What Can I Use To Clean The Canvas Of My Pop Up Camper

Since I starting time wrote this post, I've learned quite a bit more about cleaning your pop up camper canvas. I figured it was time to update a few things. At that place are some new tips hither, so if you've read this post before, information technology is worth a second read. You might acquire something new! And if you are looking for information on how to clean and maintain the exterior and vinyl of your camper, you lot may observe this post helpful. Thanks for stopping past! 😉

Although the canvas on our Santa Fe is in excellent condition, it nevertheless needed a bit of cleaning. It was pretty dirty, and we want to make certain to go on it in groovy shape for as long as we can. A little preventative maintenance can go a long style in extending the life of your canvas. And honestly, I didn't want to be camping somewhere, take it pelting, and exist stuck in a leaky popular up. This was a exam of sorts for us. Nosotros wanted to brand certain our canvas would keep the states dry in inclement weather.

We did a lot of research and discovered that Woolite detergent was the mildest manner to clean Sunbrella cloth. If your sheet isn't made of Sunbrella, yous might desire to inquiry cleaning methods a little more. Woolite is pretty gentle, and I'd venture to say it will do a skillful chore on any canvass, but if you are unsure, check your owner's transmission. We filled our 5 gallon bucket nearly halfway full of h2o. And then we added a capful of Woolite (we used the 2 line marking).

We didn't have any mold or mildew on our canvas, so we were only going for a light cleaning to remove any dirt or residue on the surface of our camper. If you've got mildew, yous'll want to employ something much stronger. Sunbrella recommends a mixture of dish soap, bleach, and water. They've got a corking stain chart here you can use for reference. I've besides seen some amazing results from the Bass Pro Shops mildew cleaner. I had never tried it myself, but I hear good things nearly it. In fact, Mandy over at Campfire Travelers used it on her canvas with great success. Y'all can read all near that here. We just needed a light cleaning to get rid of the grit and dirt on the canvas, however, and so we used the Woolite and water. We used a regular sponge to wash the sheet on the inside. Then we used plain, clean water and another sponge to rinse. Nosotros didn't actually soak the canvass on the within, because we didn't have much dirt. We just did a light wipe down. It's worth noting that we had several black marks along the bottom of the canvas from the moving parts of the camper. I'm guessing it was grease or something, and the Woolite did not go those out.

Concluding year, I was fine with leaving them, only this year, I wanted to try to get those canvas panels clean. I had been in bear on with a rep from 303 Products, and she suggested I use their Multi Surface Cleaner to endeavour to remove those ugly black marks. She sent me a sample to effort, and I was amazed. I used a generic brand white eraser sponge and a little scrap of Multi Surface Cleaner, and those black marks wiped right off. The Multi Surface Cleaner is water based, pH neutral, and does not have whatsoever harmful caustics or acids. It worked fabulously on both the vinyl and the canvas, and it leaves no residue, which I love.

We did the same affair on the exterior, but nosotros put a fiddling more elbow grease into it. At that place was a significant amount of dirt on the outside of our canvas. We took the scrub brush and sponge to the outside, using a fresh batch of the Woolite solution, to brand sure all the dirt was gone. For the tough spots, we used the 303 Multi Surface Cleaner.

To get rid of any soapy residual, we used the garden hose and rinsed everything downwardly. It's as well a great way to spot check the waterproofing on your canvas. If the water beads up and rolls off, then you are nonetheless h2o repellent. If you outset to find some of the water soaking into the fibers then it is time to retreat that spot. Exist careful to thoroughly bank check areas where your canvas might have been rubbed or worn. Any high friction areas will lose h2o repellency sooner than others that don't get touched. The bungees from our Gizmos habiliment the waterproofing off chop-chop, so nosotros have to spot treat those areas frequently.

Make sure you rinse your canvas well, as whatever residue left on the tenting will affect your waterproofing. When all the soap was rinsed off, we permit the canvas dry in the dominicus for several hours earlier we waterproofed information technology.

To waterproof our canvas, we broke out a bottle of this magic stuff — 303 Loftier Tech Fabric Guard. It'south recommended by Sunbrella for treating their fabrics. It's a little difficult to find, so I recommend Amazon, but nosotros've too seen a bottle or two at Ace Hardware and Lowe'due south. We had to bulldoze 30 minutes to discover an Ace that carried it, and even then we picked up the final bottle — and so if you lot are trying to notice it locally, phone call before you head over to the store.

There is no specific rule as to how frequently you should waterproof your canvas. It actually all depends on how often the surface is exposed to the elements and how much wear-and-tear the surface gets. There is no harm in retreating too often, but if the surface is even so h2o repellent, so any new production that you spray on will not stick to the fibers and you will be wasting product. We usually do a spot check once or twice a year and retreat as needed.

The first year we treated the sheet, we found nosotros had enough product in a sixteen oz. spray bottle to practise all of the tenting. The sail was all the same pretty waterproof at that fourth dimension. When we retreated it a twelvemonth later, we easily went through a 32 oz. bottle and wished nosotros'd had more. Because we had such a big surface area to treat, the 303 Products rep we spoke withtold us that nosotros could use a pigment brush or clean sponge roller to "paint" the High Tech Material Baby-sit on our sail. It does use a little more product, however, so we decided to spray ours on the canvas in a crisscross pattern. Once the Textile Guard worked into the fibers of the cloth whatever excess volition just run off. Remember when I said to thoroughly rinse the canvas? Well, if you have any residue, the High Tech Textile Baby-sit will not soak into the fibers of your canvas. We had a few of those areas, and we had to clean the rest off with the Multi Surface Cleaner earlier retreating with the Fabric Guard.

We used a piece of cardboard to protect our vinyl areas when nosotros were spraying the canvass. Exist sure you lot are wiping up any overspray on the vinyl with a make clean rag. Don't worry, once it dries, at that place will be no visible spotting. After nosotros gave the canvas a light coat of the waterproofer, we went dorsum with a clean, white rag and applied more Fabric Baby-sit to areas of the canvas by mitt. Just pour directly from the bottle onto the rag and wipe it into the canvas. Brand certain you lot are only applying 303 High Tech Cloth Baby-sit to the canvas parts of your pop upward. The tiptop of our popular upward is vinyl, as are the light-green parts at the bottom.DO NOT get the Fabric Guard on the vinyl, as it will damage it. This is clearly marked on the bottle, only we institute information technology out the difficult way. We weren't very diligent about wiping up overspray the second time we treated the canvas, and it discolored our vinyl in a few spots. To be actress sure y'all don't harm your vinyl, y'all could tape information technology off or cover it with plastic.

Once your canvas is cleaned and protected, it'south fourth dimension to give that vinyl some love. We wanted to brand sure that we protected all those areas from the persistent dominicus exposure they would get. We didn't desire any drying or cracking. For the vinyl, we used a product called Protect All.

We bought this product at Wal-Mart, because it was the only place {other than Amazon} that nosotros could find it. It was half the price at Wal-Mart, besides. After looking for way too long in the automotive section without success, we were virtually to surrender. Nosotros were directed to the RV section of the store and BINGO! We found it. You tin, apparently, just detect this stuff there. I recollect nosotros paid about $9 a bottle, but it was so worth it.

I love this product, considering it cleans and protects at the same time. Simply spray it on the vinyl, rub it on with a clean textile, and vitrify it out with some other clean, dry textile. We used sometime socks on our hands, and information technology worked great. If yous get streaks, simply apply more product, wipe, and dry. That's it!

And that'southward all there is to it! Nosotros spent about ii hours cleaning and protecting the canvas and vinyl, and it looks brand new. Replacement canvas for your pop up camper is very expensive, so information technology's best to take care of the original sheet as best as you can. With a little elbow grease, you can keep your canvas looking {and smelling} brand new.

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***I was not financially compensated for this mail, but I did receive a sample of 303 Multi Surface Cleaner for review purposes. The opinions are completely my ain based on my feel. Delight know that I write my honest opinion on all product reviews, regardless of how the production came to me. The content of my review volition always exist my truthful and honest experience with the production. If you meet a review hither on The Pop Up Princess, you lot know I like the product enough to give it my stamp of blessing.***

Happy Camping!