Boat seats are very prone to mildew stains, marks and streaks, which can either be that nasty black speckling, or even sometimes a weird yellow and orange color.
But what’s the best mildew remover for boat seats?
There are a number of products on the market, specifically designed as mildew stain remover for vinyl boat seats, and I can honestly say that I have probably tried them all at some point in time over the last few years with varying degrees of success.
CLR Mildew Stain Remover for Vinyl Boat Seats
The stuff that has given me the best results on my pontoon boat seating is something called CLR Mold and Mildew stain remover. You can buy the stuff on Amazon.
When you look at it on Amazon, you’re going to see there’s mixed reviews. Don’t worry though.
I believe that the reason there are some negative comments is purely down to people not knowing how to use this mildew stain remover for vinyl boat seats properly. Just because you have the product, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to magically work.
But… You Will Also Need This
As well as using the product properly, there are also these awesome little scrubbing pads you need, which are perfect for boat vinyl.
They are called Mr Clean Magic Eraser, and as with the CLR spray you can also buy the sponges on Amazon. They cost pennies.
Combine the two products, and your seats will be mildew and mold free.
So how do you do it properly to get the best results?
To get really clean seats, and I’ve put together an additional guide which shows you how to use it safely and effectively so that you get brilliant white results every time.
You can access those instructions on the following link:
Learn how to do it: The easy guide to removing mildew stains from your boat seats.
Read that guide, and you will have clean seats in no time at all providing you follow this process:
CLR Spray + Mr Clean Magic Eraser = NO MILDEW ON VINYL SEATS!
But what about the actual results?
It’s all well and good me, a complete stranger, telling you that this is the best mildew remover for boat seats, but how about some actual proof?
Before & After Photos of Results
Here are some before and after photos where it’s been successfully applied to vinyl boat seats, and as you can see the results are really impressive.
Here are the type of results you can expect to get with the CLR spray when combined with the Mr Clean Magic Eraser sponge. All mildew and mold is gone.
Don’t Use Anything with Bleach
As mentioned, I’ve used the CLR mildew remover as it works a treat.
But it did take me a few different products to get to this point, and unfortunately, I once used a bleach-based cleaning product. That was a massive mistake.
Please do not use anything with bleach in it… and there are plenty of cleaning products on the market which have bleach in. Avoid those like the plague.
Bleach will wreck the vinyl, and within a year or two, that spot you cleaned up will dry and crack. Bleach can also damage the thread work in your seating, and over time the seams will start to come apart, leading to a more expensive repair bill.
CLR spray is bleach free, but still tough enough to do a great job.
Don’t Just Stop There Though… Also Apply 303 Protectant
Once you’ve used this combination of cleaning products, you should also put steps in place to protect the vinyl from the weather and developing mildew in the future.
Follow up the cleaning process with some decent 303 protectants. These will help to protect from any cracking and fading of the vinyl under a hot sun.
I’ve detailed how to do this in my guide (which you can read here), but the best 303 protectant is this marine specific one (view on Amazon).
Does Vinegar Work?
Vinegar can work well on very recent mildew stains, but if you’re boat has been in storage for some time, it might not get the mildew off completely.
If you do want to try it out I recommend mixing a 50/50 ratio of vinegar to clean and distilled water and then spraying it on and wiping away with a clean cloth.
For stubborn mildew stains that have developed over time, the vinegar only really takes away the surface gunk, so you will probably need the CLR spray even with relatively new mold stains.
What Other Boat Owner Say
I didn’t just want to leave my opinions here on why this is the best stuff, and also had a look around on some popular boating forums to see if I could pick up any more feedback.
Here’s just a selection of comments from people who have used the CLR spray and Magic Eraser combination.
“CLR Mold and Mildew cleaner is the way to go when removing mildew on boat vinyl. It’s brilliant stuff, and we keep two bottles under our seats all the time. It’s great value too and has saved me having to spend out on getting reupholstered pontoon boat seats!”
“The spray works great, but you need to use the Magic Eraser sponges too otherwise you cn just spread a lot of the stain around the vinyl seats. We use it on our pontoon boats and the seats looks like new. Black spots are gone.”
“It’s totally the best you can get and is the best cleaner I have ever used. 303 cleaner was not too bad but this has given us the best results so far. 100% recommended.”
“It’s better and cheaper than Star Bright cleaner. We spray the seats before we store it for the winter. When we uncover it in the spring, there is very little, if any mold and mildew. If there is any, spray a little more on it and 5 minutes later it’s gone.”
“I’ve used vinegar and other product, but honestly nothing does come close. The fact that so many people on our forum recommend it should be enough really if you need any more convincing.”
