. Keep the written answer with the purchase record, and let it become the starting specification for the next vessel in the yard instead of starting again from a single line about deck cleaning.
