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. 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. 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.

Years ago a neighbor came to me and wanted me to repair his 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. For those of you who don't know sailing, the typical sail material needs to be protected from exposure when not in use so it is bundled and covered with a sail cover. 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. I laid a piece of new material on his old cover to prove my point.

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.