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Packed up at the weekend in blazing sunshine after a soggy week in Somerset (typicial) and noticed some white dusting on inside of the roof of our folding camper when I unclipped the roof liner....

Today looks like my first chance to put it back up and inspect closer, am hoping that it's not the dreaded Mildew.

I've searched various threads about the stuff and am a bit boggled, but thought I'd ask my way out of it!

If I use the 1 part Milton 8 part water suggestion do I need to rinse it off?  Do I then need to re-proof? If yes to proofing would fabsil do the trick if not too large an area?

Other question is that I have just bought some new Milton products for general cleaning, they have a non-bleach surface spray that claims to be fungicidal and also have bleach, rinse-free formula surface wipes... might these work do you think?   The instructions on the spray only says to rinse if using on food prep surfaces.  Has anyone tried this stuff on canvas??

Will much appreciate your musings and comments, Susie-H 

Look on the back of the bottles for the Milton cleaning products. If the word "surfactants" appears anywhere, drop the bottle and don't put it anywhere near your canvas. These are wetting ingredients and you'll never get a canvas waterproof again after using them. If you have to use Milton then use diluted Milton with nothing added apart from plain water.

Do not EVER use detergent on canvas, btw. You will never get the residue out. If you feel the need to use a cleaning product either use one made for tents ie Grangers, or pure soap.

Yes you have to rinse Milton off. More times than you would belive possible. And then yes, you need to dry it off totally and reproof. Fabsil is the ideal stuff, yup.

In the future though the best thing is prevention. There are more and more reports of this exact problem of mildew growing on the roof of FCs between the roof and the liners. It's basically because the cooker is inside the cabin  and the ventilation is not always adequate to deal with all the steam generated plus soggy conditions outside. The only thing that helps is to air out the camper as much as possible....unclipping the edges of the roof liners for a few hours if you're going out for example, so that air can circulate.  And try to open all the windows and vents at least once per day. If yoy have the awning up then leave the camper door and any connecting window open as much as possible.

Thanks for that Val  

No surfactants mentioned on the spray- but cationic and ionic surface agents which probably means the same thing so it ain't going near the canvas then...

wipes only mention their active ingrediant as ethylic alcohol,might be ok but probably a trip to Tescos for me this afternoon for the original.

fingers crossed it won't be too bad when i get it up, will take your advice about airing etc. from now on. Hopefully the sun will shine next week in Cornwall.. but I won't hold my breath  

Quote: Originally posted by Susie H on 14/8/2009

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Ps. do you need to fabsil spray from both sides? I'm six foot but it could be tricky if so...

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Definately from the outside, alas! Both sides even better though for patch treatments.

Be warned that Fabsil and similar may darken the canvas a tad. So if the roof is in panels treat a whole panel to avoid obvious lines. On the other hand it is on the roof and even a tide mark is better than a leaky roof.

Out with the step ladder it will be then - tho the roof is dark green and hopefully won't show too much.

Daft question how do you physically rinse the milton out if the roofs up?  lots of wetting and blotting with cloths and sponges??

Quote: Originally posted by Susie H on 14/8/2009

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Daft question how do you physically rinse the milton out if the roofs up?  lots of wetting and blotting with cloths and sponges??

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Yes, if you can't use a hose. Just do your best. Put a plastic sheet on the floor of the cabin to stop drips onto the carpet. You could of course take the canvas off for this bit and immerse that section in something like a kiddy paddling pool? Put it back on to dry off and reproof though.

Oh, and remember to have a tarp or something handy to sling over the top if it starts to rain during this process.