2017 Vinyl

[Fman]

Is the new 2017 vinyl fabric "cooler" in the sun than the 2015 models?  I know my dealer had some different samples of textures they are using.  Wondering if it will be less prone to heating up than my 2015. Between selling my vlx, selling a house and buying a house I really did not have much time to do research.  I quickly put together my order and am hoping for the best that the 2017 vinyl is better quality and dissipates heat.

Has anyone had any experiences with the new stuff?

[mikeo]

I'm not sure about the 2017 vinyl, but I had terry cloth seat covers made from Costco towels to protect the seats and make sure things stayed cool for everyone. I don't want to turn this in to a thread-jack, but if the vinyl isn't cool enough once you have it out a few times then seat covers may be the way to go. I wish I had decent pictures of the seat covers to post here...

[Fman]

@mikeo I went with light interior colors just for this reason.  I had light graphite in my 2013 and as much as I liked the look of it there was a huge temp difference from it compared to moonbeam or white.

[bbattiste247]

There was a lot of discussion about the new vinyl when it first came out in 2016, but after having a 2016 for a year and a half, I am very happy with the new vinyl. My boat interior is nearly all white and I boat on Lake Mead in the desert with most days above 100. We had no problems with the vinyl getting hot and we were particularly impressed with how well it holds up. After 160 hours, my vinyl has held up very well; it still looks nearly brand new. 

[hethj7]

What he said - I like the new stuff.   I need to take a toothbrush to a few stubborn spots (spider poo seems to be tough to get out in some areas), but overall I really like the new vinyl.  Search for 2016 vinyl and you can probably find all those old threads for opinions. 

The hottest part of my boat is the flooring.  

[ORMailbuboater]

New vinyl was a big improvement over my 2001 Sunsetter.  The fabric does still heat up but nearly as much less.  

One thing to be concerned about is the color is NOT the same between fabric types used.    There are slight variations in the colors.  So matching was a bit more "fun" if you do not want several shades of dark blue or white and off white.  Make sure that when you spec'd white it was not next to another white (perforated) that will be different in shade.  

My dealer had samples of all the materials with the colors so we knew how each fabric type looked in each color.  Hope that makes sense.  

Edited February 20, 2017 by ORMailbuboater

[Fman]

2 hours ago, ORMailbuboater said:

New vinyl was a big improvement over my 2001 Sunsetter.  The fabric does still heat up but nearly as much less.  

One thing to be concerned about is the color is NOT the same between fabric types used.    There are slight variations in the colors.  So matching was a bit more "fun" if you do not want several shades of dark blue or white and off white.  Make sure that when you spec'd white it was not next to another white (perforated) that will be different in shade.  

My dealer had samples of all the materials with the colors so we knew how each fabric type looked in each color.  Hope that makes sense.  

Yeah Malibu white has always been a vanilla white imo.  Not near as bright of a white as other makers use.