How To Repair Pop Up Camper Screen

Since I first wrote this postal service, I've learned quite a bit more about cleaning your popular up camper canvas. I figured information technology was time to update a few things. In that location are some new tips here, so if yous've read this post before, it is worth a 2nd read. Yous might learn something new! And if yous are looking for data on how to clean and maintain the exterior and vinyl of your camper, y'all may find this post helpful. Thanks for stopping by! 😉

Although the canvas on our Santa Iron is in excellent condition, it nevertheless needed a bit of cleaning. Information technology was pretty dirty, and we want to make certain to keep it in great shape for as long as we tin can. A piffling preventative maintenance tin go a long way in extending the life of your canvas. And honestly, I didn't want to be camping somewhere, have it rain, and be stuck in a leaky pop up. This was a test of sorts for united states of america. We wanted to brand certain our sail would continue usa dry out in inclement weather.

We did a lot of research and discovered that Woolite detergent was the mildest mode to make clean Sunbrella fabric. If your canvas isn't fabricated of Sunbrella, you lot might want to research cleaning methods a little more. Woolite is pretty gentle, and I'd venture to say it will do a good chore on any canvas, but if you are unsure, check your owner'south manual. Nosotros filled our 5 gallon bucket about halfway total of water. Then nosotros added a capful of Woolite (we used the ii line marking).

We didn't take any mold or mildew on our sail, and so nosotros were just going for a lite cleaning to remove any dirt or residuum on the surface of our camper. If you've got mildew, y'all'll want to employ something much stronger. Sunbrella recommends a mixture of dish soap, bleach, and water. They've got a not bad stain chart here you tin apply for reference. I've also seen some amazing results from the Bass Pro Shops mildew cleaner. I had never tried it myself, but I hear good things virtually it. In fact, Mandy over at Campfire Travelers used it on her canvas with great success. You can read all about that here. Nosotros only needed a calorie-free cleaning to get rid of the dust and clay on the canvas, however, then we used the Woolite and water. We used a regular sponge to launder the sheet on the inside. Then we used plain, clean h2o and some other sponge to rinse. We didn't really soak the sail on the inside, because we didn't accept much clay. Nosotros but did a light wipe down. Information technology's worth noting that nosotros had several black marks forth the bottom of the canvas from the moving parts of the camper. I'm guessing it was grease or something, and the Woolite did non get those out.

Last year, I was fine with leaving them, merely this year, I wanted to try to get those canvas panels clean. I had been in impact with a rep from 303 Products, and she suggested I use their Multi Surface Cleaner to effort to remove those ugly black marks. She sent me a sample to try, and I was amazed. I used a generic brand white eraser sponge and a little bit of Multi Surface Cleaner, and those blackness marks wiped correct off. The Multi Surface Cleaner is water based, pH neutral, and does non have any harmful caustics or acids. Information technology worked fabulously on both the vinyl and the canvass, and information technology leaves no remainder, which I beloved.

Nosotros did the same thing on the outside, only we put a little more elbow grease into it. In that location was a significant amount of dirt on the exterior of our canvas. Nosotros took the scrub castor and sponge to the outside, using a fresh batch of the Woolite solution, to make sure all the dirt was gone. For the tough spots, we used the 303 Multi Surface Cleaner.

To get rid of any soapy remainder, we used the garden hose and rinsed everything downward. It's likewise a groovy way to spot check the waterproofing on your canvas. If the water beads up and rolls off, then you are still h2o repellent. If yous start to find some of the h2o soaking into the fibers and so information technology is fourth dimension to retreat that spot. Be careful to thoroughly 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 wear the waterproofing off quickly, and so we have to spot treat those areas frequently.

Make sure y'all rinse your sheet well, equally whatever residue left on the tenting will impact your waterproofing. When all the lather was rinsed off, we permit the canvas dry out in the sun for several hours before we waterproofed information technology.

To waterproof our canvas, we broke out a canteen of this magic stuff — 303 High Tech Material Guard. It's recommended by Sunbrella for treating their fabrics. It's a little difficult to find, so I recommend Amazon, just we've also seen a bottle or two at Ace Hardware and Lowe'due south. We had to drive xxx minutes to find an Ace that carried it, and even then we picked upwardly the terminal bottle — so if you are trying to find it locally, telephone call earlier you head over to the shop.

There is no specific rule every bit to how ofttimes you should waterproof your canvas. It really all depends on how ofttimes the surface is exposed to the elements and how much vesture-and-tear the surface gets. At that place is no damage in retreating besides ofttimes, but if the surface is even so water repellent, then any new product that y'all spray on volition non stick to the fibers and yous will be wasting production. Nosotros usually do a spot check once or twice a year and retreat as needed.

The showtime year nosotros treated the canvas, we institute we had plenty product in a sixteen oz. spray canteen to practise all of the tenting. The canvas was even so pretty waterproof at that time. When we retreated it a twelvemonth later, we easily went through a 32 oz. bottle and wished we'd had more. Because nosotros had such a large area to treat, the 303 Products rep we spoke withtold us that we could use a paint brush or make clean sponge roller to "paint" the Loftier Tech Fabric Guard on our canvass. Information technology does utilise a footling more production, still, so we decided to spray ours on the canvass in a crisscross blueprint. Once the Fabric Guard worked into the fibers of the fabric any excess will only run off. Recollect when I said to thoroughly rinse the canvas? Well, if you have whatsoever residue, the High Tech Cloth Guard will not soak into the fibers of your canvas. Nosotros had a few of those areas, and we had to clean the residue off with the Multi Surface Cleaner before retreating with the Textile Guard.

Nosotros used a piece of cardboard to protect our vinyl areas when we were spraying the sail. Be sure you lot are wiping up whatever overspray on the vinyl with a clean rag. Don't worry, in one case it dries, there will be no visible spotting. After we gave the canvas a light coat of the waterproofer, we went dorsum with a make clean, white rag and applied more Material Guard to areas of the canvass by hand. Just pour directly from the bottle onto the rag and wipe it into the canvass. Make certain you are just applying 303 High Tech Material Guard to the canvas parts of your pop upwardly. The top of our pop up is vinyl, as are the greenish parts at the bottom.Exercise NOT get the Cloth Guard on the vinyl, as it will harm it. This is clearly marked on the bottle, only we found information technology out the hard way. We weren't very diligent most wiping up overspray the second time we treated the canvas, and it discolored our vinyl in a few spots. To be extra certain you don't harm your vinyl, yous could record it off or cover it with plastic.

Once your canvass is cleaned and protected, it'south time to requite that vinyl some dear. We wanted to brand certain that we protected all those areas from the persistent sun exposure they would get. We didn't want any drying or cracking. For the vinyl, we used a production called Protect All.

We bought this product at Wal-Mart, because it was the simply place {other than Amazon} that we could find it. It was half the price at Wal-Mart, as well. After looking for manner too long in the automotive section without success, we were nigh to give up. We were directed to the RV section of the store and BINGO! Nosotros constitute it. You lot tin can, evidently, only find this stuff there. I retrieve nosotros paid about $nine a bottle, but it was then worth it.

I love this product, considering information technology cleans and protects at the same time. Just spray it on the vinyl, rub it on with a clean cloth, and buff it out with another clean, dry cloth. We used old socks on our hands, and it worked great. If you go streaks, simply apply more product, wipe, and dry out. That's it!

And that's all there is to it! Nosotros spent near two hours cleaning and protecting the sail and vinyl, and it looks make new. Replacement canvas for your pop up camper is very expensive, so it's best to have care of the original canvas as best as yous can. With a little elbow grease, you can go along your canvas looking {and smelling} brand new.

Disclaimer: This postal service contains Amazon affiliate links. The Pop Up Princess is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Assembly Programme, an affiliate advertisement plan designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertisement fees by advert and linking to Amazon.com. This means that if you choose to purchase an item from a link in this mail, The Popular Up Princess earns a small advertising fee to assist pay for future projects and posts… then thank y'all! 🙂

***I was not financially compensated for this post, but I did receive a sample of 303 Multi Surface Cleaner for review purposes. The opinions are completely my ain based on my experience. Please know that I write my honest opinion on all product reviews, regardless of how the production came to me. The content of my review will always be my true and honest experience with the product. If yous see a review here on The Pop Upwards Princess, you lot know I like the product enough to requite it my stamp of approval.***

Happy Camping!