cleaning upholstery

[stevem]

Just fitting out my 38 and think that the upholstery needs a clean . Has anyone taken off the covers from the cushions and washed them?
I was thinking of giving them a cool wash in the washing machine.
Stevem

[Viking]

I have cleaned the covers with mixed results.  Some of them can be tricky to remove and tricky to refit, so beware.
Even at cold wash cycles, the covers shrink - significantly. Luckily I only washed a few, so not much harm done.
Instead I switched to dry cleaning and that has worked really well for all covers / upholstery throughout the boat.

[Ripster]

Just fitting out my 38 and think that the upholstery needs a clean . Has anyone taken off the covers from the cushions and washed them?
I was thinking of giving them a cool wash in the washing machine.
Stevem

Not sure if we have different fabric, but we have washed all our mattress covers and one of the saloon covers - no issues with shrinkage.  They were done on a 20 deg wash, minium detergent - spun gently and then drip dry over a couple of days.  We were nervous about shrinkage too - but did not suffer any.  Mine is a 2011 36C.

[dawntreader]

As with Ripster above - we've done the same with our [B37 2006] covers. Fun remembering how to refit all the foam pieces though! 

[Salty]

I have a Bavaria 36 with three sleeping cabins, and the boat used to be used for charter work. The boat was purchased in 2010 when it was already eight years old, and I suspect the covers had never ever been cleaned in the past. They were all taken off and washed on a very cool wash, and were then tumble dried until nearly dry but when my money ran out for using the marina launderette, and so were brought back onboard and were hung up over the guard rails to dry in the wind.
Re-fitting the covers was like wrestling several rounds with "Hulk Hogan," but I got there in the end and fortunately there was no shrinkage. They have been taken off again after the boat was removed from charter work and were brought home where I suspect either the wash cycle or the tumble drier was rather hotter than before and one of the covers has shrunk a little. This has resulted in the end of one of the bunk mattresses now curving up slightly. Despite that the cover has been under tension for a whole year since then, the cover remains a bit on the small side now, so take care with the heat of the wash.

[stevem]

Well today I bit the bullet and put the saloon seat covers in the wasing machine on a cool wash. When they came out hung them up to dry only took an hour then refitted them. They are a100 %  improvement.no shrinkage.