How to Clean Interior Cushions

[CaptainBW]

I browsed through 20 pages of search and only found 1 thread from several years ago related to this question, so I am trying a fresh thread...

I need to clean interior cushions and am looking for the best way to do it, and ways to avoid.

Thanks in advance for your experience/expertise!

[Ex-Calif]

Depends a lot on the fabric.

Some cover materials should definitely not be removed, washed and dried in a drier. They shrink badly. Ask me how I know - LOL

The "new" boat cushions are nice though.

[sarafina]

close up picture/further info on fabric?

[Ram]

i have that micro fabric and unzipped the custions and hand washed it- works great

[CaptainBW]

The fabric is cloth and is not the micro fabric. I don't know if you can tell by the picture here...

[maxingout]

Nice looking cushions. Our cushions made it half way through a circumnavigation before having to be replaced. That's two sets of cushion covers in about sixteen years. I guess that isn't too bad.

[sailor153]

I found that a product you buy at Family Dollar called Awesome...is wonderful on everything. But it is great on the cushions for stains and smells.....
We boat a used boat and the cushions hadnt been replaced or touched (I think) since new....I was worried, but we needed them for the following week and I didnt have time or want to replace and recover all new cushions....So, I took the covers off the cushions and I used a scrub brush, since the bottoms of the covers were the vinyl like leather, I couldnt wash without major shrinkage, so I brushed the covers with this Awesome cleaner and it took all the stains out and eliminated all the odor. I then took the cushions and placed them in the sun and sprayed them with an odor eliminator and allowed the sun to do the rest. It was amazing...We had the plaid look of the covers, but we are not going to totally recover the cushions now, just get a new material that we like and cover the tops of each cushion so the inside looks nicer. Good luck

[sarafina]

no guarantees here, and ymmv, but were they my cushions I would peel off the covers, spot them with a product like spray and wash, put them in a front load (NOT a top load) washer with a gentle or delicate cycle and wash them with laundry detergent on warm wash, cold rinse. Don't dry them. Hang them out.

You may get a bit of shrinkage, but they have prolly stretched over time anyway and will relax as you sit on them in the future.

Try one that fits in a not so noticeable spot, a small one, and see how it goes. Looks like a synthetic plush and should wash up just fine.

[Jetexas]

My cushions had sat in a wet boat a long time before we bought it. The covers were a loss. The zippers had rusted shut, so I had to cut the seams to get the foam out. The foam smelled strongly of mold and had some black discoloration in areas.

Before calling it a loss and throwing it all out, I decided to see what would happen if I bathed them in a bleach solution. Miraculously, it worked although they take a very long time to dry after getting soaked in the bleachwater. It didn't completely erase the stains, but the smell is completely gone.

I'm currently making new covers from the upholstery of an old couch until we can afford to get professional covers made.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by sailor153

I found that a product you buy at Family Dollar called Awesome...

This stuff?
Awesome Cleaner

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by GordMay

This stuff?
Awesome Cleaner

I don't think so. The bottle my wife bought was a translucent white and the product was yellowish.

It seems to work pretty well, but if you read the directions, you are supposed to dillute it with water. Of course you can't do that with the spray bottle and most folks don't read the directions anyway so you're just using highly concentrated cleaner.

The best cleaner of that type I have found is "Marine" Spray Nine. West Marine carries it and a few other places. It costs a lot more than Awesome but it's also a disinfectant.

As for cleaning seat cushions, if they are fabric, neither of these is a good choice. If it were my fabric covered cushions and they were in good shape but dirty, I would consider having them professionally cleaned. The pros will know what to use and how to use it without damaging the fabric.

If they were not in good shape, I would remove the covers and wash them in cold water in a washing machine. If they were not removable I would use one of the many products made for cleaning auto upholstry.

[forsailbyowner]

For moldy cushions heres a treatment I use> I have a $9 pump up sprayer I fill with a mix of hydrogen peroxide, vinegar and boric acid. After coating all sides liberally with the solution I put the cushion in a large plastic bag and put a wet vac to the opening> The solution gets drawn throughout the foam and if you prick the opposite and run it for a while it will draw the excess out. Let dry without rinsing and the vinegar and boric acid residue retards future mold growth.

[CaptainBW]

Thanks to everyone for the input.

I ended up taking the covers off and washing them in cold water in a washing machine with borax, then hanging out to dry. I then mixed some borax in a bucket of water and spread the water over the foam and it soaked all the way through. Then I rinsed with fresh water several times, squeezing the water out of the foam with my hands between rinsing. Squeezed the water out as much as I could by hand and then stood them up to dry. Gravity helped get the water to the bottom and after a day I squeezed out most of it. It then took several days to dry.

Put the covers back on...no shrinkage...and nice clean cushions.

Thanks again.

[speedoo]

Originally Posted by CaptainBW

Thanks to everyone for the input.

I ended up taking the covers off and washing them in cold water in a washing machine with borax, then hanging out to dry. I then mixed some borax in a bucket of water and spread the water over the foam and it soaked all the way through. Then I rinsed with fresh water several times, squeezing the water out of the foam with my hands between rinsing. Squeezed the water out as much as I could by hand and then stood them up to dry. Gravity helped get the water to the bottom and after a day I squeezed out most of it. It then took several days to dry.

Put the covers back on...no shrinkage...and nice clean cushions.

Thanks again.

Are your covers a sunbrella-like fabric or something else? And are the bottoms the same fabric, or vinyl?

One thing I'd like to do with my cushions is treat the zippers so they stay functional. Anyone have a tip on how to do that?

[SailingChance]

Does anyone have a recommendation for sunbrella like covers? I'm want to just put them in a front loading washer on delicate but don't want to ruin them either.