What to use to clean cushions

Who's had success cleaning seat cushions and what did you use?

skiptowns98033 said:

Who's had success cleaning seat cushions and what did you use?

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I got some spray carpet cleaner from the auto parts store that worked wonders. It takes a little elbow grease but worth the effort. There are a variety of carpet cleaners to choose from. Can't remember the name of it but it probably doesnt matter too much, Just try it out in a hidden area before you do the whole job to insure it is compatable with your fabric. Good luck.

A product specific to woven marine fabrics like Starbrite is also a good suggestion. Also a mild diluted soap and water solution is probably good for day to day maintenance.

Hi Skiptown,

Cat O’ Mine is 15 years old. We replaced the original Sunbrella fabric seat cushions about eight years ago with new Sunbrella fabric. The berth cushions are still perfect, we use a quality 2-3 inch closed cell mattress topper and change it out every 2-3 seasons. The PO was a day fisherman only. The seat fabric is permeable, and very hard to keep from staining in the boating environment, especially in the light colors we like. Bob Austin recommended Incredible cleaner, which works better for us than anything else. We would also remove the seat covers each season, wash them on ‘hand wash’ setting with Woolite, and spray with 303 protectant.

https://www.amazon.com/Incredible-S...sc=1&msclkid=44aa1237e54f192fd8bc7b70afa7b7da

Folex from Lowes comes in a bigger bottle for mouse fur as well and also requires no rinsing.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/FOLEX-32-o...95421320e97d127e13d17a67a2bb4f49&gclsrc=3p.ds

We just re-covered all seating cushions with Sunbrella Vinyl this year ($1700) which looks like it will repel stains and water MUCH better than the regular fabric. Check in with us some time in 2033 for our comments.

I hope our change from Sunbrella permeable fabric to Sunbrella impermeable vinyl (still in a light grey Yamaha color) will be the secret to avoiding most of the inevitable stains that occur on very active cruising boats.

Best of luck, and let us know what works for you.
John

We do use "incredable" for difficult spots. We have also used Ivory soap flakes or Woolite solution. The 303 fabric cleaner is also very good, and recommended by Sunbrella's manufacturer. After cleaning we spray the cushions with 303 Fabric Protectorant. Scotch Guard is simiar. Generally if a used boat is new to us, we pull all of the software cushions out of the boat, remove them from the foam and wash then throughy. When all of the cushions are out of the boat, we use a cleaner such as Clorox multisurface cleaner and bleach, plus fresh scent to clean all of the surfaces. We sun dry the Sunbrella and air the foam out if it is good shape. If it is moldy, then new foam is purchased and cut to fit.