1 of the best aspects of owning a boat is being able to go out on the open water and savor the idyllic natural vistas. The beauty is shattered pretty quickly if y'all take a few dirty windows clouding up your view. Well-nigh boat windows are generally made out of a clear plastic like vinyl or acrylic, and they can get really dirty, yellowed, scratched and misted upwards.

Cleaning boat plastic windows isn't as like shooting fish in a barrel as drinking glass, and they will need some extra care to avert existence scratched and damaged during the cleaning procedure.

Read on to find out how to clean gunkhole plastic windows without scratching, including which chemicals to avoid and how best to maintain them subsequently and so that they remain clean. I will also discuss methods to re-furbish your windows if they have become scratched and yellowed.

How to clean boat plastic windows without scratching

Cleaning a plastic boat window is a relatively straightforward process but special care needs to exist taken when cleaning. Plastic windows do not bear the same way as glass and can hands become scratched and damaged if y'all utilise the incorrect products.

Follow the steps below to ensure that you do not damage the plastic, with the end event beingness spotless gunkhole windows.

What y'all will need:

You will need a few basic supplies before getting started:

  • two buckets (1 for the soapy water and 1 with make clean water for rinsing)
  • Microfiber cloths (view on Amazon)
  • Vinyl window cleaner with UV protectant (view on Amazon)
  • Polishing tools for tough scratches (view on Amazon)

ane: Employ the correct type of soap that won't scratch plastic

Vinyl is a plastic that is very sensitive to chemicals. It's of import to employ cleaning products that don't have any corrosive chemicals like ammonia, alcohol, bleach, solvents or petroleum products.

These tin can cause irreversible damage and the window will need to exist replaced in well-nigh cases.

I recommend using a non-detergent soap. This is basically a soap that does not comprise whatsoever synthetic compounds. These are the safest types of soap to use as they won't react with the plastic and cause harm.

Nevertheless, for all-time results you can get a marine cleaner that designed specifically for cleaning vinyl windows. It's a great option if you want to play it safe and be absolutely sure that you don't accidentally employ a chemical that volition damage and scratch the plastic windows.

These cleaners are usually referred to as protectants and cover the dual purpose of cleaning off whatsoever dirt and grime as well as applying a protective UV protectant coating to the window to prevent yellowing from UV damage.

Vinyl protectants tin can also piece of work on acrylic windows.

2: Pre-clean the plastic boat windows with warm h2o

Start by rinsing your window down with some warm water. This will get about of the grime off before you showtime wiping information technology clean with a microfiber textile.

If you lot start rubbing a fabric back and along across the window and there is all the same a lot of dirt on it you can scratch the window very badly.

Handy Hint: A word of warning, we all love annihilating dirt with a pressure washer, but if you use a pressure washer on vinyl y'all will severely damage the plastic.

One time y'all have rinsed off the window a few times you lot can begin wiping off the dirt. The idea is to soften all the clay then that it rinses off without having to vigorously scrub off all the dirt.

3: Clean the plastic boat windows

In one case the plastic windows have been rinsed down and you have your cleaning solution fix you can apply it to the window.

Handy Hint: Every bit an added precaution offset on a small-scale part of window first in case you make a mistake and scratch it.

To use the cleaning solution to the windows you will need to utilize a microfiber cloth, dip it into your cleaning solution then wring the cloth out over again, wipe the window in left to right motions.

Do not double back on the same expanse when you wipe as you might track some dirt back across and scratch the surface of the window.

Rinse the cloth out once again and echo the above process until one side of the window is make clean.

Then take another clean microfiber material and dip information technology onto a bucket of clean warm water and wipe the window off to remove any soap that may remain on the window.

Repeat the whole process on the other boat plastic windows.

Brand sure that you utilize fresh soapy and clean water often especially if you are cleaning multiple windows.

4: Make clean up any remaining water marks and streaks

If you find that there are nonetheless some h2o marks on the windows you tin remove them with a ninety/10 mixture of water and white vinegar.

Make certain yous utilise another clean microfiber textile to apply this solution, wiping it gently onto the water marks.

Maintaining your boat's plastic windows

To brand the cleaning process easier the next time around make sure you clean your windows regularly with a mild soap.

If you lot do this weekly you lot will won't have to spend so much fourth dimension cleaning in the future. As with the cleaning tips in a higher place, use a clean microfiber cloth each fourth dimension as vinyl gunkhole windows scratch very easily.

The cleaner and protectant mentioned earlier is a keen product to apply every iv to 6 weeks.

This will not just keep the window clean merely also to protect the vinyl window from getting damaged by UV rays from the lord's day.

How to remove scratches from plastic boat windows

If yous've followed all the to a higher place steps you should now have actually make clean plastic gunkhole windows. Yous can sit down back, relax and look at the sun ready behind the distant horizon.

But, what if you now notice yellow markings and loads of tiny scratches on the window from days gone by?

If y'all followed the advice above then it won't exist your recent cleaning procedure that created the yellowing and scratches, only rather the general aging and wear and tear of the vinyl plastic.

The good news is that this is fixable too in some cases.

In order to protect your windows in future from yellowing, scratching and other types of events that exercise not fall nether the muddied window bracket then the steps beneath can help you bring them back from the brink and looking (almost) brand spanking new.

What yous volition need:

The whole thought behind renovating your windows is to polish all the scratches out. So, you lot will demand to get some polishing equipment if you lot don't already have something.

The best thing to employ is a small power polisher (view Amazon prices). These look like a standard grinder, but they accept larger disks and places to put your hands that are ideal for polishing.

Get a few polishing pads every bit well, also annotation that vinyl requires a very fine polishing compound that can be found at about automotive shops.

I too recommend microfiber cloths as I recommended in the cleaning guide earlier.

1: Remove the scratched windows

You will need to remove the windows first as trying to smoothen them while they are fastened to the gunkhole volition quite likely result in the window popping out of its mounts mid smooth.

How to remove scratches from plastic boat windows

It's a tough job, but it's worth removing the windows earlier polishing out the scratches.

Once y'all accept removed the windows, place them on a flat table that is covered with a clean towel.

You want a apartment table considering an uneven tabular array can result in a cracked window in one case you put pressure on the window.

2: Smoothen the plastic gunkhole windows

Once you are all ready up you can begin polishing the window.

Utilize a clean lint free microfiber cloth to put polish on the window in an fifty-fifty coating.

Yous tin can so begin polishing the window by applying light force per unit area and keeping the pad moving beyond the surface. Make sure that the speed is between 1000 and 1200 rpm.

If your polisher is set also high you run the run a risk of calculation as well much heat into the plastic and then melting it.

Make sure that you always go along the pad moving, do not stay in the same place for too long.

3: Put the scratch-free windows back in

This process should remove a lot of the scratches from your boat's plastic windows.

It might not get everything out, just they will look a lot meliorate than they did before with most of the yellowing gone.

Once consummate, popular the windows dorsum in and yous're adept to go.

Related questions

Beneath are some of the more commonly asked questions people enquire in relation to "how to clean gunkhole plastic windows".

Why do vinyl windows become yellowish?

Vinyl goes through a three-step process when exposed continuously to the sun. Starting time it becomes opaque, then it turns yellow and eventually it becomes breakable enough to crack and break at the slightest bump.

This is acquired by the evaporation of plasticizers. This evaporation can be reduced by roofing the vinyl whenever possible.

What are boat windows made of?

At that place are by and large 2 types of clear plastic windows on boats; the windows are either made out of vinyl or acrylic whereas glass is extremely uncommon nowadays.

  • Vinyl windows: besides known equally Eisen glass, is easily damaged by any detergent based chemicals and other solvents. It is too highly susceptible to harm from UV rays and eventually turns opaque, yellows and becomes brittle if continuously exposed to the sun.
  • Acrylic windows:also known as Plexiglas or Luxite is similarly damaged past detergent based cleaners and solvents but is UV stable and is not as desperately damaged by the sun

The last word…

Even the most expensive boats will use the same plastic, vinyl, PVC, clear acrylic, or polycarbonate windows. They are all prone to wear and tear, no affair how much coin you spend on your gunkhole.

The clear vinyl windows are the worst, every bit they tin become yellowish, breakable, and scratch very easily.

However, as long as the dirt hasn't been left in that location for also long, you can rescue them if you lot human action now and use a adept plastic boat window cleaning routine every bit described above.

You should also be able to get rid of some of the smaller scratches with the method outlined in the 2d one-half of this article.