Some people spend more time cleaning their boat than actually out on the water with it! Use your boat for what it was made for; having a great time! If you want to clean your marine upholstery, then leave it to the experts. Call us today and get your boat shipshape (sorry!) and get back out on the water where you belong. If you do want to give your boat a once-over, then there are ways to do it properly. Check out these tips when it comes to proper marine upholstery cleaning.
Do
To start with, clean off any vinyl upholstery with a damp cloth. This will remove all the dirt, grime and sea-salt on your upholstery. You may want to follow this by applying a quality vinyl cleaners/protectant and again wiping off the surface. Once you’ve got rid of any dirt or grime, spray on a light layer of furniture polish, and then wipe off with a clean cloth. This will help prevent stains and add life to your marine upholstery.
If you have mildew on your vinyl, then use a deck brush with soft bristles and using a water/ammonia mix (4/1) give it a scrub. Follow that up with a rinse and repeat if needed. If there are some stubborn stains, then there are over the counter vinyl cleaning products that should help.
Don’t
Don’t use harsh abrasives when it comes to cleaning marine upholstery. Solvents like household bleach, chlorine based cleaning solutions or mentholated spirit will removed the top coat of the vinyl that’s used for protection. It’s the same for and silicone or petroleum based products. These will extract the plasticizers in the vinyl, leave it hard and brittle, and eventually cracking may occur. Vinyl is a porous material, similar to leather, and as such must be allowed to breathe.