Tube dye

[Revenger715]

I have white over navy blue tubes on my Revenger (grey rubbing strip in the middle) and used Pro marine Ribshine to clean the white bits yesterday before using 3M Tube conditioner on the white and blue sections. I got stung before when I used it on the blue bits as it seems to take the dye out so specifically didn't touch them yesterday.



Looked great, but then it started to rain so I put cover on overnight. Cover obviously got damp, there must have been some residual Pro Marine left on the white bits which then ran down onto the blue bits and has resulted in some lighter blue patches where the dye appears to have been taken off..!!


I've tried re-cleaning and re-conditioning this morning but the problem is still there.


It is not hugely noticeable (My Dad couldn't even see it!) but I know it is there and I have a feeling it will be more noticeable once the 3M wears off (which leaves a shinier deeper looking finish to the tubes).



So, worst case scenario - are the tubes re-dyeable? Is that how they got their colour originally?

[Tim M]

Ribshine like just about all tube cleaning products takes the top layer of old/dried out/oxidised material off the tubes when you deep clean them. It's totally normal, and it's not the "dye" coming out. It's unlikely to cause any issues unless you deep cleaned them every single day in which case you'd eventually get back to the underlying fabric. But we're talking extremes here. It's a bit like T-cutting your car - if you did it enough times you'd eventually get back to bare metal, but you'd be T cutting for a fair old while. Same cleaning your tubes.

My suggestion would be to go at them again with a decent quantity of tube cleaner and a scrubbing pad or magic sponge. You'll get any staining off the white (can also use the same stuff to clean the cover).

Whenever I use a tube cleaner I wash the tubes (and rest of the boat) after to get any residue off with a sponge and boat/car soap and LOTS of fresh water. Then let it dry before applying protector. You might find that works better in the future. But don't worry about loosing the colour from your tubes - it might look a bit worrying when cleaning them but that's perfectly normal!