Consumer feedback from a recent (2018) Drive In Boat Wash user survey is very positive. Bosö Boat Club in Stockholm introduced BIGWASH. Iin 2015 as a key strategy in its environmental policy. With its main goal to reduce toxic emissions from antifouling, BIGWASH facilitated the 600+ club members to adopt a regular boat washing maintenance program as a sustainable alternative to antifouling.

Three years after installing a BIGWASH hull cleaning machine, Bosö Boat Club conducted a user survey among their 600+ club members. Of the respondents, just over 50% were sailboat owners with the remaining 49% motorboat owners.

Here are some of the findings.

Survey Findings

Satisfaction Rates

95.1% of the respondents say they are very satisfied with the BIGWASH facility for the boat club with 87% stating they would continue using BIGWASH as their preferred boat maintenance programme as opposed to antifouling.

On a rated scale (1-6), 59% of respondents rate the quality of the wash as either good or very good. 27% rate the wash as satisfactory with 14% rating it as unsatisfactory.

Washing Frequency

When asked about how frequently boat owners wash their boat, 61% say they clean their boat in the machine two to three times per season, 10% say they clean their boats more than 3 times per season, and 29% say they clean their boat only once each season. (A typical boating season in the Stockholm archipelago is from 4-5 months.)

Environmental Awareness

70% of members endorse the boat club’s environmental policy and are proud
that their club works proactively for sustainable environmental change. To learn more about Bosö boat club’s environment policy, see the video interview with Robbie Bergqvist.

How Bosö Boat Club Reduced Anti-Fouling Usage by 90%

User Options

The boat wash machine at Bosö is setup for self service, however it is also manned at certain hours and days during the week. Out of the respondents, 77% say they use the self service option, whereas 23% wash their boats when the machine is manned.