Cleaning Captains Seats

[Cruz]

I've got a pair of early captains seats that could do with a little TLC

Do the covers remove easily to put them in the washer, or is it not worth the hassle when I could get them valeted?

[boatbuilder]

I'd just give them a good rub using carpet shampoo.

[billy739]

you can strip the seats and put them in the wash machine.

its a fair big job , i have done all mine but takes a while.
also there is cardboard in the seams to stiffen them , too hot and this will disolve.

nice to sit on freshley washed seats tho.

cant do the armrests tho, as these are stapled together.

[Oldiebut goodie]

The trouble I found with mine was that you can give them a good clean with a wet & dry vacuum cleaner with them in situ but the dirty dust that has gone through is held underneath and then works it's way back to the surface. Ideally they need taking off so that the cushioning can be deep cleaned also but I haven't been brave enough to try it on mine yet!

[langb20]

I agree the best job would be to take the covers off, haven't tried it yet. Holding off on the washing machine as I put a headrest cover in there and the thread spawled off, was salvageable - just something to bear in mind if yours is a bit ragged to begin with.
as a temp job I went for upholstery cleaner and a bit of '1001' on the main chair fabric/vinyl. scrubby brush really got the vinyl backs and sides like new (small grains were hard to clean with just a rag), don't want to get the foam underneath too wet though as it takes forever to dry!

I got a wire poking through which will need looking at eventually so covers-off is inevitable. it's one of those 2 wires that go down each side between the flat bit you sit on and each of the bolsters, seems a bit of a common problem? (both my vans have it)

[billy739]

yeap, usually because the seat base foam has broken up