Question:
John Wright asked:
The rubber around my rear view mirror and the vinyl on a side panel along the driver’s seat have become sticky. I assume it is some kind of UV breakdown. The boat is a 2000 Ski Nautique. Will one of your products, perhaps speed clean, remove the stickiness?
Answer:
Once vinyl and rubber becomes sticky it’s usually a sign that the damage is irreparable, however if the materials are not too badly damaged, Speed Clean may remove the sticky surface. It’s worth a try before you replace these items, but no guarantees. If it works, you have saved yourself the expense of replacing these items. If you do get it off, be sure to protect the surfaces with Vinyl Guard to reduce the chance of reoccurrence. Vinyl Guard will restore some of the lost plasticizers which will help protect the vinyl and rubber.
From your description it sounds like something was applied to the surface which caused a migration of the plasticizers out of the material which in turn led to degradation from UV rays from the sun. Some of the causes of this type of damage are using the wrong cleaners or protectors, suntan oil and insect repellents. If the driver used sun blocker or suntan oil on his arm and rubbed it on the vinyl, this would explain why the side panel was damaged. In future clean the vinyl with Boat Clean Plus and apply several coats of Vinyl Guard to all of the vinyl and rubber to prevent this from happening again. Vinyl Guard is different than other protectors. It uses new polymer technology instead of solvents. It’s not greasy or slippery and will protect against suntan oil and sun blocker damage as well as UV, food and beverage spills etc.
Thanks for your question,
Captain Aurora
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