Cleaning cabin cushions.

[steve brown]

A question regarding cleaning our cabin cushions. On our 1982 CP-19 we have cushion covers with a coarse plaid fabric on the top and sides while the bottom is a vinyl material. They all zip off the foam cushions except for the small plug cushion directly in front of the mast. Can I wash these covers in the clothes washing machine? If anyone can share their experience with this I would appreciate it very much. The cushions have sort of a musty odor to them at present even after a couple of airing out sessions. Thanks again. Steve

[mgg]

I just washed mine in the washing machine, set on cold, Permapress dry - seemed to have no ill effects, no shrinking.
mgg

[sawyer]

I washed ours in the washing machine, they were quite musty so I did them twice, first time with warm water and soap, second with just cold water.  I put them in the dryer, but turned the heat way down and took them out just a little damp and hung them to dry. No shrinkage, just a little work to get the foam into the sleeve right.  I set the foams in the hot sun cooking both sides to take the moisture and mildew smell  out of them, that did real good.  When we had a musty camper cushion, we put a mild dryer sheet inside the liner and under the foam on each one, just freshened them a bit. I did not scotchguard mine, but that may help too.
Doug,  Newaygo, Mi,   (Yet Unnamed CP-16)

[Gil Weiss]

Fabrese spray works well at getting the musty smell to go away.

[steve brown]

Thanks for all the information everyone. The path I finally took before all this help came in was to apply a foam type upholstery cleaner to the fabric, let it dry in the sun and then vacuum it. I did give the foam blocks the sun treatment as recommended. When all done I gave the covers a Scotchguard treatment. I accidentally tore one of the covers at the zipper while putting the foam back in so be carefull during this phase. I recommend grabing the foam block at the bottom edge and sort of pulling it into the cover assembly. Pulling on the zipper edge while trying to stuff the foam caused the tear. The next time I will try the washing machine treatment. Odina Aurore is finally in the water on Saratoga Lake, NY. What a life. Thanks again all.  Steve