"Just clean your boat cover with green soap, at least it's safe," says the sailmaker.
This is a tip from grandmother's time. Grandmothers are often right, but not now. Green soap is indeed safe when it comes to discoloration, for example. The cloth will certainly not discolour. It will also not damage and sometimes the boat cover remains perfectly waterproof.
But do you really want green deposits, weather stains and mold in the fabric quickly?
Green soap has a major disadvantage. It leaves a kind of greasy layer. No matter how well you rinse the boat cover, there is a good chance that residue will be left behind. You can also feel it on your hands. Use green soap and then rinse your hands. They continue to feel greasy.
A greasy layer, that is exactly what you should not have on your boat cover. It is precisely those green soap residues that are perfect for fungi, algae and dirt to adhere to. As a result, it is often seen that the boat cloth that has been cleaned with green soap, starts to get moldy much faster. There will be a lot green deposits on the canvas more quickly. Weather spots will appear in the canvas of the boat cover much faster.
That greasy layer will also make the boat cover much more difficult to waterproof. This is because the impregnating agent collides with residual soap residue.
But what is a good boat cover cleaner for general maintenance?
As far as we are concerned, there are 3 important properties that such a product must meet.
1: It should not collide with the impregnating agent
Many tent cloth cleaners that are sold are just standard cleaning agents. Marketed by wholesalers. If residues of such a cleaning agent remain in the cloth, it will collide with the impregnating agent that must be applied later. We have designed our Sprayhood & Tent Shampoo in such a way that if residues remain in the tent canvas, these residues do not collide with the Sprayhood & Tent Protector impregnating agent.
2: It should foam well
There are tent cloth cleaners on the market that hardly foam. This makes you think that it is no longer in the boat cloth. We have ensured that Sprayhood & Tent Shampoo provides extra foam. As long as you see foam, you will continue to rinse. This will reduce the chance of problems with impregnation in the future.
3: It must be suitable for any type of cloth.
Some tent cloth cleaners work fine on a certain type of tent cloth. But for the other canvas the weather is much too strong and that canvas really gets 'on its thunder''. With Sprayhood & Tent Shampoo you can safely clean every boat cover. For heavy pollution and deeply penetrated stains, there is always the Power Cleaner.
Protect, impregnate, coat… even more important than cleaning!
After cleaning you will have to protect the cloth again. Not only to ensure that it remains waterproof, but above all to ensure that it does not get dirty as quickly.
We'd rather turn it around! Make sure that the canvas of your boat cover is always well protected with a strong impregnating agent or strong coating. Then the chance of pollution, fungi and algae is also a lot smaller. Prevention is better than cure!