Very grubby cushions from the 1980s- it’s a challenge come and help me!

[Cathpot]

Cushions from a boat- foam core/ velour covering, cover can’t be taken off. Horrible unidentified stains.

Clearly the sensible answer is to burn them, however, current finances suggest I need to find a way to clean them- any ideas??

Could you get that suede renewer foam stuff (for shoes) and spray it all over it and then use a steam cleaner.

Please feel free to ignore that idea because I wreck stuff.

can you make some covers?

Scrub using a bucket of hot water and lots of biological washing powder and maybe some of that antibac washing liquid stuff? That will soak through to the foam too & kill off bugs, hopefully. Test a patch first though, obviously.

Bicarb of soda and lemon juice?

Would finances allow for new covers? If so I would cut the covers off , wash the core with warm soapy water and replace. You can get cheap fabric and make covers quite easily.

I would love to make covers but I’m an idiot with sewing, and it turns out that proper boat cushion covers are veeeeeery expensive. DH seems to think only proper boat cushion people could possibly recover them ( at vast expense) although I may work on him about that. I suppose I’m after miracle cleaning products that don’t involve washing machines- I am putting suede cleaner on the list.

Try this? www.amazon.co.uk/Electric-Handheld-Upholstery-Maxi-Vac/dp/B01C2TG848/ref=sr_1_5?s=kitchen&keywords=upholstery+cleaner&tag=mumsnetforum-21&ie=UTF8&qid=1523574248&sr=1-5

I have a vax one and it’s great but the price seems to have gone up. You need something that sucks out water for upholstery.

We too have a boat and once the foam gets wet it can disintegrate pretty rapidly. Have you considered replacing the foam, which you can get cut to size, and then recovering them yourselves. If you carefully cut off the covers, you then have a template for the new ones. If you have a machine they are quite easy to run up, but put zips in because you can guarantee somebody will sit down in their all weather gear and leave grey splodges! BOAT is an acronym for bring on another thousand so if you can find a non boat upholsterer it would be a lot cheaper.

Yes jon66 I’m discovering that at speed! Cushions are currently quite low down priority list of over priced jobs but they are the ones the kids will sleep on so I’d like some sort of basic hygiene. I genuinely can’t do covers myself- it would involve buying a machine and then a course on using a machine but I might look finding someone who can.

Agree about foam disintegrating. You can buy it at Dunelm. I made one for DD for window seat.
Try looking for small back street curtain shop. They are the sort of people who maybe able to help. Tell them it a window seat.

Just a thought but if they are from the 1980s theres a good chance the foam is not flame retardant . Might be worth finding a local person to remake the lot for you.

Have a look in the classified of pbo. There are usually some ads for this type of thing, a bit cheaper than mainstream.

Thanks. I’ve had a nice evening and rum so I typed in classified pfb to start with which was surreal mix of advice .

Dr Beckmann carpet cleaner worked wonders on a difficult carpet stain I had. I'd tried about six different things and it was the only one that worked - might be worth trying on your cushions?

Failing that, could you cover them with cheap throws until such time as you can afford to recover/replace them? Try Argos, Home Bargains or TK Maxx.

Thanks - it’s worth a go

Aside from this thread making me wonder if I should branch out into making boat cushions...I would definitely consider replacing the foam, it is bound to be grotty and not fire retardant. There are websites where you put the size of foam needed and get a quote.

How old, so how heavy your are your children? Another cheap idea may be to buy a foam cot mattress fairly cheaply and cut it to size. The covers don't necessarily need to be fitted and piped, to make them cheaper and easier to make just ask for a pillow case shape (but larger obviously) and tuck them in around the foam. For cheap fabric think Ikea, it may not last an awfully long time but it would be a good solution for a quick fix.

If your DCs are going to sleep on them I'd probably replace them. With proper fire retardant foam inside for added benefit. Are they loose seats or fitted? (i.e., can you pick them up or is the top fabric pinned/nailed to the surrounding boat area?) If they are fitted to the boat then I guess that's more tricky, but if they are like large loose cushions you will definitely be able to get them made by a seamstress, and can keep costs down by not piping the edges etc.