canopy mat'l choise - Vinyl type vs sunbrella

[Judy_Boat]

My customer has a 18' glastron that I am replacing the convertible top on.
The old material was the vinyl type material with inner fabric layer(Boat top?). It has become moulded and shrunk over several years. You cannot even do up some of the snaps at this point.

In this case, the customer always has the cover up to help stay out of the sun when operating the boat. Also, the boat is stored inside for winter at the side of a horse barn. Strange red mould has showed up on the cover this past winter.

I am recommending a sunbrella / top gun type cover as the replacement material. Am I doing the customer a disservice in performance?

[Peppy]

Denim backed vinyl. Ick. I'll be soooooo glad when the last of it molds itself to death. We still get lots of tops in for repairs made out of that junk. "It doesn't fit that great, so could you add 6" here and 9' there and repair all these cracks?"

Sorry.

Sunbrella is the modern replacement. It won't shrink (it will stretch) it will breath lessening the chance of mold, and it won't smell like a bag full of dirty socks stuffed with rotten cabbage. Itll chafe if you put a tarp over it though, so if the guy is looking for something similarly bulletproof to the old vinyl topgun is advisable but that brings back the mold issue.

Sunbrella or a similar acrylic fabric, properly cared for will provide him many years of happy boating.

[Mike]

Peppy I havnt seen that old Bart's material in 8 years now in Florida. I have seen sunbrella shrink a couple in he's ona 12' long cover  I e sold customer on Recacrill that call with a old shrunk cover

[Peppy]

I don't think I've ever seen Sunbrella shrink. Did he put it in the dryer? I have seen tops that weren't used much or stored for a long time where the waterstop around the edge shrunk and you can't get it on. But if you nip the w/s every couple of inches it'll fit, it only seems like the canvas shrunk. In that case anyway.

[Judy_Boat]

Thanks for the feedback.
Peppy, it was not the Sunbrella that shrank, it was the old vinyl type material.
I definitly will feel OK recommending a different material.

Is Top Gun more susceptible to hold than Sunbrella? Is that because it is less breathable?