If you own a hot tub in Texas, Arizona or at altitude in the Rockies you know what sun exposure can do to a vinyl spa cover. The reason is all vinyl are rated by hours outdoors. Normally 1500 hrs outdoors is pretty standard which amounts to about 100 days if you only count daylight hours. Makes it seem kind of silly to put vinyl on anything that’s going to be outdoors.
All vinyl even the best marine grades, will always crack and fall apart eventually if it is used outdoors. In areas of extreme temperatures and ultra violet, the damage occurs much more rapidly. 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. Made from acrylic fiber woven into a canvas like fabric it offers the breathability of canvas without the shrinkage, rotting or fading. One of the great advantages of breathable fabric is that it does not trap moisture in like vinyl where it can grow mildew, If your present rigid foam cover smells like mildew the vinyl on the outside is one of the reasons why. 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 used to protect the sail fabric from damage while stowed. 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.
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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.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
