I have just given my sprayhood a good wash , will I need to reproof it ,Or is it one of these wonderfull materials that retain their repellant qualities?
I did my very tired spray hood with Grangers Solution and it worked! Mind you, it took a surprising amount, from memory about 2 litres? Any wate just beads up on it whereas before after a few minuts rain it dripped through.
Depends. There is coated and uncoated acryllic. Coated should be ok, uncoated may need a proofing.
If you wash in a soap rather than detergent, it does not remove the proofing nearly so much.
Nikwax make good stuff, but for cost effective large areas (poly cotton racing dinghy cover) I use Thompsons water seal, sold for masonry, £10/5l in B&Q. Does darken the colour and can have a patchy effect, but would probably be better on darker colours. My cover is a sort of faded denim blue.
Did ours with Fabsil waterproofer from a campimg shop. Don't waste time with sprays or aerosols which don't put on half enough and drift on the wind in the lightest days, get a large can and a brush and paint it on so it really soaks in. We did our hood first with Polycell 3 in 1 fungicide/algicide/mildew killer then powerwashed it off before reproofing next day after it was dry and the results were excellent.
Following recommendations on this forum, we used Boracol to remove the last of any green stuff (it also removed much of the black on the webbing straps), then the next weekend, applied Fabsil with a brush.
You can buy the spray cans or, as we did, the larger tins of Fabsil from Milletts. We went with the larger tin and paint brush method as we thought that would be more economic and easier to apply (i.e. than trying to keep the aerosol spray from going everywhere). Any water now seems to bead nicely on the sprayhood, so I'd say it was a success!
Incidentally, we used the Boracol on the teak decks too, which has also been very successful.
Another vote for Polycell and Fabsil with a paintbrush. Boracol20 is a bit OTT for a sprayhood in normal situations but brilliant for the teak deck.
Fair winds
I have used brick sealant by brush and by paint spraygun and it works, you do need to siak the matierial and I find that the fine droplets form spray do soak in well. A hand sprayer/flower mister is futile IMO.
I used 303 hi tech fabric protector this year - see motogeek website, expensive, but its the dogs nads and guaranteed to last 3 years without reapplying. Just keep it off your soft plastic windows, it melts em.
Been doing a little bit of crazy paving repair these last few days and bought Thompson's waterseal to water proof the repairs when the mortar sets.
To my surprise it says that you can do canvas and fabric with it. Cost about a tenner for a gallon at homebase.
After washing, you'll find some of the 'body' seems to have been knocked out of the material - as well as the proofing.
I use "deco-elast" mixed with water, painted on and hung to dry -produces a firm, crisp, waterproof canvas.
Deco-elast is used to paint on flat roofs in the Med. So, as well as being a flexible waterproofing, it should prove to be very UV resistant.
It certainly seems to rejuvenate the cloth, but be sure to stretch it over the frames when drying, to prevent shrinkage. It comes in various colours, but I have only used clear, which seems to bring up the original colour of the material. http://www.decolor.com/