We need a sticky for OEM cover cleaning and water proofing

[Evil Sports]

I think its time we did some how 2s on OEM cover maintaining. Mine is 1 season old and I have not done a thing to it. Not the easiest thing to manage when off the boat so lets share your tips and trick on managing these beasts.
Discuss...........

 

[Julian]

I just hosed mine off and scrubbed with a broom the applied waterproofing from bass pro with a sprayer.

 

[Evil Sports]

where did you hose it off, while on the boat??

 

[veedubtek]

I just used this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000221H08/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

on my wife's Audi convertible top and it worked incredibly well. I plan on ordering more for the boat cover.

 

[octavio3311]

I bought a gallon of that 303 Fabric Guard and spray my cover with a pump sprayer. Has held up well.

Bob,
I take the cover off and lay it on the clean driveway, or across my landscape trailer and clean it off with mild detergent & brush and then hose it off. Once dry, I'll follow up with the 303 water repellant.

 

[Julian]

I too laid it on the driveway (cleaned) then hung it over saw horses, ladders etc when I sprayed it.

 

[cane.mba]

I have a sunbrella cover so it may be different but I laid the cover out in the driveway, hosed it off to remove any loose dirt/dust. Then sprayed it down with 303 Fabric and Vinyl Cleaner, scrubbed with a soft bristle brush, and rinsed. I then draped the cover over some saw horses, bicycles, truck to keep it off the ground to dry. Once dry I moved it all inside my garage, and sprayed it down and let it dry for 2 days.

 

[ToddW850]

I bought a gallon of that 303 Fabric Guard and spray my cover with a pump sprayer. Has held up well.

Bob,
I take the cover off and lay it on the clean driveway, or across my landscape trailer and clean it off with mild detergent & brush and then hose it off. Once dry, I'll follow up with the 303 water repellant.

X2 on the gallon of 303 Fabric Guard. Got it from Amazon for $55. Everyone else wanted $100 or more. However I did it while the cover was still on the boat, because that way it was still stretched out (instead of spraying and then stretching)

 

[Papa]

I have a 40' long deck off the back of the house. I clean it there and let it dry. Move it into the basement and spray with 303. Cover lasted a long time. New cover will be treated the same way.

 

[Sacamano]

I have cleaned it and waterproofed it on a tarp on the driveway. It is a pain to get it to lay flat. So the next time I washed and waterproofed it on the boat. I tucked a tarp up under the boat cover so it draped down over the side of the boat and trailer to avoid overspray. Worked well. I make sure to soak the seams with the 303 water repellant. The directions say it should be over 70° and it should dry fast for best results, so I do it in the full sun.

 

[cane.mba]

I have a 40' long deck off the back of the house. I clean it there and let it dry. Move it into the basement and spray with 303. Cover lasted a long time. New cover will be treated the same way.

That is brilliant, I didn't even think of using my back deck. I could hang it from my top deck to clean and dry, and treat!

 

[scokill]

On the manufacturer's tag on my OEM cover (to the best of my recollection) it said not to treat. I haven't, but it would be nice to know if someone with cover exposed 24x7 outside has gotten more the 3-4 years by treating it.

 

[Evil Sports]

On the manufacturer's tag on my OEM cover (to the best of my recollection) it said not to treat.

This is what has kept me from doing anything to this point. Anyone care to chime in on this

 

[txav8r]

Yep, Surelast says not to treat unless absolutely necessary. They say mild detergent and spot clean when needed for stains. Keeping it clean will add to life expectancy because dirt gives a base to mildew and mold. The easiest way to clean it Bob, is on the boat with the anti-pooling poles installed. Get a deck brush with a LONG extension rod. I get a ladder, and use my yard blower to remove as much loose dust/dirt as possible, then I hose it off with clear water. I store indoors and don't use the A/P poles much, so I get the occasional puddle from wind driven rain that gets in the barn roof. That will cause the dust over time to create a little stain. So I will treat that area with detergent. But overall, I don't use detergent except for after my cover was about 3 years old. And it was still repellent, so I didn't try to treat it. Be careful treating it. The shinier side is the protected side, and was the underside on my original cover. Here is the link to cleaning and treating Surelast material covers...

 

[Skysurfer2010]

The best thing I did this year was finally clean and treat my oem cover. I laid it out in grass and cleaned the underside with soap and water using a long extension brush. After it dried I treated the top with a starbrite canvas water proofing found at west marine.

Now when I pull my cover off not only is it dry, but no more highly annoying cover dust! My boat actually looks clean now when I pull the cover off. Going into season 3 now and my cover is still in excellent shape and it stays outside 24/7.

 

[JetPowered]

Any advise or recommendation for a fabric cleaner like 303 Fabric and Vinyl Cleaner (30570) or similar? My cover is older, but not necessarily in bad shape. I don't think it had even been washed in its life and was quite dirty from living inside. Well, it's doesn't live inside any longer and after the first rain storm it became a dirty mess and I started to get mildew in area that didn't vent well like along the gunnels. So now I have mildew stains. I have taken the whole thing off off washed it with water and woolite. The dirt seems to be out but it didn't do anything for the stains. I've thought about spot bleaching to stop further mildew growth (and seeing Mel's link above to the manufacturer recommendation cleaning, I'm thinking more about this) but I haven't wanted to damage the cover.

Once I can reliably get this clean, I'll get it 303 waterproofed and back on the boat. I'm getting tired of drying out the interior after every storm.

Oh well, al least it's raining. This is a good thing for Texas!

 

[maboat]

On the manufacturer's tag on my OEM cover (to the best of my recollection) it said not to treat. I haven't, but it would be nice to know if someone with cover exposed 24x7 outside has gotten more the 3-4 years by treating it.

My boat has been stored outside 24x7 going on 9 years now. I'm on my 3rd cover. First one I did no treatment and it lasted about 4 years. Second one I treated with Scotch-guard every year and it lasted about 4 years (the same).

I'm on in the 1st year of my 3rd cover now and I intend to treat it with some form of water repellent. My experience was that it didn't extend the life of the cover, but it did seem to keep the inside of the boat cleaner when rain rolled off the cover instead of soaking in (and through) the cover.

 

[Julian]

My boat has been stored outside 24x7 going on 9 years now. I'm on my 3rd cover. First one I did no treatment and it lasted about 4 years. Second one I treated with Scotch-guard every year and it lasted about 4 years (the same).

I'm on in the 1st year of my 3rd cover now and I intend to treat it with some form of water repellent. My experience was that it didn't extend the life of the cover, but it did seem to keep the inside of the boat cleaner when rain rolled off the cover instead of soaking in (and through) the cover.

Ditto. My covers (on my 3rd) lasted the same regardless, but with treatment repelled water vs allowing it to soak through.