Sunbrella cover shrank during storage

[Pistol Pete]

Hey guys,

End of last summer I washed and stored my good sunbrella cover in a large plastic box.

I went to put it on yesterday and it had shrank about 1' in the long direction and 6" on either short side.

I let it sit in the blazing sun all day thinking it would relax, no go.

Now, I'm hosing it with water and pulling on it to try to stretch it back to fit but, it's going slow.

Any ideas?

[jetskipro550]

Soak in some hot water and then start strecthing!

[Pistol Pete]

Thanks Pat,

Anyone else? I gotta get this on today or, the other cover goes back on.

[Baddog]

Even when mine is not shrunken (much) I have to sit on the transom and scootch my butt forward to pull it taught enough to snap. Might try the big butt movement method.

[Pistol Pete]

Just so you guys know.

I talked to the company that makes Sunbrella and they said that extreme heat will cause the material to shrink. They said when washing it to use cold to luke warm water.

This doens't explain what happened to my 5 year old cover that I've washed many times in luke warm water with no soap but, thought I'd pass it along. I've been soaking the cover and it relaxed a little. So, for $800 I'm gonna use it for the summer.

[WakeGirl]

Interesting. How do you wash it? Do you take it to a laundramat?

[RoverOn]

Just so you guys know.

I talked to the company that makes Sunbrella and they said that extreme heat will cause the material to shrink. They said when washing it to use cold to luke warm water.

This doens't explain what happened to my 5 year old cover that I've washed many times in luke warm water with no soap but, thought I'd pass it along. I've been soaking the cover and it relaxed a little. So, for $800 I'm gonna use it for the summer.

So if mine stretched, I can put it in the dryer to fix it?

Hmmm.....

[Pistol Pete]

Tracie,

I've always just thrown it in the biggest commercial washer I can find. I know a place that has a triple or quadruple load washer. I always wash with no soap and do it twice. I usually don't bother trying to dry it in a dryer, just throw it on the boat on a sunny day and it's dry in about 1-2 hrs. Then, I nuke it with 303 fabric gard.

As far as heat, when this cover was in storage in my basement, it's pretty cool and almost damp year round. On the other hand, when the cover is on the boat in the hot cali. sun, if you pull the cover off and put your hand on the front stainless hand rails, you can't keep it there. So, the cover sees a LOT of heat when it's just sitting doing it's job. Go figure.

[VinRLX]

I think people may be VERY surprised how hot it gets inside the boat with the cover on--even in the north, and even when it isn't that hot outside. I've got a wireless temp gauge that has been in there on occasion and was amazed at the interior temp.