Camper Remodel: Cleaning the Tent Ends

It is finally warm out in Illinois! We drove to my hometown for the weekend where we have the camper stored. My big task was to clean the grimy/moldy tent ends. Peter came in with no plan but ended up demolishing the floor (long story for another day). 

This is what we started with:

A few weeks ago we attempted to clean the canvas, and bought two different products. One was a mold cleaner from Lowes, and the other was a 3M mold/mildew boat cleaner from Gander Mountain. We had luck cleaning the outside canvas, but the inside was not budging at all. 

I read a bunch of reviews and decided to order two of the Bass Pro Shop Mildew Stain Remover sprays. This was the best decision ever.

We decided it would be easiest to take off the tent ends so I could spread them out and clean them outside. It was a bright warm sunny day which I think actually helped activate the bleach a bit (I could be totally wrong there).  We used the spray, a soft bristled brush, a sponge, and a bucket of water. 

The technique I used was to spray and let it sit for 1-2 minutes, then I dipped the brush in water and scrubbed the canvas, which created some suds, but definitely showed that the tent was getting clean. Afterward, I used a wet sponge to wipe down the fabric. I'm not sure if the sponge totally cleaned out all of the spray product, but it smelled clean and bleach-like, and I'm ok with some of that being left over in the fabric.
My patch test revealed that the spray worked awesomely. 
Below is a good picture showing how clean it makes the fabric (left) versus the side I hadn't sprayed or scrubbed (right).
(The final clean product. So pleased! It looks new!)

And now for a few pictures of my handsome boyfriend working on the inside with the camper airing out! 

No comments