Mooring cover and Bimini cleaning!

[BigKahuna]

Brought the boat home and removed both biminis and the mooring cover and gave it a good scrubbing! It's amazing how those mud daubers accumulate in places you wouldn't think of.......

 

[NCLakeGuy]

yep I clean my driveway then I clean my covers!!

 

[LaurencetheAdventurer]

Perfect time to add a sealant! I found the Starbright worked better than the 303, surprisingly!

 

[BigKahuna]

Perfect time to add a sealant! I found the Starbright worked better than the 303, surprisingly! View attachment 37251

Yes we found that out too!

 

[NCLakeGuy]

How did you determine one is better than the other? Just curious. We too have been using 303 sealant for a few years now

 

[sunedog]

I have the exact same opinion and here is why: I love 303 Aerospace Protectant so I bought a gallon of their Fabric Guard for my cover. I didn't do a good job rationing it out as I applied it and ended up with one panel on the cover untreated. Tried to buy a quart more of the Fabric Guard locally and couldn't find it. Settled for a quart spray bottle of Starbrite Waterproofing and finished the job that day. The next time it rained, there was a night and day difference in the sections each product covered. The Starbrite panel beaded up like crazy and the 303 sections looked like the rain penetrated.

 

[Nautical]

Huh ... I had the opposite experience with "Star Bright Waterproofing" (as it says on the gallon jug). It did absolutely nothing for my cover on the boat before this one BUT that cover was old and worn so maybe that was the reason? I may have been asking too much from it.

 

[BigKahuna]

How did you determine one is better than the other? Just curious. We too have been using 303 sealant for a few years now

I have used both and the Starbrite lasted longer than the 303!

 

[stbentoak]

I did the star bright cover water repellent about two months ago and it worked excellently on my cover. Just make sure you get the nasty solvent-based stuff and not the water-based water repellant. The solvent base really permeates the fabric, and it beads water like off a duck's back. Sprayed the Bimini with it too and now in heavy rains it doesn't leak through on you. You may ruin a $15 plastic sprayer over it, but it's worth it.

 

[LaurencetheAdventurer]

How did you determine one is better than the other? Just curious. We too have been using 303 sealant for a few years now

When new, I sprayed half with the StarBright, half with the 303. After a monsoon the first season, I snapped the attached picture - appeared the StarBright beaded slightly better (smaller droplets which then evaporated faster), but in year 3, the StarBright half was not letting moisture through, the 303 half had some minimal dampness come through. So, StarBright by a small marginal win, surprisingly!!! However, cost and availability widened that margin, for me.

 

[LaurencetheAdventurer]

I did the star bright cover water repellent about two months ago and it worked excellently on my cover. Just make sure you get the nasty solvent-based stuff and not the water-based water repellant. The solvent base really permeates the fabric, and it beads water like off a duck's back. Sprayed the Bimini with it too and now in heavy rains it doesn't leak through on you. You may ruin a $15 plastic sprayer over it, but it's worth it.

Ha - I am lucky to get anything that works here in California - these were both water based products that I used, lasted 3 years!