Tree sap on cover

[Douglasdzaster]

Hello everyone, I haven’t been on here in a while. Hope everyone is doing good.
Right at a year ago I had a post on here about buying a decent boat cover.
After all the conversations I ordered a nice Sun-Dura made to fit my boat and motor from Cover Craft. I use a soft brush made for dusting off work benches and so forth at least twice a week. Give it a good rinse every two weeks depending on what’s blew in sometimes more often.
I have been able to keep it looking new. Nice khaki color.
A couple of weeks ago we had a freak storm of oak tree sap. You could see it coming down thick as snow for three days. It left thick layers of oak tree sap on everything.
I had to take all the finish off my truck down to the clear coat then polish the stains out of the clear coat. After that I was busy for another week and now Im getting to the boat cover and it got a good dose of sap all over it. It’s black now.
Ive tried test spots with all kinds of stuff trying not to use anything that’ll destroy the material. I’ve found a couple of things that took a lot of the sap off.
303 Multi surface cleaner has been the best. I think if I let it sit longer and try a soft bristle brush on a drill for upholstery it may all come off. Definitely going to have to make more than one pass. I’m not worried about removing the waterproofing. I’ll re treat with 303 Marine Fabric guard. If done correctly I think it’ll last close to a year depending on what’s thrown at it weather wise. Like I said in the beginning I do my best to take care of and keep it clean.
If anyone has better options I would sure appreciate sharing with me.
Heres some pictures of what it looks like now. You can see where I cleaned a spot with 303 and a horse hair detailing brush I have. But there’s still sap in the fabric.
See the strip I cleaned? It wasn’t completely dry when I took the pi but I could really see the difference today l

 

[dingbat]

What kind of oak tree?
Live under a canopy of a mix of mature chestnut, red and white oaks. Never had an issue with sap

As noted above, I live in the woods. Couldn’t keep a sun-brella type cover more than a year or two before the organic material (leaf mold, etc.) falling from the trees compromised the material.

Tried all different types of cleaners. Was able to get the surface clean, but left organic material imbedded in the weave. No matter what I did the mold and mildew came right back.

Finally gave up and went to a tarp that I cut and formed into a somewhat fitted cover.

 

[alldodge]

With most materials, once something gets down into the fabric, it's very hard to get out. As you other thread folks are saying the same

https://www.tinboats.net/threads/he...-boat-cover-is-black-from-oak-tree-sap.51116/

 

[Douglasdzaster]

What kind of oak tree?
Live under a canopy of a mix of mature chestnut, red and white oaks. Never had an issue with sap

As noted above, I live in the woods. Couldn’t keep a sun-brella type cover more than a year or two before the organic material (leaf mold, etc.) falling from the trees compromised the material.

Tried all different types of cleaners. Was able to get the surface clean, but left organic material imbedded in the weave. No matter what I did the mold and mildew came right back.

Finally gave up and went to a tarp that I cut and formed into a somewhat fitted cover.

These are mostly Live oaks. I’ve never seen this happen in the fall. Usually we get a lot of pollen with sap in the spring but it’s never come down like this and I’ve always been able to stay on top of it so it doesn’t set in like this stuff. What I’m seeing after cleaning that spot is little specks. When I look real close each speck is one of the little areas in the weave.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Did you keep up with waterproofing/protectant of the cover?

 

[Douglasdzaster]

Did you keep up with waterproofing/protectant of the cover?

Besides keeping it clean. 6 months ago I did a deep clean with 303 Multi Surface cleaner and a soft brush. Let it dry and treated it with 303 Marine Fabric Guard. My plan was to do this twice a year so it was jus due and I was actually getting ready to then the sap hit.
I did it with the cover on the boat.
First thing I did when I got the cover was use a bunch of 3/4” PVC I had. The boat is an extra wide flat bottom with middle bench removed.
I built a frame out of the PVC pipe that has a ridge down the length of the boat. Like a tent.
Water has no place to puddle it’s all runs off.
In fact if I happen to walk by and see dust or debris on it I could just tap the cover and it would bounce down the slope and off to the ground.