Vinyl mildew help

[bboozer]

I need some help with cleaning the vinyl on my rear lockers (2007 Wakesetter VLX). Last summer (2016) when we put the boat away for the year I left the rear lockers open to drain the lids and air out the compartments. (I store the boat in a garage at our lake house) well I didn't ever close the lockers and this year I had stains at the outside edges close to the hinges.. I initially thought that it might be rust stains, but after looking at it closer and thinking a little more, I believe that it may be mildew from where the water drained down. Does anyone have a miracle cleaner, or suggestions of what to try? I am the original owner and take great care of it and even though it's only an inch or two on the outside edges it is bugging me.... I will try and get some pictures later and post them later. 

[tvano]

sunlight is one of the best stain removers.

[Bill_AirJunky]

Yea, it's probably mildew between the vinyl & the foam.... typical on these boats. Sunlight is the best thing for it.

[bboozer]

I wish that the sunlight alone would fix it, but we were out on the water just about every weekend this summer and it is still there. I will try and post some pictures, but it has been a while since I have here and I am going to have to figure out how to post them

[Slurpee]

Does it look like this?

[bboozer]

Yes Slurpee it does look like the orangish /brown stains, just mine are on the sides since my boat just has the 2 hatches that hinge to the outside and the stains are at the bottom or outside edges near the hinge and gel coat. I 1st tho with was rust from the hinges, but now think that it might be mildew/mold from the water under the vinyl that drained to the low point and then sat there

Edited September 12, 2017 by bboozer

[Slurpee]

The water is a contributor.  You'll love this. It's the chemicals from the foam underneath the vinyl leaching into the skins and reacting with them to make that brown.  There certainly might be mildew, but I cleaned for that and stored it dry and in the sun for a long time and it just got worse, not better.  Anyways, on my boat what I found was that the foam is bagged or otherwise has some kind of barrier to prevent the foam touching the vinyl.  But over time in those stress points where the vinyl is stretched hard over the foam and the backing board that layer broke down and now you have this problem where the foam (and some glue perhaps) are reacting with the vinyl.  The more silvery colored vinyls from that time period are most susceptible to this from my reading.  And it's definitely backed up by that picture of mine.  No problem at all on the white.  What color is your vinyl with the stains?

Before taking the skins off to have a look (like I read on a bass boat forum) I tried every kind of cleaner, anti-mildew, anti-fungal solution I could find for a good 6 months.  Leaving it out in the sun definitely faded the brown a lot, but it'd be right back after being covered for a while after use.  But even letting it bake for weeks in the Texas sun there was always still a hint of it, and the original silver color was a different tone and texture regardless.

The solution for me was new skins, new foam, and a careful install.  I offered to take care of it for my boat's buyer, or knock $500 of the price and he took the discount instead.  So as far as I know it's still there on the boat to this day.

[bboozer]

Thanks, Slurpee.... Mine is on the Moonbeam (greyish/silver color) so your research supports what I am seeing. And it is also only on the edges where it is stretched tight and wrapped under... I guess I will just have to live with it.... I don't want to spend the $ for new skins... It is an '07 and I am not really in the market for a new boat yet.