HELP! Cleaner stained my boat seats! Now what???

martyweir

Cadet
Joined
Aug 1, 2008
Messages
14
Hey all, Before I put my boat in the water last weekend I gave it the usual wash down and cleaned the vinyl seats as well due to some heavy dust, dirt, and black stinkbug stains that they leave on things (if you havem you know what I mean - duno if it's eggs or what) which was on there from the winter of being stored in my garage. I usually just use soap and water for all, but this didn't cut it and I read online that WINDEX MULTI SURFACE cleaner - the purple stuff will cut heavy dirt better than dish soap, so I used this first and followed up with Soap and warm water. Before I used it I also checked on their website to verify that it is safe on vinyl, which it states that it is.

WARNING: See attached pictures for the results. I sprayed it directly onto the seat cushions and wiped it around immediately, and you can see the damage this caused. I rinsed with dish soap and water immediately after followed by a water hose down to rinse it all away. The staining did not show up right away. It seems that the sun brought it out more as the week went on I guess and last night I was down to the boat and couldn't believe how bad it had become! I scrubbed it again with water to try to rinse any residue away, but it seems like it's eaten into the vinyl fabric... Notice the seat cushion to the left - I think my rag was so saturated by the time I got to that one that I didn't have to spray it directly on that cushion if I remember correctly. Also on the rear seats! Any suggestions? I think I have to get the seats recovered! Not happy...

Has anyone else had any luck getting stains out of vinyl??? What products might help?
20130605_191806_resized.jpg
 

BobGinCO

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 22, 2012
Messages
539
Re: HELP! Cleaner stained my boat seats! Now what???

Dang, that one stain is as big as a CHOCOLATE LAB!!!

I hear you can get those out with a little pork sausage.

Are you sure your cushions aren't light brown, and you're FINALLY removing that nasty grey stuff? :facepalm:
 

shrew

Lieutenant
Joined
Dec 29, 2006
Messages
1,309
Re: HELP! Cleaner stained my boat seats! Now what???

"In don't understand why i have to pay so much money for marine grade products!! Why should I pay $20.00 for a bottle of marine vinyl cleaner, when I can buy great products at the grocery store at half the price?"
 

briangcc

Commander
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
2,394
Re: HELP! Cleaner stained my boat seats! Now what???

I'm not so sure that the PO didn't vinyl dye your seats and the cleaner didn't lift that off exposing the original color underneath.

In any event...vinyl dye will get you a cover layer on the vinyl but since its a high wear area don't be too surprised if you're re-applying it several times over the course of a season or two. Considering the wear on some of those cushions, it may be time to bite the bullet and reupholster.
 

tpenfield

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jul 18, 2011
Messages
18,137
Re: HELP! Cleaner stained my boat seats! Now what???

Good thing you didn't spray any on the dog . . .

Those are more like burn marks than stain marks . . . Kind of like pouring bleach directly on your favorite shirt :eek:

your best bet would be vinyl paint at this point.

For the future, watered down cleaners from the bucket . . .
 

Dawg'sLife93

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
May 4, 2013
Messages
245
Re: HELP! Cleaner stained my boat seats! Now what???

Looks like "ladera" is a good color match...

If you follow the directions and give it proper dry time, that dye lasts a long time. I did the seats in a play jeep 5 or 6 years ago, they still look good. It sits outside with nothing covering it most of that time.
 

martyweir

Cadet
Joined
Aug 1, 2008
Messages
14
Re: HELP! Cleaner stained my boat seats! Now what???

Thanks all! I'm gonna figure out which is a better way, vinyl dye or paint the seats... I've done the latter on my CJ7 seats. I also think you might be right that these seats were dyed.
 

Malibu Rudder

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jul 10, 2012
Messages
115
Re: HELP! Cleaner stained my boat seats! Now what???

The only safe products to use are marine only. Unfortunately the only safe way is to allow the sun to eliminate the stains. In your case if they were dyed seats then the options listed above are your next steps. Good luck and I am sorry this happened.
 

captain zac

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Oct 15, 2007
Messages
270
Re: HELP! Cleaner stained my boat seats! Now what???

It looks to me that the seats were left uncovered for a long period of time
the vinyl has lost its integrity and when you put the solvent on the material was too far gone

Harry
 

frantically relaxing

Senior Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Nov 19, 2011
Messages
699
Re: HELP! Cleaner stained my boat seats! Now what???

I'm not so sure that the PO didn't vinyl dye your seats and the cleaner didn't lift that off exposing the original color underneath..

My bet is that's exactly what happened.

Some friends with an '09 Bennington 2570 had all their seats "burn up" like that. Except that all the burning happened over the winter of 2011 while covered. And they found a guy who "painted" the seats, and they looked REALLY good. In the meantime, they found out Bennington was having issues with that vintage of seats, and Bennington wanted to see theirs. Not sure what they used to clean the paint off, but they said it wasn't all that hard to GET off. They're in the process of getting Bennington to replace the seats--

Seems that's a trait of certain types of vinyl.

And staining vinyl like that is NOT a trait of most cleaners. But removing add-on substances IS...
 
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