This can be very tricky to do without ruining your stitching in your seats and we have had a lot of practice coming up with a routine that is working great for us and while some are more stubborn that others but, if you have patience and assure to repeat the process and then protect it afterwards by covering your boat it works!
Equipment and supplies needed:
· Pressure washer with adjustable tip while we recommend using a 40% spray tip unless you have experience. If your comfortable you can also use the a 25% tip- Remember movement and distance is the key because it can cut your seats and defeat the purpose of cleaning versus re-upholstery
· Aggressive plastic brushes -Interior material is for the most part resilient so an aggressive bristle should be fine but always try it on a bottom side first to assure no scratching is done. (If you have ever bought upholstery aerosol cleaners, they come with the crazy cap, right! Well that because you have to get after it' for the material to work properly and an even spread is the key!)
· Cotton and Microfiber towels
· Degreaser (50% solution works best for interiors)
· Interior cleaner/conditioner- (We use Lucas spray wax products for interior and exteriors)
· MR CLEAN erasers ( They do not need to say boat on them and don’t get sucked into the with detergent. The basic ones at the 99cent store work fine!)
· And of the course the secret recipe #MIRACLEMIST! Don’t be scared! Ok’ yes be scared but if you follow the procedures below you should be fine!
· Rubber gloves (Very important when using chemicals like Miracle Mist)
· Eye protection (Very important when using chemicals and assure you get to see your family again for you only have 2 eyeballs!)
· Face mask and not for the Rona but aroma! HA’HA’ See what is did there! Lol (I cannot stand the smell of some these chemicals and smell them for days afterwards and we all should have masks everywhere to take advantage of after all we have been through recently!)
BEWARE-The odds of you ruining the clothes you are in at the time of following these steps below are very high! #BLEACH!
So here you go with a step-by-step process:
Remove all loose seats this also allows you to clean the framing and/or mounting areas as well
Pressure wash all the seats and upholstery- This will break free the loose dirt and mold while also start to get some moisture on the seats before using material-Be careful around the speakers and electrical. These areas can be done by hand with material to follow. DO NOT DRY AFTER PRESSURE WASHING!
While the seats are wet apply degreaser (preferably not in direct sunlight If you are in the sun do smaller sections at a time). While the degreaser is still for the most part wet grab your brush and spread the material evenly across the material. This is not an aggressive scrub YET just try to get the material spread evenly.
Pressure wash all the seats and upholstery AGAIN- This will break free MORE of the loose dirt and mold while also keep the moisture on the seats before using additional material-Be careful around the speakers and electrical. These areas can be done by hand with material to follow. DO NOT DRY AFTER PRESSURE WASHING THE DEGREASER!
NOW ITS TIME! Bust out the MIRACLE MIST- Listen this material has a lot of bleach in it, and it can destroy the seams of your seats if you do not do it correctly. Spray it on heavy to your wet seats/upholstery and grab that brush again and now aggressively scrub the material in while focusing on getting it spread evenly throughout the entire upper surfaces and sides. DO NOT WIPE IT DRY. You have to let the material work for you. We let it sit for about 30 minutes! Yes 30 minutes! Let it dry on its own. You will see it work and I know your nerves are going to tell you to GET IT OFF because of all the horror stories you may have head about it looking awesome when they did it until a week later and the stitching falls apart. We have yet to have an issue because of what you are going to do to remove it from your seats and stitching and after you get what you paid for by buying this product. Take deep breaths! Lol
Grab your eraser pads now to clean those tough spots that are not coming off but here is how you need to do it so pay attention here because it will save you material and get you better results. Spay the miracle mist directly on the eraser and while its still moist start hitting those tough spots. IT’S A MIRACLE! Seriously you should be able to see the results pretty fast at this point and if not, then move on because sometimes the mold is deep, and this will require repeating this step at a later date during normal maintenance.
Alright so take a deep breath again because now were going to get this material off your seats because we have now used it to its full potential.
Pressure wash all the seats and upholstery AGAIN- Focus on the stitching. This will rinse it out and remove the bleach that as you know stops working if diluted, right. If you had some tough areas that did not come off don’t try and get crazy with the pressure washer to remove it because it’s not going to help. Again, those spots should be hit on a regular when you get off the water and do your quick wipe down and as long as you use the eraser technique mentioned above you won’t need to pressure wash every time but stay away from the stitching!
DON’T FORGET THE BACK SIDE! They do not require much effort, but a clean upper surface is nice but then you or someone on your boat lifts the seat for a floaty of life vest and see that light green mold! Yuk! To do the bottoms you should just need to lightly spray some degreaser and let it sit for about a minute or so and hit it with the pressure washer (40% tip) – We always do this after the upper is done but before conditioning because its another opportunity to make sure to rinse the upper stitching again.
Ok grab a towel and dry everything you been working on. At this point we would already have the entire boat done less final wipe down because the condition/cleaner we use is part of the final wipe down as well, but we start with the interior. Here is why:
Take the conditioner/cleaner and spray the interior heavy but do not wipe it off. By HAND you need to message the material into every square inch of the seat. Did I mention by hand! Why? Because you can use your fingers to message it in the stitching. WET WET WET! Do not dry or wipe off yet.
Move on to the rest of your boats clean up and final wipe down to the exterior while leaving the interior wet with this material (We prefer LUCAS). A lot of times it will dry on its own and that’s OK.
Ok were almost done! Once your done with everything to include cleaning up your mess before your significant other or parent lights you up like a Christmas tree!
Jump back inside and lightly mist the interior again with your condition cleaner and wipe it dry with your microfiber!
Ladies and gentlemen this is how we detail interiors with mold and mildew and while its very labor intense and time consuming it works and when our customer get their boat back, we thrive for that big smile on their faces.
Stay tuned for more blogs coming soon! Honestly, this is my first BLOG ever so' sorry if it’s a little long. Feel free to critic it because it will only help me get better but….BE NICE!
