Cleaning vinyl dodger window

[Leonora6]

Suggestions of effective cleaner for my vinyl windows on my dodger. It fairly crazed and foggy.

[Jammer]

Beyond a certain point, you just have to replace them.


On my boat the center one's already been done. The two side ones are shot and are on my list of projects. You can get materials at sailrite and sew them yourself or have a sailmaker or canvas shop do it.

[Leonora6]

That’s plan B but hope to find the right material to give it some more life for this season.

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by Leonora6

That’s plan B but hope to find the right material to give it some more life for this season.

Is it really vinyl, eisenglass, or some other polycarbonate?

Certain types require a specific type of cleaner which can damage other types

[JPA Cate]

TryMeguiar's cleaner and polish: it does a pretty good job. However, if they are foggy, that usually is because too much of the plasticizers have gone out of the pvc, and there is no cure for that. Hazing is usually because of scratching the window fabric, and can be mitigated some by polishing. If you decide to replace them yourself don't remove the old window first, but cut it out carefully after you sew on the new one, because the fabric gets all loosey-goosey and it is a real bear. Please don't ask how I found this out!

There are a number of fabrics used for dodger windows, and some of them can be cleaned with plastic cleaners, almost all are okay with a fresh water and dish soap wash and clean soft towel dry. Rainex is safe to use against fogging, and helps shed off salt spray and rain. If you have a shop do the replacing, ask them what is best for the stuff you choose for the windows to be made of.

Ann

[shimari]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Is it really vinyl, eisenglass, or some other polycarbonate?

Certain types require a specific type of cleaner which can damage other types

This is very good advice.

We have Renolit Crystal Clear for our windows and we use VuPlex. It really does a wonderful job. https://vuplex.co/

Unfortunately, I can't source it in the US except via eBay with a crazy markup. We grab some every time we're back in the UK.

[hlev00]

We tried to nurse our polycarbonate windows along for a couple of years using the meguiars polish as suggested earlier. We then replaced and kicked ourselves for not doing it sooner.