To bleach or not to bleach.......

[lalnx]

That is my question

Purchased used Sun Tracker, it had been shrinkwraped since 2009. Mildew all over the seats, soaked them in a rainstorm for 4 hours on the way home, then wiped the heavy stuff off, followed the next day with some LA's Totally Awsome concentrated cleaner at about 5to1 ratio. seats cleaned up pretty well, but still have a few more noticable spotting stains, especially on the drivers seat. Anyway, don't want to use mild abrassives, and I know bleach will eat the thread in the seems. What about using a bleach solution carefully applied with a sponge to the worst areas, keeping well away from the seems? If so, how diluted, and how long of contact time before washing with clean water to remove the bleach residue prior to treating with vinyl protectant?

I will be trying a some HPE cleaner, as well as a steam shark prior to the bleach idea.

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: To bleach or not to bleach.......

A lot of people seam to think that shrink wrapping is the way to go and it may be very good in a lot of places but around here in WV all it dose is promote mold growth, in fact their is 32 foot tracker house boat style on the dock here that has been wrapped for 2 years now and I would bet you will need a lawn mower to cut the mold back.

From what little I know about it the mold grows under the surface of the material so you have to use some thing to penetrate that to kill it out.

Most use a 3M product called 303 I also use it with very good results. I tried a product called mold armor over the winter to remove a few stubborn spots with good results, it is suposto be bleach free and it did what it said it would.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: To bleach or not to bleach.......

I use bleach on the seats, the fiberglass, not in the interior and fabrics as that stuff will discolor. the situation usually dictates the concentration that I use. For long standing stains in vinyl, bleach might not do the trick and they may be permanently stained.

Others may have some ideas to deal with the most difficult stains.

For rust stains or mineral-based stains, I have used Iron-out with good results.

 

[OK Toon]

Re: To bleach or not to bleach.......

You might try a Miracle Eraser on the tough spots. We used that and it cleaned up some spots on the seats that the 303 wouldn't cut.

 

[calvinator]

Re: To bleach or not to bleach.......

I've tried them all...... on the 3 boats I've owned.

The combo that works for me is:
a) Clorox Cleanup
b) Magic eraser
c) Turtle Wax ICE Interior Care protectant (smells good, not greasy, and has UV protection).

Buy all at Walmart. Never any damage. My interiors are perfect !

 

[Mi duckdown]

Re: To bleach or not to bleach.......

Google Concrobium.

 

[lalnx]

Re: To bleach or not to bleach.......

Google Concrobium.

this looks interesting for future prevention, and initial cleaning again, but even on there website, they say that embeded stains may need a mechanical means to remove them. I think that is where I am at now. Just don't like the idea of potentially harming the top surface of the vinyl. But oh-well it is 8 years old anyway. Magic eraser looks like the next logical step. I may even just wait a bit now and see if the sun helps me out.

 

[jweckley]

Re: To bleach or not to bleach.......

I would not recommend bleach. The water content used to dilute it can cause more problems than the bleach will.fix. Any of the other mold/mildew removing products should work better and not destroy anything or cause damage.

 

[Jeep Man]

Re: To bleach or not to bleach.......

Magic eraser looks like the next logical step. I may even just wait a bit now and see if the sun helps me out.

After using Magic Eraser wash down the area with warm water.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: To bleach or not to bleach.......

I used the magic eraser with 'black streak remover' .. then rinsed it down good.

Now if you have that Pink mold .. then I think your boned as I know Nothing to get that out.

Good luck.

YD.