If you have a hot tub in Texas, Arizona or at altitude in the Rockies you know just what sun exposure can do to vinyl spa covers
The reason is all vinyls are rated by hours outdoors. Generally 1500 hours outdoors which amounts to about 100 days if you only count daytime hours. Which if you think about it, is kind of foolish to put vinyl on anything that’s most likely to be outdoors.
Vinyl covered spa covers will always split and fall apart at some point if it is subjected to temperature level extremes and or UV. That’s why Sunbrella ™ was designed. It has been the gold standard in outdoor material for more than forty five years.
Sunbrella ™ is made by Glen Raven Mills here in the USA. Made from acrylic fiber woven into a canvas like material it provides the breathability of canvas without the shrinking, decomposing or fading. Among the terrific advantages of breathable material is that it does not trap dampness in like vinyl where it could create mold and mildew. If rigid foam spa covers odor like mold, the vinyl on the outside is just one of the reasons why. Given that acrylic is also what most spas are made from, Sunbrella ™ is exceptionally durable.
Sunbrella ™ doesn’t crack in the cold like vinyl, or fade like canvas. If you live near a marina every boat top you see in an intense color is Sunbrella ™. Anything else would certainly fade quickly, even the paint on the boat will discolor before the Sunbrella ™ will.
Years ago a next-door neighbor came to our shop and asked me to fix his sail cover. His sail cover had actually been in use on his sail boat for twelve years, with all the weather condition the northwest pacific coast could throw at it. For those of you that do not know sailing, the normal sail product has to be shielded from direct exposure when not being used so it is packed and covered with a sail cover. The sail cover is the guard that covers the expensive sail material from damage that would be caused by exposure.
Our neighbors sail cover was made from Sea Grass Green Sunbrella ™ which is an intense, rather bright green. I explained to him that if I repaired the cover with new material it would look dreadful due to the fact that brand-new material would certainly standout like a sore thumb on the faded older fabric. I laid a piece of brand-new Sunbrella on his old cover to prove my point.
To my astonishment the only distinction in between the two was his was a little dirty. Once it was cleaned and repaired, there was no difference in between the new fabric and the old even after constant direct exposure for twelve years. If your spa is outdoors and also your sick of replacing hot tub covers you truly need to buy the only spa cover that is offered in Sunbrella ™ fabric from SpaCap.com.