Spring and Summer Canvas Care

Bimini tops and enclosures tend to be taken for granted until a failure ? most likely midtrip when bucking a stiff head wind ? turns a choppy ride into a slow, cold, wet afternoon. Scratched, yellowed and fogged clear panels also seem minor annoyances until you find yourself out past dark on a wet night. Follow these tips from canvas pros to start out right in the spring and keep canvas tip-top all season long.

"Clear vinyl will crack in the cold," warns Steve North, co-owner of Stitches Afloat on Vermont's Lake Champlain (stichesafloat@yahoo.com). "Don't disturb it until it starts warming up." He says anything above 32 degrees is OK for safe handling: "But below 50, it isn't going to cooperate. The warmer the better as far as getting fasteners to line up and that sort of thing." The best approach for clear enclosure panels is to wait for a warm, clear, still day and hang them loosely in place. The sun's heat and gravity will expand and relax them for easier installation. Large panels can literally grow or shrink an inch with temperature extremes. Once hanging, zip panels together and fasten their bottom edges two at a time, moving outward from one forward corner of the enclosure.

Before hanging clear plastic panels, it's a good idea to look them over ? as well as tops, covers and cushions ? for broken zippers, weak threads, tears, abrasions and similar repairs. Waiting until just before boating season leaves few reputable canvas shops with free time. "[Ultraviolet light] breaks down the stitching," North says. "It looks OK, but if a blow comes through [the marina], things come apart. If you can easily put your fingernail through the stitching, it isn't going to be long before it goes." Dark thread that's faded to white is another sign. Kevlar stitching is expensive but impervious to UV rays. It's slippery, though, so check edges and stress points for seams that are separating where threads pull loose.

North also warns that tops must be tight to avoid damage from flogging in the wind or collecting water. "You'll get pooling when it rains and the Sunbrella [fabric] stretches," he says. "Once there is a belly in the top, it will always collect water." North often pulls these tight with a dart, but pooling water, hard scrubbing, boat soap and weather all wash away the fabric's waterproof sealer. "If the water doesn't bead up and run off, you need to reapply waterproofing," North says. He uses ? and Sunbrella recommends ? 303 Products' High Tech Fabric Guard (303products.com).

North also uses Sunbrella's recommended cleaning concoction: one-quarter cup of mild laundry soap and up to one cup of chlorine bleach per gallon of water, scrubbed lightly with a soft brush (sunbrella.com). "If you've been keeping up with the 303, you shouldn't ever have to scrub it," North says. "That coating keeps [dirt] from seeping down into the weave." He soaks tough stains in a tub of this cleaning solution ? it's much easier to do this before installing canvas in the springtime. Never bring canvas to a dry cleaner, and don't expose it to heat or water above 100 degrees, which North says shrinks the material.

North likes the breathable fabric and wide color choice provided by Sunbrella and similar fabrics. He notes that vinyl traps moisture and encourages mildew. Still, he often chooses vinyl products for Bimini tops or covers that are frequently bombarded by birds, since vinyl can more easily withstand both the caustic excrement and harsh cleaners necessary to remove it.

Michael Marano maintains and details boats in Cape May, New Jersey, in the summer and West Palm Beach, Florida, in the winter (mmarano6787@yahoo.com). For routine cleaning of tops, covers, cushions and upholstery he uses one-quarter to half a cup of laundry soap in three gallons of water. Anywhere moisture is a problem, he adds a cup of bleach to the mix to prevent mildew from taking hold.

Marano cleans enclosures with a mild mixture of the same soap used on the boat. He's come to favor Turtle Wax Zip Wax Car Wash (turtlewax.com), available even at grocery stores. "It removes the salt and dirt, it doesn't strip the wax and you can't beat the price," he says. (Like Marano, I find many boats are washed with far too much of far too strong a soap.) On clear panels, Marano uses a soft microfiber or synthetic wash mitt as well as a telescoping pole with a similar soft bonnet on a pole pad. "I have one of each that never touch anything but the [enclosure]," he says. This ensures grit picked up while washing the boat doesn't scratch clear plastic.

For mildew and stains common around zippers, Marano uses a 50 percent solution of bleach and water in a spray bottle, being careful to keep it off clear material. "Leave it for a minute or two and rinse it off," he says. "It will knock that mold right down." The bleach breaks down stitches and plastic zippers over time, so it's a matter of balancing whether they're replaced from black moldy buildup or damage from bleach.

Sticky zippers and fasteners might be manageable at the dock but often cause problems in a breeze offshore. Marano uses Shurhold Snap-Stick (shurhold.com) to keep zippers working well and puts Ultra Safety Systems' Tef-Gel (tefgel.com) on snaps. "It doesn't run down the side of the boat," he says of Tef-Gel. "But you only need a tiny dab." He also warns to check plastic tracks carefully in the spring, which become brittle over time in the sun and then break in the cold of winter.

"You don't want to be offshore and have a zipper or fastener or track blow out," Marano warns. It sounds like he's been there before.