General cleaning of Flippac and mildew removal

[austintaco]

I had a few spots on my Flippac that concerned me. At first, I thought they were some type of mildew, but using just a mixture of dish soap,water and elbow grease, I was able to wash the spots off. After that, I went around the interior and exterior of the tent and spot washed a few areas. There are a few small areas that do look to be the start of mold, and mild detergent and water did not clean it off. The areas are very small, within folds of the material where it attaches to the lid, but I don't want this to be a problem down the road.

What is a safe way to stop mildew from forming on the tent? I have read that a 10/1 bleach solution works, but is that too strong? Is it recommended to deploy the tent after hard rains, to let it air out?

 

[Dave Bennett]

What is a safe way to stop mildew from forming on the tent? I have read that a 10/1 bleach solution works, but is that too strong? Is it recommended to deploy the tent after hard rains, to let it air out?

ALWAYS let it dry out in the sun whenever possible after a soaking. Sunshine (UV rays) kill mold and mildew dead. Be very careful with bleach...

 

[austintaco]

ALWAYS let it dry out in the sun whenever possible after a soaking. Sunshine (UV rays) kill mold and mildew dead. Be very careful with bleach...

I never put it away wet (talking tents here), but are you recommending to open it up after a good rain to let it air out? I had been doing that, but I thought it was overkill.
You seem to have the most experience with these campers, so I will follow your lead. Thanks

 

[Dave Bennett]

I never put it away wet (talking tents here), but are you recommending to open it up after a good rain to let it air out? I had been doing that, but I thought it was overkill.
You seem to have the most experience with these campers, so I will follow your lead. Thanks

I like to let everything air out ensuring all moisture and condensation is gone - mattress, hinges and edges around the shell etc. It can't hurt!

 

[billy bee]

I have the same problem. This sounds good: http://www.livestrong.com/article/167987-treatment-for-tent-mold-mildew/

bb

 

[JasonRedwood]

Hey Austintaco. I was wondering what kind of route you took on the mildew issue, and how your success was.
I have my work cut out for me with my mildew on my tent.

The livestrong link looks interesting.

 

[austintaco]

I am not sure if what I had was even mildew or stains. It looked like brown pressurized soda exploded inside at some point??? I just used soapy water and a sponge and most of it came off. I then let it air dry. I might have water getting in and this might be rust stains that have a weird pattern, but I have not determined that yet.

I would start with the least invasive (water and soap) and move up the chain until you get something working. My understanding is that you will most likely not get the stain out, but you can kill it and prevent it from spreading.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Dish soap and water are usually the best first steps, most things are not going to be hurt by weak solutions of it. This is a good thing to do periodically anyway, clean all the dirt out of the fabric to prevent abrasion of it.

Like TACODOC says, air dry and sunshine are the best preventatives. I've also had luck spraying with plain Lysol if you have to pack up wet or the tent (a WilderNest in my case) isn't drying on a trip. Sort of nip-in-the-bud step. Beyond that there's not much chemically that's safe for the fabric but also effective on mildew and mold. Should mention go lightly, no need to soak the fabric.

The staining is very difficult to remove and as long as you clean the tent and kill the spores it's not a problem. I wouldn't bother too hard trying to clean it, it may never go away. But here again, the sun will tend to bleach the fabric and those spots will get lighter in time with use.