Cleaning Sharkskin boat cover advice

[JAL51974]

I am getting ready to clean this cover, has been off the boat now in my garage for several months, but has some mold stains on the inside part of the cover. any suggestions on cleaning agents to use or avoid? I was thinking of using an Oxyclean/water solution and scrub brush then rinse real good.

Joe

 

[jeffnick]

Re: Cleaning Sharkskin boat cover advice

I've had mildew on the inside of my Sharkskin cover for over 5 years. You can spend a lot of time cleaning it off, but it will come back. I finally decided that it isn't worth the effort/worry to ty to keep the cover mildew free, as I felt all I was doing was scrubbing life out of the cover.

 

[jonewby]

Re: Cleaning Sharkskin boat cover advice

I used a Lysol anti-mildew product last summer and it not only cleaned the mold/mildew, but also washed the "waterproofing" out of the cover. I didn't realize that my cover no longer shead water and ended up with a wet boat. A friend later suggested to just hang the cover out on a nice sunny day and forget the stains. BTW it took about 5 cans of spray waterproofing to restore. Orange cap cans in the camping department at Walmart.

 

[JAL51974]

Re: Cleaning Sharkskin boat cover advice

I tried the oxyclean solution yesterday, and it only took some of it off, I hope it didn't screw up the waterproofing! It is pretty gentle on fabrics but does take a lot of dirt off things too. Do you find that the boat itself gets some mildew from the cover? Mine did towards the end of the season when I wasn't using it regularly. I use plastic wrap and a plastic tarp over that for the winter storage and put the boat under my back porch which keeps most of the snow off the tarps. So the sharkskin cover stays inside for the winter.

I may call Westland, the manufacturer tomorrow and see what they suggest I will let you know.

Joe

 

[Greer]

Re: Cleaning Sharkskin boat cover advice

I screwed up this year and bought a White Bimni sharkskin top I have tried everything including clorox it will not come clean,never again will I buy this material.

 

[JAL51974]

Re: Cleaning Sharkskin boat cover advice

Westland the manufacturer of my cover recommends using only mild laundry detergent and a scrub brush or broom to clean it with per their customer service dept. I informed them that I had used a weak solution of water +Oxyclean with no ill effects on the Sharkskin fabric that I could see. I will try a laundry detergent like Dreft or Ivory on a small section and see what that accomplishes. the main thing they advised is to not use any harsch cleaning agents or the waterproofing will get ruined in the fabric. Will let you know how this progresses.

 

[JAL51974]

Re: Cleaning Sharkskin boat cover advice

I tried the Ivory detergent on a small spot of the cover with no real difference. I guess I'll let it dry really good and store it for now. Next spring I will cover the boat clean side down and let the sun bleach out the stains on the topside.

Joe