Cleaning a SIB

[honwave]

Hi All
Just had a great day on the Thames with a 5 1/2hr trip to Beal Boat Show in the Honwave, a great day was had by one and all.
Just unpacked the boat in the garden to clean and its filthy with muddy foot marks, green stains from lock walls and general debris. What do people use to clean up the tubes - i have just used diluted household detergent, is there anything better?
Also is there a product that will retain the new look of the tubes as well as putting on a water repelant coating so the dirt will not stick.
Sunlight degrading any product is not as problem as the boat is rolled up and in the shed most of the time(shame I know).
Many thanks for any info.
Honwave

[Landlockedpirate]

Lots of products available.

Non boaty stuff that works includes Fairy Powerspray (Good but expensive), Magic Sponges ( Good again but dont cover much area before disintegrating), Traffic Film Remover-TFR (Cheap and chearful, use between 2% and 50% dilution for really tough stains)

Professional products for cleaning are available, I like ToobShine from Ribstore or Rib Revive from Rib Shop. For really tough stains I use Zodiac Revival paste (on all makes)

For polishing, the best stuff I have come across is 3M tube polish, buts its really expensive and getting difficult to buy. RibStore and RibShop both do alternatives called Rib Conditioners. Be aware, polishing the tubes can make them really slippy to sit on if they get wet.

I find a combination of all the above products is usually needed to tackle all the different kinds of stains you will accumalate on the boat.

[ZodiacManiac]

Your best buy is Zodiac Protect... A restorer... And then.. Believe it or not a sun milk.. Uv protector. A two bottle kit.
Before


After... But photo just shows grime removed not the second bottle of a UV protector... My Zodiac Classic looks like new after 220 km of cruising! Highly recommended. After UV protector is applied the boat shines... Keeps material supple... One a year.
Should avoid using other cleaning agents as some may deteriorate the tubes. I did whole boat.. Under inside and tubes... Bottle says tubes. But though it can do any harm.

[honwave]

Thank you all for your ideas, I took the easy route and bought a twin pack of Toobshine and Hypatec from Ribstore off Ebay.
I then had 2 days cleaning and polishing and my boat looks great, not as new but 10 times better that just washing her off with a hose, I will try the other suggested products in time but for now I look at her in the garden all bright and clean - great.
Honwave

[T4bus]

I just use a bit of washing up liquid and the harder side of a washing up sponge on the air deck & the soft side on the tubes, then I spray it with a little supermarket brand sun cream which i rub on with a bare hand so it goes on the boat rather than back into a cloth.

I don't know it the washing liquid is detrimental to the PVC but I guess it can't be any more harmfull than TFR.