Upholstery Cleaning

[Stratohammer]

I just can't believe how great this stuff works!

I reupholstered my boat 6 years ago. See http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...hull-repair/458302-1989-sea-ray-160br-refresh

It hasn't been used much and lives under a carport with a cover installed (mostly). We cleaned it up last spring and I was very disappointed by the amount of mold stain on the vinyl. I used everything in my arsenal and It still looked pretty awful. We ended up not even going out in the boat last year due to a lack of time. I went out this afternoon to see if it would start and to clean it up well enough to hit the lake this weekend - then on to Craig's List.

So, I scrubbed the vinyl with Simple Green Extreme Aircraft and Precision Cleaner and to my amazement, the white vinyl was white again! I can't say that every bit of the mold stain is 100% gone, but it cleaned up amazingly fast and really well. I've seen regular Simple Green cause damage because it is so alkaline, but this stuff didn't mar the aluminum.

Your experience may vary from mine, but I was so impressed I just had to share my experience. Now, if I could just get the gelcoat to shine again without a ton of work or smearing Vaseline all over it...

Mike

 

[Old Ironmaker]

It all depends on the material being cleaned. For vinyl I always swore by Spray 9 cleaner until I discovered the Eagle Brand products sold here as well. They have a great line up. They sponsor this forum as well. For cloth upholstery I searched for years for something that worked. None of those foams from a can with the plastic scrub brush cleaned anything. If anything they left spots and the stiff plastic brushes damaged the cloth and nylon. I now just spray some Spray 9 on and wipe off with a soft cloth. I can't get all Eagle products up here. To get that gel coat shiny again get some Maguire's anti oxidizer and use a good power buffer with the short pile pad to apply and remove with the deep pile. You don not need much, a bottle did a 26 foot glass boat and a 21 foot aluminum. Wax with Mothers afterwards.

The links won't open for me.

 

[tpenfield]

I recall doing some search/research on cleaning chemicals and came across " Propylene Glycol Butyl Ether" (or "PnB Glycol Ether") as an ingredient, if I recall correctly, which this Simple Green product seems to have. It cleans where other cleaners won't. In my case I was looking to clean white aluminum gutters that had become gray with mineral deposits. Bleach and everything else I tried wouldn't clean them at all.

I can't remember what cleaning product I ended up using, but it had the "PnB Glycol Ether" and made those aluminum gutter as white as the day they were installed with little effort.

I'll have to keep this Simple Green (or similar products) in mind for the next cleaning of the boat.