Hire boat cleaners: the unsung team
AS WE watch autumn slowly move towards winter, I often think back to early April and the hire boat season’s start. At Foxh angers Hire Boat Holidays it is always busy from day one.
During the latter part of the winter break the hire fleet gets fully prepped and readied for the initial arrival of hirers. It’s only during this post-winter fleet preparation period that there isn’t the turnaround pressure which commences immediately after the first holiday boats return to the wharf.
However, after the first lot of boat hirers have been out and returned, the work program me picks up in pace. Thereafter and until late October the turnaround work is constant and cyclic.
Previously, I’ve written about the handover staff, who aside from doing handovers will ready the boats and carry out the all-important internal and external checks. This wharf maintenance team obviously includes the engineers who play a vital role in servicing engines and fixing or rectifying all sorts of other technical issues in order to ready a boat before it once more departs the wharf.
Ideally, and when there are about 10 boats being readied during a four-to-five-hour window, one certainly doesn’t want glitches. Any problem arising of a serious nature can have a ripple effect which in a worst-case scenario may possibly lead to the delayed departure of a particular boat, while the hirer sits patiently waiting. It goes without saying such a scenario isn’t exactly good for business.
In terms of visibility, the handover staff are usually the ones who are always seen and during the handover phase they interact with the boat hirers and quite often they get to know each other as the seasons pass by. However, and having said that, thereare other equally important team players at the wharf who are seldom seen by the public, and can at best probably be referred to as the ‘unsung heroes’. These are the cleaning teams who have a fairly thankless task, albeit an extremely important one.
The Fox hangers hire boat cleaning staff work in teams of two to three and when they board a recently vacated boat, the interior soon becomes a frenzied scene of polishing, vacuuming, electric extension cords and cleaning materials.
One teammember tackles the crockery and cutlery, another the shower and toilet cubicles and a third the cabins, stripping the beds of linen, and after thoroughly vacuuming the passageways and cabin space, replacing the linen. All of the spoiled linen and replacement linen has tobe carried on and off the boats. At times when fleet vessels are rafted together this constant cross-decking by the cleaning teams may call for a tricky balancing act.
Washing cutlery and crockery to a highstandard of sanitary hygiene is important, as is thoroughly cleaning stoves and fridges and the entire galley surrounds and saloon area. Not all hire boater shave a sense of pride in keeping the boat clean and at times boats are returned in rather an untidy state which leaves a lot to be desired; fortunately though, this seldom occurs.
As soon as a boat has been completely cleaned internally and externally, one of the teammembers goes through the boat with a checklist ticking off all the pertinent boxes. Only then is the boat signed off as having the housekeeping completed.
Invariably when boat hirers first board, they remark about how beautifully clean the vessel is throughout. Not many realise just howmuch work is involved within a four-hour window to get the boat to such a high standard, and it’s all the result of teamwork by an extremely dedicated few.