Be Gentle....
Loren, I given some thought to washing the cushions on my 28. Did you do yours yourself, and if so how? Gentle cycle, low det.?
Best,
Frank
We washed 'em three times, gentle cycle, mild detergent like Woolite, and a little bleach added.
One more wash would have probably started destroying the stitching...
**One note: today's front-loader washers would be a
lot more gentle on the fabric.
While there was a bit of residual musty odor, I later put 'em all in a plastic tent with my ozonator for a few hours. The main secret was new 2.6 density foam, and the upholsterer wrapped it all in a gauzy dacron stuff to make the surface under the flat covers have some loft and softness. He was an old time master upholsterer (boats, custom cars, furniture, etc) that
really knew his stuff.
He replaced many of the corroded-away zipper pulls, too. At that time this particular line of fabric was going out of production and he was able to source a few scarce yards of it to replace the seat at the nav table which had the most wear, and also do some fill-in where he split the monstrous aft cabin one-piece cushion into two manageable sections.
He had a button-tufting press to use some new bits of fabric to cover new buttons for he settee backs and seats. (Those old buttons had a steel center and some had let rust stains show thru.)
Our boat had sat for three years in the Alameda estuary, closed up tight, before it was put on the market.
That's a lotta warm salty air.....
We also added two Beckson ventilators to our boat and always leave the hatches on "vent" position, AND we added a total of nine louvered vents under all the interior closed areas, AND we changed all the solid cloth zip-up locker fronts (it's an Olson thing...) to mesh cloth for even
more ventilation.
We are pleased with our upgrades -- But then,
everyone's got a story!
Regards,
(and deposit .02 please)
Loren