Vinyl Floor Cleaners

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steve1313
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Vinyl Floor Cleaners

#1 Post by steve1313 » Wed Mar 18, 2020 3:02 am

I have the vinyl flooring that's pretty much become the standard in newer boats, and I've noticed it's looking a little dirty. Has anyone found a good cleaner? It's going to be 85 degrees here on Friday, and I thought it would be a good time to practice some social distancing in the middle of the lake with a brush, a bucket, a couple of adult beverages and some elbow grease to get my boat looking great for spring!

I don't have any serious stains or anything, it's just that the lighter gray floor just is looking dirty.

In addition to the cleaner, has anyone found anything else they are using to perhaps reduce the build up of dirt on the floor? Obviously I don't want to use something that makes the floor slippery, etc.
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Steve
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Steiner
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Re: Vinyl Floor Cleaners

#2 Post by Steiner » Wed Mar 18, 2020 5:33 am

I think if it's not actually stains but just dirt, the Starbrite Vinyl Shampoo and a brush might be the easiest thing to work on that "weave" with. Their Ulitimate Vinyl Clean is really good for stains. Neither will leave a "film" like some combo cleaners/protectants do. Walmart, Academy, etc carry their products. I still use the 303 as a protectant but like the Starbrite cleaner line. Don't know what might be best for putting on a floor as a protectant other than being quick about getting stuff that might stain off it. There's stuff for composite and non-skid decks but just don't know about vinyl.
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steve1313
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Re: Vinyl Floor Cleaners

#3 Post by steve1313 » Wed Mar 18, 2020 3:30 pm

FYI, I emailed Star Brite since they make a wide variety of cleaning products. They recommended their non-skid deck cleaner followed by their non-skid deck wax. I'm going to give the deck cleaner a try and I'll report back!
Steve
"Serendipity" - 2017 Sweetwater 2286 WB Tritoon w/ 150HP Yamaha
Slipped at Lake Anna, Virginia
Primary Residence: Richmond, Virgina
Lake House: Lake Anna, Virginia

Steiner
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Re: Vinyl Floor Cleaners

#4 Post by Steiner » Wed Mar 18, 2020 4:07 pm

Cool. Let us know. I was going to mention what good reviews their nonskid deck cleaner gets and it being vinyl safe, but didn't know if it would be appropriate for seagrass type flooring.

FWIW, we've got dogs and sandy islands....pretty much every time we got home with the last boat that had seagrass, I'd run a little bagless upright vac over it. The new boat has aquatread textured solid vinyl flooring.
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Re: Vinyl Floor Cleaners

#5 Post by BobL » Thu Mar 19, 2020 12:01 pm

Twice a year, I sprinkle Dawn detergent on the floor, spray lightly with water then use a shop broom to scrub it. Comes out sparkling clean each time.
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bvm
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Re: Vinyl Floor Cleaners

#6 Post by bvm » Fri Mar 20, 2020 7:33 am

We have an older vinyl flooring on our rental boats. Since they get used quite often, we regularly have to clean them up. The first line is a simple pressure washer, ours goes up to 3000#. Be careful, those pressure washers can actually chew right through the vinyl if you linger on a spot for very long. If the pressure washer doesn't work, then we're using some cleaning soap, scrubbed in with a long handle brush, then washed off with the pressure washer. We haven't had to go beyond those two strategies.

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steve1313
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Re: Vinyl Floor Cleaners

#7 Post by steve1313 » Sat Mar 28, 2020 5:16 am

Just to report back on this, I cleaned the floor with the Starbrite non-skid deck cleaner. I wet the floor, squirted down the deck cleaner, did some minor scrubbing with a deck brush to spread it thoroughly and waited a few minutes. I used my Worx Hydroshot to rinse it off and I was very pleased with the results.

Although the Hydroshot worked OK to remove the soap and dirt, I didn't feel it had enough pressure to really do a good job of rinsing but it was adequate. Of course, since I'm always looking for a new gadget or gizmo, that took me on a search for a better "power washer". Although I have power at the slip, I don't have any way to connect to a faucet at my slip, which is where I typically do the cleaning. I stumbled across the Sunjoe SPX 6000 cordless pressure washer https://www.snowjoe.com/products/sun-jo ... efurbished . It has a 5 gallon bucket attached which can be used as the water source. When it arrived, I went back to the boat and re-rinsed the floor and there was still a fair amount of cleaner residue that it removed. The finished floor looks great!

One other note, my floor isn't the "weavy" seagrass flooring. It's the Corinthian Marine Aquaweave Glue Down flooring which is more of a textured flooring that it is a weave.
Steve
"Serendipity" - 2017 Sweetwater 2286 WB Tritoon w/ 150HP Yamaha
Slipped at Lake Anna, Virginia
Primary Residence: Richmond, Virgina
Lake House: Lake Anna, Virginia

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