can i use marine vinyl to drape and protect my cushions

by rick nash
(fort lauderdale fl)

Im just looking to drape a material over our new front bow rider cushions to protect from SO FL elements. Boat is 15 yrs and just redid all cushions. Bought duck cloth and spent hours myself patterning and sewing and grommeting ....a few weeks later it's all mold.
Will plain marine vinyl, cut to size, drape well and not mold??? or hurt the high quality marine vinyl cushions.

Ok, good question.
The duck can't hold up to the marine environment, with an exception of sunforger ands similar fabrics. In florida even sunforger cannot hold up to mold for for long.
On the marine vinyl, I don't recommend it. It is going to create a really damp environment between the two and sooner or later inherent mildew resistance will give up the fight.
Depending on your budget, you should stick with marine cover fabrics that breath, even then mildew can grow, but your chances increase using fabrics designed for the applications. Sunbrella or similar acrylics being a top choice that have 5/10 year warranties. If you are price conscience, maybe surlast would be a good choice with a 3 year warranty.

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