Sharing My Experience With Cleaning White Upholstery
 

My white interior started looking dingy and I was always skeptical of what to use. Years ago I messed up by using magic eraser on another boat and it started looking worse afterwards. DO NOT use magic eraser. Had a friend do that also and it dried out the treads and made it a lot worse.

I was on the verge of getting some more interior reupholstered. After receiving a quote from a place in OH that was unreasonably expensive for two bolsters(that money would go significantly further towards different boat projects), I figured I would give cleaning another try.

So I done a lot of reading and a lot of suggestions didn’t work. I came across Star Brite Ultimate Vinyl Clean and it is awesome. Most brushes I found felt like they would be too abrasive so I stuck with a tooth brush. Yes it took a while but it worked.

I started spraying the surface and smeared it with my hand so the excess wouldn’t drip. Let it sit shortly then scrubbed lightly with the tooth brush. Then used a rag to wipe off the dirty area. Repeated 3+ times. Last I used a marine conditioner.

Hopefully I gained a few more seasons and what I did doesn’t go to crap.

I am in no way an expert and do not know if I caused more harm then good. Just wanted to share my experience and may follow up in a year to show how my interior looks.


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...f860b617b.jpeg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...fa98b766c.jpeg
Left is clean, right is not.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...25e63eaee.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...af5e20e58.jpeg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...9937b4b92.jpeg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...157674be3.jpeg
By the way, I clean my boat all the time. It is garage kept and trailered to lakes on the weekends. What I was using and doing in the past just wasn’t doing a good job.

I use Starbrite Ultimate Xtreme Clean quite a bit and it works very well. It is pretty comparable to Boat Bling Vinyl Sauce

I have used Starbrite Deck cleaner for years and my floor has just stayed new looking with almost zero effort, so it doesn’t surprise me that the vinyl cleaner is a great product.

​​​​​​
I wish I would have discovered Starbrite years ago.

I used the vinyl sauce but I felt the starbrite done better(and a lot cheaper).

The way I take it, the vinyl sauce is not suppose to remove the conditioner so now that my interior is cleaned and conditioned, I’ll use the vinyl sauce for future light cleaning.

Good info and post, thanks.

One of THE most common mistakes a lot of boaters make is using way too harsh of cleaners on marine vinyl...and then paying the price when the elastomers in the vinyl are destroyed and it becomes hard and brittle. STARBRITE makes some good products, for sure.

FYI Harbor Freight sells some brushes that are slightly softer than a tooth brush that are a little larger. I use them on my boat. I will definitely being getting some Starbrite vinyl cleaner.

There was another thread about how well the 303 products worked so I bought some and was not impressed at all, I've used spray foam carpet cleaner and a soft brush in the past, I'll give this a shot.

I always had good luck with spray nine and keeping it conditioned with turtle wax super protectant but this was years ago.

I did the same as you. Looked good at first. Was very disappointed to see how bad it yellowed my old white vinyl.

Unfortunately my interior is 22 years old and at the end of it's life.as far as clean and pliable.

just bought a boat. all white interior. its only a 2018 and was rack stored indoors so its like new.
any tips for first cleaning and conditioning? was going to use vinyl sauce and then 303 aerospace protectant,
or perhaps just soap and water as theres literally nothing to clean on the white seats right now. i think protecting will be more important...
any suggestions what will help seal the vinyl so stains dont set in to begin with?
Xlint, was it the 303 that yellowed your white seats, or the carpet cleaner...