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cleaning boat cover


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I have always wondered the same thing...

Seems kind of hard to clean since the water is repelled off. Mine sits in the garage year round with the cover on unless I am letting it air out after a day on the lake.

FWIW, I take a soft bristle kitchen broom and sweep any dust and pollen build up that gets on mine in the spring, but that is not necessarily "cleaning" it.

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How do Ii clean my boat cover? It is 8 yrs old never out in sun light. The boat is stired in a portable garage. It is full of pollin and just looks dirty.
I clean my driveway with a pressure washer, then I lay down my boat cover and lightly pressure wash it and scrub it with a soft brush. 303 makes a fabric cleaner for boat covers. I do both sides, and let it dry. Once it is good and dry I spray it with 303 fabric protectant to seal it and repel water. The product from 303 is different then the one used for vinyl.
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I've got an old car, 98 Dodge Stratus, and I'm think of washing the car one day and then put the boat cover over the car and washing the boat cover that way. Then water proof the cover with 303, something from 3M or Scotch Brand.

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I wash mine on the boat. I tie it down good and make sure all the water will drain off and then wash it just like a car with a bucket and a wash mitt. Rinse and dry just like a car also.

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I've washed mine in a commercial washer.. worked great. 303'd with the fabric protectant after, using a garden sprayer.

That's how I've done mine for years. But, it's interesting to hear how other people do theirs.

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Maybe use the large washers at a laundry mat, there are usually a couple that are a couple sizes larger than the standard washer.

That has to be one big a** washer, when my cover is rolled up I don't think it would fit in one of those. I must be wrong because I don't usually go the laundry mat but I've never seen one that big before :unsure:

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I do the commercial washer thing too at the end of the season. Most of the larger places have two or three REALLY big machines in the back that take $4.00 or $5.00 in quarters to run. The cover for my RLXi fits in with some room to spare so I would think that the bigger covers would fit in too. I run mine thru twice to make sure the embedded bird $hit is all out.

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With the 3 Sunbrella covers that I have had over the past 19 years I've used our washer at home, large capacity heavy duty Whirlpool. Every fall I would just soak the cover in hot water and a little beach for a 1/2 hour, then rinse and spin a couple of times, put it in the dryer on low, then fold it up and store it for the winter. In the spring I would re-water proof it. I got the direction from Glen Raven Mills back in the 90's when I used to have a bright yellow cover and by the end of the year you would start to see a little mildew starting to show between the treads where the water would pool slightly. By the way the washer is over 20 years old and sill working fine. Thumbup.gif

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I've been tempted to wash mine in the washer too as I've heard of people doing this. What temp did you use ... would hate to have the cover shrink ... maybe warm would be ok?

Maybe thow some 303 in the final rinse ROFL.gif

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Maybe use the large washers at a laundry mat, there are usually a couple that are a couple sizes larger than the standard washer.

That has to be one big a** washer, when my cover is rolled up I don't think it would fit in one of those. I must be wrong because I don't usually go the laundry mat but I've never seen one that big before :unsure:

I am with Tony on this one.....I have never seen a washer that would handle my cover. Even if I could shove it into one of those washers, there would be no room for it to agitate and get clean.

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I've used a "triple load" washer at a large laundry mat. As stated earlier, some of the large laundry mats have washers this size. (me and Chrissy could fit inside one) Anyway, when I do mine, I run the washer with no soap in cold water. When it's done, I pull the cover out, turn it "inside out" and wash it again with no soap. It's sort of like washing a sleeping bag and the size of it makes it tend to ball-up inside the washer, that's why I pull it out and do it again.

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I've used a "triple load" washer at a large laundry mat. As stated earlier, some of the large laundry mats have washers this size. (me and Chrissy could fit inside one) Anyway, when I do mine, I run the washer with no soap in cold water. When it's done, I pull the cover out, turn it "inside out" and wash it again with no soap. It's sort of like washing a sleeping bag and the size of it makes it tend to ball-up inside the washer, that's why I pull it out and do it again.

now I have been inside and large dryer at the laundry mat (yes beer was involved).....I have never tried the washer....kudos to you and Chrissy.

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  • 2 months later...

Bump for a good topic....

I used Pete's method for washing a cover for the first time today & it worked really well. I've never done it that way before & I had to do a little searching around town to find a laundromat with a large enough washer. After trying a lot of different methods over the years I have to admit that this is the only way to go. When I put it in at first it actually didn't take up as much room as the washer said that it should (it was one of those machines that said that it has to be really full to spin out correctly), so I pulled it out & unrolled it then stuffed it back in sort of half-hazardly. That filled the machine. I ran it through twice, first time with a little Woolite for Darks (actually I think that I put a little too much soap in) & the second with no soap to be sure that it was good & rinsed. If I hadn't put so much soap in the first time, I'm pretty sure that 1 round would have been fine. It's sitting on the boat drying right now. It was soooooo much easier than anything else that we've done in the past.

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I'm glad you tried my method, Tracie.

When I would insert the cover I would have it just randomly bundled up. Not rolled up or folded in any sort of neat way.

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I'm glad you tried my method, Tracie.

When I would insert the cover I would have it just randomly bundled up. Not rolled up or folded in any sort of neat way.

Yeah, I think that the whole process is more thorough if it isn't rolled up, just a suspicion. Mine had been looking a little dingy, but it looks fantastic now.

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  • 4 months later...

I just washed my cover the other day at the only laundry mat that I know has a large enough machine. It was a Maytag Commercial 8 load washer that I've been using. It stands almost 5' tall by about 3' wide by about 4' deep. It cost $6.75 per load. I ran the boat cover in it once using woolite dark, then did a second wash after pulling the cover out and re-inserting it and ran it with no soap and it came out looking almost new. You gotta realize, I'm using the factory Westland cover that came with the boat and it's knocking on 8 years old being stored outside all it's life.

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Edited by Pistol Pete
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  • 2 months later...

Anybody used a washing machine with a Rankin cover? There is vinyl and some metal on it and I was wondering if there are any issues with that. I was just thinking my cover looks pretty dingy. It may be a project for the spring.

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