Cleaning Canopy - Any every-day products?

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My canopy will need cleaning before boat goes back in the water this season... nothing new there.

Previously, I used some canopy cleaner, but have now run out. This product is good, i'll give it that.

But i'm wondering does any have any tips, or know of any every-day products that will also clean the canopy? It would be much handier to purchase something locally instead of having to order stuff online.

Cheers :)

-Edit- BTW, it's not dirt, as much as green algae. The canopy is navy blue. I used (with great success) bleach mixed with water on my friends white canopy, but don't know whether to risk that on the navy canopy?
 
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Patio magic is recommended by many, and I use Algon, a similar product, which works very well for me in removing green algae on both teak and blue covers. Just mix it up, spray it on and leave it, in a few days the green will be gone. However it is not a cleaner, so a bit more work will be needed if your covers are dirty.
Just as an aside, thanks for your calorifier thread, it reminded me that I need to do the same so I also ordered one from surecal yesterday.
 
Followed the patio magic reccomendation recently and it is precisely that. Magic. All green stuff gone, even from places I didn't realise had green stuff. Spray hood, halyards where they lay on the deck, mast foot, toe rail, around hatches & portlights, all algae free and back to how they should be. Patio magic is errrrr Magic!
 
slipknot said:
Followed the patio magic reccomendation recently and it is precisely that. Magic. All green stuff gone, even from places I didn't realise had green stuff. Spray hood, halyards where they lay on the deck, mast foot, toe rail, around hatches & portlights, all algae free and back to how they should be. Patio magic is errrrr Magic!
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+1
 
Patio Magic sounds ideal for a summer clean-up. What i'd like to do is the 'big' clean coming into the season. So, rather than having a 'spray and forget', i'm looking for something that I can scrub in and clean instantly.

I may try a combination of warm water, vinegar, patio magic, some fairy washing up liquid, and some washing powder... mix it all up and see what happens :) (All of these individual recommendations appeared on forums)
 
I may be a little over cautious here, but I personally think that consideration has to be given to the weakest part of a cover - the stitching.
I can't help but think the likes of all these high PH cleaners such as bleach, patio magic etc can't be doing the stitching any good, nor the dye, or possibly contributing to shrinkage?

It's important to rinse any cosmetic thoroughly from chemicals or else they will continue to react.
With the likes of Patio Magic, it would seem that this is not the done thing as it actively prevents growth.
It is certainly harmful to the environment, as is clear from the label, is it safe to assume it is not safe for us to breath?

Perhaps some of the chemistry guys/ girls on here could confirm or dismiss my concerns on the effect to normal stitching and possibly the effects on respitory etc?

I've always had great results with just hand washing laundry powder and simple techniques.
 
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Marine Reflections said:
I may be a little over cautious here, but I personally think that consideration has to be given to the weakest part of a cover - the stitching.
I can't help but think the likes of all these high PH cleaners such as bleach, patio magic etc can't be doing the stitching any good, nor the dye, or possibly contributing to shrinkage?

It's important to rinse any cosmetic thoroughly from chemicals or else they will continue to react.
With the likes of Patio Magic, it would seem that this is not the done thing as it actively prevents growth.
It is certainly harmful to the environment, as is clear from the label, is it safe to assume it is not safe for us to breath?

Perhaps some of the chemistry guys/ girls on here could confirm or dismiss my concerns on the effect to normal stitching and possibly the effects on respitory etc?

I've always had great results with just hand washing laundry powder and simple techniques.
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Have to say I'm with your school of thought here. I've never tried patio magic and it does sound impressive but it would worry me. I've always used a soft brush, washing powder and rinsed well before reproofing. Then again the canopy never really gets that bad, so if you've got a lot of green you may need the power of chemicals.
 
I'm going to try warm water with washing power and fairy washing up liquid, first. Will report back
 
alt said:
I'm going to try warm water with washing power and fairy washing up liquid, first. Will report back
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We have used [diluted] Milton Fluid with good results, but our canopies are light grey so if there was any bleaching effect it would not be as noticeable than were they dark blue, but we didnt notice any streaking etc. Milton was a tip I got from this forum.

That said we were treating mould spots that were on the inside of the canopy so didnt need so much of a concentrated solution as treating algae on the outside.

Its good to start at the less harsh end of the spectrum and building up to more aggressive treatments and I will be interested to see / read about the results...
 
Marine Reflections said:
I may be a little over cautious here, but I personally think that consideration has to be given to the weakest part of a cover - the stitching.
I can't help but think the likes of all these high PH cleaners such as bleach, patio magic etc can't be doing the stitching any good, nor the dye, or possibly contributing to shrinkage?

It's important to rinse any cosmetic thoroughly from chemicals or else they will continue to react.
With the likes of Patio Magic, it would seem that this is not the done thing as it actively prevents growth.
It is certainly harmful to the environment, as is clear from the label, is it safe to assume it is not safe for us to breath?

Perhaps some of the chemistry guys/ girls on here could confirm or dismiss my concerns on the effect to normal stitching and possibly the effects on respitory etc?

I've always had great results with just hand washing laundry powder and simple techniques.
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Patio Magic is neutral PH. See Safety Data Sheet http://www.whelehangardening.ie/_fileupload/341990 4010340 Patio Magic 2_5l.pdf
 
Stork_III said:
Patio Magic is neutral PH. See Safety Data Sheet http://www.whelehangardening.ie/_fileupload/341990%204010340%20Patio%20Magic%202_5l.pdf
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Thank you!
It would certainly seem so going by the data sheet.

I wonder what makes it so harmful to the marine environment?

I've used it before but didn't offer better results on growth removal than with hand laundry powder and due to the environmental concerns I dropped it without further research.

The interest I have is in the prevention of growth rather than the removal.

I know many on here have had great results regarding the preventative properties and sing it's praises often, that can't be ignored.

Need to do some more research and experiments I think...

To the lab!!
 
I have a cream canopy for my family 4 and when I bought the boat it was filthy after living under a tree for a year! :nonchalance:
I jet washed and scrubbed and it has gone up well but has mould stains which nothing seems to shift.
So I am going to refurb it by spraying it with Vynyl dye that's designed for this type of material.
Seen this here and I'm going to give it a go. http://www.vinyldye.co.uk/All-Vinyl-Dye-Color-Sprays/Bone-Vinyl-Dye-Plastic-Paint-By-TRG
Jon
 
+1 for Stardrops.

We use a mile Stardrops solution on our hoods each spring and then give them a liberal application of Fabsil.
 
A friend of mine uses Fairy soap FLAKES, it's cheap, gentle and very effective by all accounts.

His preferred method is to remove the hood on a nice day, put it on the pontoon or quay, and scrub with a deck brush with water and soap flakes.

Last 12 months.
 
Marine Reflections said:
Thank you!
It would certainly seem so going by the data sheet.

I wonder what makes it so harmful to the marine environment?

I've used it before but didn't offer better results on growth removal than with hand laundry powder and due to the environmental concerns I dropped it without further research.

The interest I have is in the prevention of growth rather than the removal.

I know many on here have had great results regarding the preventative properties and sing it's praises often, that can't be ignored.

Need to do some more research and experiments I think...

To the lab!!
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If you have a canopy that had turned green round the edges (or even all over) patio magic is brilliant, but it's not an instant clean! Best mix it in a plant water sprayer and spray over any green. Leave it for Few days and green is gone and doesn't come back, even better just give a quick spray once a year and your cover will never go green again. But don't expect to spray on and scrub & rinse off and expect it to be gone, it don't work like that. We have used it for many many years, does the same on teak. When we started using it I contacted them to see if patio magic could harm grp or rubber or anything else on a boat and a very scientific chap explained at the time that it would be totally fine.

Another big advantage is the fact you are not scrubbing, on covers this can cause marks and premature wear I find.
 
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Firefly625 said:
If you have a canopy that had turned green round the edges (or even all over) patio magic is brilliant, but it's not an instant clean! Best mix it in a plant water sprayer and spray over any green. Leave it for Few days and green is gone and doesn't come back, even better just give a quick spray once a year and your cover will never go green again. But don't expect to spray on and scrub & rinse off and expect it to be gone, it don't work like that. We have used it for many many years, does the same on teak. When we started using it I contacted them to see if patio magic could harm grp or rubber or anything else on a boat and a very scientific chap explained at the time that it would be totally fine.

Another big advantage is the fact you are not scrubbing, on covers this can cause marks and premature wear I find.
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Thank Firefly.
Fully aware of the process, leave for days etc and completely agree with you about the scrubbing.
Of course the best in hindsight is to not let it get there in the first place, always easier said than done.

It's the preventing side that interests me, I doubt that one would be able to follow up with a hydrophobic application after the patio magic has been applied, could be wrong of course. This would mean that you would be stuck with a hydrophilic cover absorbing lots of water. Equally as detrimental to the fabric.

There is certainly something here though, it prevents growth, doesn't require scrubbing as you say and saves an awful amount of effort.

There has never really been a definitive guide to looking after canopies, there is good advice from Sunbrella on their site, but this really just deals with the safe washing of very light dirt and fallout. Stitch in time kind of advice, but nothing for the 'left under a tree for five years' type.

As it works well at preventing growth, I wonder why it is not used in anti fouling products, or why fabric is not treated with this from new.
It may be down to toxicity levels, I know I don't really want to breath in or touch things that are designed to prevent growth, but it may be that they have simply missed a trick.


It's moments like this I wish I had paid more attention in chemistry, it would be great to safely mix a quantity of PM with a hydrophobic application such as Fabsil and for them to be compatible with each other. You would be left with a cover that beads /proofs water well and...prevents growth.
 
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Whopper said:
I've used autoglym's fabric hood cleaning kit and found it good.

http://www.autoglym.com/products/products/fabric-hood-cleaning-kit
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Cheers man. I'm going to test out the Patio Magic first and just leave it. If that helps, I will then take the canopy off and give a light clean with soap flakes in luke warm water and light scrubbing.

For the windows i'm going to try the screenwash with water first, and then the toothpaste trick... i'm in an experimental mood :)
 
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