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Help! Spiders are taking over!
Spiders love bugs, bugs love the lake, the boat is on the lake. This means there’s lots of fat and happy spiders on the boat. It doesn’t make me happy…
If you have a canvas bimini and dodger — or even a canvas for your patio set or an umbrella, below are the steps that I take to clean it.
We have a power washer but because of the sun’s strength, it may weaken the material, so we do not use it on our canvas.
🌞 Protection
I’ve mentioned this before but we’re very grateful for our bimini and dodger. On our journey home, it protected us from foul weather. It was pouring out and we stayed mostly dry. Now that we don’t take SV Zeke E Boy out in bad weather, it protects us from the blazing sun.
We’re still able to get sun – I’m constantly reapplying sunscreen but it’s great to have some shade as well.
Go Big Green 📣
I don’t love the green color that’s used practically everywhere on the boat. We could call SV Zeke E Boy, the incredible hulk or jolly green giant or green machine, but replacing it isn’t on our project list or budget for this year – or even the next few years so we want to keep it around for as long as possible. (My high school colors were green … it feels so long ago and I don’t remember any of the cheers!)
The one benefit of the green color is that it’s unique. Blue – by far – is the most popular color for boat canvases. So when we meet someone new at the marina and they ask which boat is yours – we can say the green sailboat at the end of the dock, and everyone knows which one it is!
Keep a sharp 👀
As we learned from our trip home, we need to be able to see out of it! We now have a SOP to remove at least the front windows prior to leaving the dock, but we also remove the sides and lift up at least 1 panel in the back to get good airflow in the cockpit.
Closing ⛵️ up
When we get back to the dock, we add them back and close the boat up safe and secure. It’s older, so some of the canvas doesn’t quite fit the current location of the snaps but there’s a super handy snap extender, and the previous owners left us several additional ones.
My To-Do List
I also learned a trick from fellow sailors on a FB community page to remove broken snaps with a flat head screwdriver. (Of course, there’s also a tool you can buy but the screwdriver worked great! 👍)
This winter some of my projects will be to fix the holes and places where the zipper has come loose from the fabric to keep our canvas lasting as long as possible. Last winter with SV Zeke E Boy so far away, it was difficult to do many projects – plus we really didn’t know what to do – it was all so overwhelming.
Now that we’ve used it a season, we have a list of things to do. And this year she’ll be stored about 30 minutes away so we’ll be able to get her into shape!
Keep it clean
In the meantime, I like to try to clean the canvas a few times this summer. I don’t clean it each time we take her out but inevitably there’s a happy bird somewhere because of the droppings left on top. I do try to clean up any messes each time we come to the boat – and get rid of the spiders!
Step-by-step Guide
What you Need
- Mild dish soap, such as Mrs. Meyers Lavender scented Dish Soap
- Meguiar’s #17 Clear Plastic Cleaner
- Microfiber cleaning cloth
- Cotton Rag
Steps
- Wipe off dirt, bugs, spiders and webs with dry or slightly damp rag
- If needed, especially for the bird dropping, use mild dish soap and water to clean difficult messes
- Use dish soap and water on plastic windows
- Let completely dry
- Use Meguiar’s #17 Clear Plastic Cleaner with microfiber cleaning cloth to clean plastic windows
- Wipe dry and buff off the residue
Estimated Time
2 – 3 hours (depending on number of windows and happy birds around your boat or patio)
What do you Think?
What do you use to clean your bimini and dodger? Or your canvas patio cover or umbrella? Do you have any other recommendations? Please share your feedback in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!
– Kara from Zeke Life
Live like Zeke
You’re such a good boy!
