Spa Covers, Strength Begins On Top
If you own a spa in an area that gets extreme heat, sun or cold you already know that anything covered in vinyl isn't going to last long outdoors. The reason is that vinyl is rated in hours outdoors. It makes it sound funny to think you would buy something to go outside that is rated to last only about one hundred days.
All vinyl even the best marine grades, will always crack and fall apart eventually if it is used outdoors. When exposed to temperature extremes and or intense UV exposure the damage is done much faster. That’s why acrylic fabric was invented. It has been the gold standard in outdoor fabric for more than forty five years.
100% woven solution dyed acrylic with a fluorocarbon finish is manufactured here in the USA. Because the acrylic fiber is woven into a fabric it has a similar ability to breath without the drawback of rotting or shrinking like canvas. The great advantage to a fabric that breathes is that it won't readilty trap moisture where mildew can grow. If you ever had a rigid foam cover smell like mildew its because the vinyl traps that warm moist air from the spa and gives it almost perfect laboratory conditions in which to grow mildew. Since acrylic is the same stuff most spas are made of this material is incredibly durable. It doesn’t crack in cold like vinyl, or fade like canvas. If you live near a marina every boat top you see out there in a bright color is this fabric. Anything else would fade out quickly, even the paint on the boat will fade before the acrylic fabric will.
Many years back a friend came by to see if I could repair his old sail cover. His sail cover had been on his sail boat for twelve years, through all the weather the northwest pacific coast could throw at it. On a sail boat, when the sails are not in use they need to be protected from the elements. Typically a sail is bundled and covered with a sail cover to keep it ready for use. The sail cover is the shield that covers the expensive sail from damage. My neighbors sail cover was made from Sea Grass Green which is a bold, fairly bright green. I explained to him that if I patched the cover with new material it would look terrible because new bright material would stick out like a sore thumb on the faded older material. To prove my point I laid a new piece of material on his old cover.
To my astonishment the only difference between the two was his was a little dirty. Once it was cleaned and patched, there was no difference between the new fabric and the old even after constant exposure for twelve years. If your spa is outdoors and your tired of replacing your cover due to sun damage you really need to get a spa cover that is offered in 100% woven solution dyed acrylic fabric.
About the Author
Check out the SpaCap at http://www.spacap.com Where you can get a Custom Spa Cover in Sunbrella fabric. If it takes a village to raise your spa cover, it's time to think different.
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