I've FOUND IT! The Holy Grail in cleaning mildew streaks on Vinyl!!!

[nocturn]

Let me first start off by saying in 30+ years of boating, I have tried every bloody mildew and mold vinyl cleaner out there including organic, biodegradable, chemical, detergent and degreasers....EVERYTHING! To this day, the best two combos Ive used have been the ole' Soft Scrub + White Pad + copious amounts of elbow grease method (thanks to 16 years in the Coast Guard and endless amounts of 41' & 44' rub rails) and the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser + Copious amounts of elbow grease method. Both work well but both share a common denominator that I've been running low on as I age....yep, you guessed it.

Well yesterday I swung by my local orange and white bigbox hardware store to pick up some yard trash bags. While in the cleaner section, I noticed a "new" box where my beloved Mr. Clean Magic Eraser's once were. They are the"Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Bathroom Scrubbers with Secret Cleaning Solution for Soap Scum Fighting and More!!!"

Curious, so I grab a box and I'm on my way.

I get home, open the box and realize these arent your typical Magic Erasers. They are larger, corrugated, smell fancy and foam up big time with the "Cleaning Solution". Great. Do they work??? Holy Carp, do they!!!

I immediately went over to the 215 and started to scrub on the pesky black mildew/mold streaks I cant seem to ever truly get rid of. In ONLY 3 passes with the pad with medium pressure, the streaks were COMPLETELY gone! No scrubbing for 30 seconds back and forth, no letting the solution sit for a minute and potentially letting it dry and ruin the vinyl, no "matting" the simi-gloss finish on the vinyl....nada!

FANTASTIC!

Make SURE you get the ones made for cleaning the bathroom, not the regular ones. The cleaning solution + the new, more durable larger eraser combo is what makes it impressive. The new eraser is so durable I was able to scrub every vinyl cushion and bolster (fishing pkg) on the 215, the bumpers on my truck and the seat and Helm ()on my mower.

Enjoy more time on the water.

 

[NCangler]

Cool! THanks for sharing this tip!

 

[nocturn]

This story just keeps getting better and better. This Bathroom Eraser is also getting rid of rust stains, bleeding marks from plastic touching the roplene for long periods, scuff marks from shoes, water spots and stains on the stainless steel handrails, leftover pink stains from when I dumped a bottle of Stabil in my rod holder (dont ask or search for "Opps, Has anyone gassed up their rod holder" thread on this website )

Wow. Im on a cleaning rampage!

 

[nocturn]

Turned both my GPS cover and the cup holders back to white from yellow. Also took a 2 year old rust stain out of my seat cushion. I Left a crescent wrench sitting there for 2 weeks a few years back. Awesome!

 

[mrgreencms]

I am on the way to buy some. Thank you.

 

[nocturn]

Great! I suggest 2 packs (of 2 ea.) to do the boat stem to stern. Dont rub too hard. It will destroy the pads pretty fast. Although they last much, much longer than the original Magic Erasers, they do still fall apart after a while. But with the foaming cleaner in them, the rubbing time is cut by 2/3 so you get that much more use out of them.

 

[rscott]

Picking some up tomorrow. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Shallowminded]

Seriously nocturn - do you work for the company?

Thanks for the post. They will be in the shopping cart soon!

 

[nocturn]

Nah. If I were to pimp any company, it would be BMW.

Just passing along info to add to the collective here.

 

[NYHarleyFisher]

Got to admit nocturn, they do work great! I had some spot on my cushions that wouldn't come off with every other thing that I tried, the new Magic Erasers cleaned them completely with just a few passes.

 

[nocturn]

The only stain I havent been able to get out is the one that was left by a can of "Off" bug spray that discharged in my ditch bag and melted the plastic bottom of the bag to my seat cushion. I think the molten plastic meshed with the vinyl at a molecular level and cant be scrubbed off. Lol

 

[Dave LeGear]

Made the seats "look better" but really nothing to do back flips about...

HOWEVER... This product is "just killer" on the hull and various covers (even the trolling motor) and I was able to take out scuff marks, dirty hand stains on the gunnels, etc. that have been there for YEARS that nothing else would even touch

Great stuff

 

[BarryB]

I tried it, however, it did not remove the "pink mold" on one of my cushions.

 

[nocturn]

Made the seats "look better" but really nothing to do back flips about..

Guess it all depends on what you started with. My seats were covered in black, running mold. They now look like I just took them out of the bag. Im still doing "back flips".

 

[nocturn]

I tried it, however, it did not remove the "pink mold" on one of my cushions.

It wont. The pink mold is embedded "in"the vinyl and not "on" the vinyl. Search "pink mold" in this sites search engine. There are a few good remedies around.

 

[nocturn]

Another cleaning tip:

At HD, in the HVAC deptment, they sell a "AC Foaming Coil Cleaner" in a large blue and white spray can. It has a scrubbie cap on it like a upholstery cleaner for your car. I cant recall who makes it but look for the blue/can.

This stuff will clean just about anything you spray it on. I degrease both my boat and car/truck engines, my grill, my turkey fryer, my daughters bike, my fishing reels, Coils in truck radiator and my outside AC condenser unit....everything that has grease or dirt on it. You dont need to lift a finger and scrub at all. Just spray it on whatever, let sit for 2 minutes and blast with a hose.

Just thought I'd throw that out there also.

 

[BarryB]

I remember the Pink Mold issue and am trying the acne cream remedy, I'll know more tomorrow.

 

[nocturn]

Let me know how it turns out and what worked for you Barry. Im starting to see the pink/purple mold coming through on my seat cushions and bolsters also. 2 weeks ago, one spot on my helm seat was the size of a pencil eraser, I just looked at it last night and its now the size of a quarter.

 

[Dave LeGear]

Try this thread on that subject

http://www.performanceoutdoors.net/forums/threads/6343-Pink-Stains-On-Vinyl/page2?highlight=pink

 

[BarryB]

The first application seemed to work a bit. Trying another application. I'll keep you posted.