Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

What product works best for removing mildew stains from carpet? I am getting black lines under the doors where the water drips down from the mooring cover.

I know you dont want to hear this, and it may not be practical, but my first piece of advice is get rid of the carpet....

With that being said, here is what I have used in the past and it worked OK but....

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... icegrabber

And here is the but.....I had a Bentley and after the mildew set in, you were not going to kill it. I tried all kinds of products that would knock it back but never killed it. I keep my boat in the water 9 months a year. I live in Louisiana and it is humid and we have thunderstorms 3-5 days a week during the summer - the point of this is we dont live in Arizona. On Sunday's, I would try to dry everything out as best as possible, open up the hatches and seats, etc. I eventually put vents on my cover in order to try to keep the mildew under control.

So what did I learn?

1 - Cheap covers that dont breath will give you mildew.

2 - Seats that are not clean (even though they look clean, they still have suntan lotion, sunblock, etc. in them) are breeding grounds for mildew.

3 - The stuff that actually kills mildew will ultimately harm vinyl and carpet. If you have cheap carpet and cheap vinyl, then your problems are going to be worse.

4 - Wet carpet is a breeding ground for mildew.

Last year, I traded the Bentley in for a new South Bay and ordered it with snap in/out carpet. After two weeks, I took the carpet out and have never put it back in. I have a very good and breathable cover AND I wipe the seats down very good every Sunday evening. My boat is coming up on her first anniversay and I have only a few minor mildew issues because I have tried to to be proactive on keeping the stuff under control.

Sorry for the long reply but you hit a nerve when you mentioned mildew - it drives me nuts!

Pressure washer on its finest setting works awesome. Problem solved!

thin down the bleach,pour it on, scrub it in, and power wash it off, don't let it sit. I will never carpet another boat.

I use my pressure washer every fall and spring, now it's a Harry Homeowner small electric, 1000 PSI model that works great on the black build up with out damaging anything. Carpet looks like new after, I never use bleach! I will use some Dollar Store Orange Clean if it really bad, spray it on let it set for 10 minutes, then blast it off, has worked for me!

Used some stuff I got at HD called mold armor. Worked well but would not use on a regular basis.

Once you get it clean put down some mats or something similar to prevent it from reoccurring.

doc

Products that have sodium percarbonate as an active ingredient such as OxiClean will remove mildew very well and they don't do as much damage as chlorine bleach.

hit it with a pressure washer. i take mine to a local car wash with a tall bay. its a lot easier than all the other methods we have used.