About us
MADE BY SUPERYACHT CREW, CHEMISTS AND DETAILERS - FOR CREW.
Fourteen years of finding out what marine cleaners really do, and printing it on the bottle.
We believe our marine detailing products are the best in the industry. Why? Because we believe in transparent honesty, quality ingredients & real world large as well as small vessel testing.
Our products are developed with the mindset of 'Every marine cleaning detail needs from the top down, to encompass every element of a professional super yacht wash down that can then be shared with every day sailors. By creating our products this way we follow the following principles:
- What is the target material needing to be detailed?
Linear polyurethanes, acrylics, gelcoat, 316 Stainless, 304 Stainless, Plantation Teak, Synthetic polymer teak, foam decks, Burmese Teak, Marine Vinyl Upholstery, Canvas, Stamoid, Hypalon, PVC inflatables, Non Skid, Glass, Tempered Glass, 2 part Varnish finishes, Single Part Varnish finishes, Plastics (that yellow or oxidize), Caulking, Clear Plastics, Flexible plastics etc.
- What are the current and known issues?
Rust, oxidation, pigmented iron, failing sealants, mineral deposits, mould, tarnishing, greying, black marks, glue marks, failing paint/ gelcoat etc.
- What is the average maintenance period and environmental factors?
- What chemicals or compound elements are the best for the job at hand?
- What is the current status quo for products?
- How will the crew be positioned when using the product?
- What transfer packaging bottle medium is optimal
Silicone squeeze cap, Chemical proof sprayer, non chemical sprayer, bottle, flat screw cap, HDPE Bottles, LDPE Bottles, PET Bottles, Wheatsraw bottles, Squeezable or non squeezable labels,
[2012 / How it started]
We know what yacht maintenance costs you, because we’ve paid it
Simple Sailor was founded in 2012 by two Master 3000 captains with more than fifty years between them — from the Royal Navy to Antarctic Survey missions to the world’s largest superyachts. We wanted cleaning products that worked without the usual trade-offs, and we could not buy them anywhere.
So we built a team to make them: a biologist and chemist, a superyacht captain, and an industrial chemist we pirated from one of the big marine cleaner brands. Family-run, still. Everything we make is tested on real vessels in real conditions — not only on a bench.
[2012–now / The research]
What we found in the aisle
Most marine cleaners sold as “biodegradable” or “MARPOL compliant” contain acute aquatic toxins, carry misleading safety data, or are repackaged car soap — and are then marketed for rinsing straight overboard into the water you’re floating in.
The endorsement logos on the front are usually designed rather than earned. No published metric, no test data, no method, no way to check. A badge is not a standard.
That frustration became the work. We went through enzymes, organics and industrial chemistry looking for the shortest honest route to doing a job properly the first time — with the least ocean toxicity and the least user toxicity we could reach while the product still actually worked.
THREE PHRASES YOU WILL NEVER READ ON OUR BOTTLES
Biodegradable. Eco friendly. Non toxic.
No company can honestly make those claims. Dose is what makes a thing toxic — even fresh water harms the ocean in enough quantity. So we don’t say it.
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[The method / In-use design]
What we do instead
We pick the safest ingredients that will genuinely do the job, then design each product around how it is actually used.
Where the metrics support rinsing overboard — rapid degradation, low aquatic impact — we formulate for it and publish the numbers. Where they don’t, we say so. A PTFE metal polish or a nonskid cleaner should never be designed to enter the water, and pretending otherwise is worse than admitting it.
We would rather tell you which of our products belongs in the sea and which doesn’t than wave a hand at the whole range and call it ocean safe. Simple.
[Disclosure / Full ingredients]
And what we do truthfully state
Every ingredient, what each one is there to do, and every hazard that comes with it.
Look at the bottles under your galley sink. A label with no signal word and no GHS pictogram is not always a gentler product — often it is simply a less honest label, or one written to stay below a threshold rather than above a standard.
Full disclosure means our bottles sometimes carry warnings our competitors’ don’t. We’ll take that trade every time. If you can’t read what’s in it, you can’t decide whether it belongs on your deck.
[2021 / The Yot Lab™]
We stopped renting other people’s chemistry
By 2019, demand had outgrown what we could produce, so we went looking for space of our own. We found it in 2021 in Jupiter, Florida — a property with a warehouse barn that became the SuperYacht Lab.
We don’t white-label. Buying an existing formula off a contract manufacturer and putting our name on it would have been cheaper up front, and it would have cost us the only thing we’re really selling. Instead we develop in-house against problems the industry brings us — teak mould, pink staining in vinyl, teak cleaners aggressive enough to eat the wood they’re cleaning — and test them the same day. Two specialist outside labs then handle stabilisation and scale-up.
That structure is the whole trick. It lets us keep our development method proprietary while disclosing everything in the bottle. The secret is how we get there, not what’s in it.
OUR MISSION
To be the global vanguard of marine detailing standards. The salt standard — simply good, a complex necessity, pure at heart.
500+ Of the world’s largest superyachts | 1,000+ Owners buying direct | 2012 Formulating for crew, by crew | 100% Of ingredients disclosed on every label
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[2026 / What’s next]
A relaunch, and a louder unhinged discussion
What began as a hunt for the best teak cleaner is now a full voyage, taking in thousands of vessels including more than five hundred of the world’s largest superyachts.
This year brings a brand relaunch and an expanded product and tools line following our patent filing. More than a thousand individual owners now buy from us directly. And we’re taking the unhinged discussion about ocean stewardship to the industry at large, rather than leaving it on our own labels where only our own customers read it.
The goal hasn’t moved: better products for better boat care, done right the first time, with no hidden “proprietary trade secrets” where an ingredient list ought to be.
From all of us at Simple Sailor Marine — thank you for being true.
The crew · Jupiter, Florida