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Black Bimini tops and mooring cover.

BigKahuna

BigKahuna

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I know I'll get some good advice from you guys because I've tried car wash and Dawn and a soft long handled brush to scrub out the remnants of Blue Heron Shit! All summer we would get to the boat and see that they would sit on the Bimini and just poop and it would run down to the mooring cover. I would hose it off as best as I could but now that it's the off season I removed both Bimini tops and really want to give it a good cleaning/scrubbing. MOST of it is coming off but there is still some that's ingrained in the fabric. Never had this trouble with our Sunbrella Bimini top or mooring cover. Any other ideas? IMG_20211110_095256438_HDR.jpg
 

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I have no clue what would help. Wasn't your previous a shade of red ? For what ever reason here the birds favor the dark color canvas . I had red on my previous 3 and never had an issue, while the boat next slip over with dark blue canvas was loaded. I guess I'll find out next season, since I ordered black canvas this time . I'll be following this post just in case .
 
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Cheap rubber snake works on most birds. However in Florida I see herons chowing down on snakes so it may not be the thing to use.
 
Jack M said:
I have no clue what would help. Wasn't your previous a shade of red ? For what ever reason here the birds favor the dark color canvas . I had red on my previous 3 and never had an issue, while the boat next slip over with dark blue canvas was loaded. I guess I'll find out next season, since I ordered black canvas this time . I'll be following this post just in case .
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Yes Jack we had burgundy for years and never had a problem with blue herons on the cover.
 
Not sure if it will work but try the laundry product “Shout”. I have had some good luck getting out some tough stains with that. I have also used a strong carpet cleaning product that says High Traffic on our car seats with some pretty good results
 
SEMPERFI8387 said:
Can’t help with cleaning but after 2 blue heron craps on ours, I put 4 of these spaced evenly on my bimini using ball bungees. 5 years later still works. Matter of fact many people on my lake copied my idea.

Bird-X, SP-10-NR Plastic Polycarbonate Bird Spikes Kit with Adhesive Glue, Covers 10 feet https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0019F8IX6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_6SK5WWCKT75QH45MAFNZ
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That's a great idea! I've been looking at that product for our gazebo in the back. I'll keep that in mind for next year! I actually hung foil pie plates from the pylons that the lift is attached to. It worked for a while but one day we were walking towards the boat and the heron was perched on top of the pylon that a pie plate was attached to. Ha!
 
papajoe74 said:
Sounds crazy but, I hung a stuffed owl from my Bimini and haven’t had a problem since.
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Another good idea. But those birds are pretty smart. A neighbor at the original slip I used to keep our boat in had 2 owls, 1 on each corner. The herons used to sit on the back of his boat right in between those 2 owls! Ha!
 
Timdelta said:
Cheap rubber snake works on most birds. However in Florida I see herons chowing down on snakes so it may not be the thing to use.
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Never thought of a snake but I'll try anything next year ...
 
Link said:
Not sure if it will work but try the laundry product “Shout”. I have had some good luck getting out some tough stains with that. I have also used a strong carpet cleaning product that says High Traffic on our car seats with some pretty good results
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Yes I'll be trying Shout in the future. I also have a multi surface upholstery cleaner I'll try. I've got 5 or 6 mos. to get those Bimini tops clean!
 
Jack M said:
Did you have that treated with 303 ?
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That's a negative! The "beadability" (is that a word?) of the water was still really good after 2 seasons. But with all this scrubbing trying to get this stuff off I will treat them with Starbrite waterproofing spray before next season. We also use that stuff on our outdoor Sunbrella furniture.
 
Timdelta said:
Cheap rubber snake works on most birds. However in Florida I see herons chowing down on snakes so it may not be the thing to use.
Click to expand...
Not on our lake. I’ve seen snakes, owls blow up eye balls, tinsel, streamers … the heron and seagulls laugh at them. Seagulls are the worse. Once one lands, they start roosting. I’ve seen bikinis go from black to white with all the full poop. Herons like biminis. It’s like a tree branch. After 2 times, I installed spikes. My buddy said he saw the heron coming in for a landing, then bailed when he saw my spikes.
My buddy was then having issues. I gave him some spikes. No more issues.
 
SEMPERFI8387 said:
Not on our lake. I’ve seen snakes, owls blow up eye balls, tinsel, streamers … the heron and seagulls laugh at them. Seagulls are the worse. Once one lands, they start roosting. I’ve seen bikinis go from black to white with all the full poop. Herons like biminis. It’s like a tree branch. After 2 times, I installed spikes. My buddy said he saw the heron coming in for a landing, then bailed when he saw my spikes.
My buddy was then having issues. I gave him some spikes. No more issues.
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"Once one lands, they start roosting. I’ve seen bikinis go from black to white with all the full poop. " Haha bikinis!!! I know what you meant!
 
Daril -- I had some bird poop and a fair amount of mildew on my beige cover. I took it to a laundramat and put it in the huge commercial washer. It barely fit. But 45 mins later, it came out looking pretty good. Took it home and laid it out on my driveway. 100% of the bird poop was gone. The only unsatisfactory part was some mildew left on the part I'm sure was at the center of the wad I shoved into the machine. Tried Starbrite Mildew Remover and it didn't touch it. Broke out the Marine 31 and it did an amazing job. That stuff is expensive but worth every penny.

I waterproofed it with a gallon of Starbrite Fabric Protector. I really needed about 1.25 gallons but I stretched it out. Beads up good now.
 
sunedog said:
Daril -- I had some bird poop and a fair amount of mildew on my beige cover. I took it to a laundramat and put it in the huge commercial washer. It barely fit. But 45 mins later, it came out looking pretty good. Took it home and laid it out on my driveway. 100% of the bird poop was gone. The only unsatisfactory part was some mildew left on the part I'm sure was at the center of the wad I shoved into the machine. Tried Starbrite Mildew Remover and it didn't touch it. Broke out the Marine 31 and it did an amazing job. That stuff is expensive but worth every penny.

I waterproofed it with a gallon of Starbrite Fabric Protector. I really needed about 1.25 gallons but I stretched it out. Beads up good now.
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I remember Carl used to put his Bimini top and mooring cover in the big commercial washing machines. I don't know I'm kind of afraid to do that....
 
It might cost less for a new cover , :cool: but what about dry cleaning ? Email the manufacture for suggestions ?
 
Jack M said:
It might cost less for a new cover , :cool: but what about dry cleaning ? Email the manufacture for suggestions ?
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One day when I'm out and about I'll stop in our local canvas shop and ask. He made us the Sunbrella cover on our previous boat. The funny thing is I rinsed the tops really good, applied soapy car wash solution, let it soak then scrubbed it with a long handled brush. Rinsed it again then let it dry. Came back to check on it later and you can still see areas where the stains were. Really stubborn but I'll keep working on it.......
 
That bird crap is strong ,it will stain paint on a car .
 
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