Cleaning boat Vinyl

[argonaut]

Have the usual issue this time of the year of getting to the boat and finding loads of dead flies on the seats & hatch upholstery.
The boat is under a boat shed roof so no covers over the boat (like it to dry out). ... covers don’t go on until close down for the season.
Some of the flies leave a black or orange stain ...... I use a marine multi-surface cleaner, it removes most stains, except the red dots.

Anybody have a good vinyl cleaner to recommend, don’t want to risk strong solvents as they may discolour or remove the plasticisers, and cause long term problems.

[Ianfs]

Something like this

Magic Sponge

Which is basically this.........

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melamine_foam

It is abrasive but does work if used very lightly.

[argonaut]

Is this ‘rough’ on the vinyl ... don’t want to damage the finish.

[Ianfs]

There is no denying it is abrasive, so it would be wrong to say it is not.

However if used as directed with water, i.e soak the sponge in a bucket of water and very gently rub the area's affected it should take off the staining without damaging the covers.

If you were to use it a lot on vinyl and rub hard, then it would be similar to using a mild wire wool and gradually wear away the top surface.

Although my boat is a lot older than yours I have used it many times to get rid of mould stains and I rub it quite hard. Yes there is some mild degradation in my case but that's over a few years of rubbing.

I'm not sure what else you could use, chemicals might eat into the fabric.

[argonaut]

On a couple of US forums, the answer seems to be Starbrite Vinyl cleaner, cleans and adds protection
Not found any in UK yet

[shibbs]

https://www.tcschandlery.co.uk/mobile/s ... gJtL_D_BwE

I’ve been using this stuff for a few years and works pretty well. As long as you follow the instructions and clean off after with fresh water it’s been no problem at all.
Worth a try?