Solara Boat Upholstry Stains or fungus???

[shennes]

We purchased a Solara boat that had a couple of upholstery "stains" on the seats. We have tried everything to remove these stains and they do fade after awhile but they come back even bigger. We think it may be some kind of fungus in the material. Are there any other Solara boat owners out there or other boat owners that have had this problem? How did you get rid of it? It has spread to all of the seats now and looks terrible. It is a brownish stain (fungus).

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Solara Boat Upholstry Stains or fungus???

It's actually mildew, and it's tough to fight. After you get the stains knocked back down keep your boat as dry as possible, covered or garaged and use a dampness removing product like Damp-rid or others.

 

[frantically relaxing]

Re: Solara Boat Upholstry Stains or fungus???

Could be the vinyl itself-- Some friends have a 25' Bennington, 2008 or 2009, and starting at about 3 years old the tan upholstery started to develop blotches, mostly on the tops of the backrests, kind of a brownish color, not grayish like mildew. Since the boat cover was brown they thought the cover might be causing it, but any protection from the cover they tried didn't help. It just got worse, blotches developed along the seat edges, where the cover couldn't be blamed... Last summer Bennington acknowledged to them they've had problems with the vinyl used in their boat. They were supposed to replace all the upholstery, but as of yet that hasn't happened.

I'm not sure what it is exactly, haven't spoken to them in awhile, but I don't think it's mildew or mold because it's almost always gray colored. Could be some sort of fungus, might be dye bleed of some kind?

What color are your stains?