New (to me) Wildernest camper owner

WildernestTaco

New member
New to the forum, been getting a lot of great infor from here. I am in the midst of purchasing an older (older) model Wildernest for my 97 tacoma. Structurally the unit is in good shape (no holes), however, it has quiet a bit of mold and mildew in the tent itself. I am an avid camper and I would never buy a used tent with really any level of mold or mildew, but am hoping this is recoverable. I am purchasing the wildernest from a auto body shop and they are currently going through and cleaning (hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, salt water, myrazime). Does anyone have any experience cleaning one of these things? Is it possible to be restored? I am also going to go through and use seam sealant and Nikwax waterproofing to ensure waterproofness (hopefully). Any recomendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 

austintaco

Explorer
Congrats on the purchase. I had one for a moment and I am pretty sure that I did a small write up on here about it. There was another member that uninstalled the tent part and soaked it in his tub.
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/64216-Comanche-MJ-and-Wildernest-build?highlight=wildernest
I had links to online instructions and owner's manuals, but lost them when my computer crashed.
found a link
http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/66137-wildernest-camper-PDF-manual?highlight=wildernest

That should get you started. Go to the Search function and type in "wildernest" and search body and title. Have fun.
 

NorthernWoodsman

Adventurer/tinkerer
Hey, Congratulations on the new Wildernest! I owned for a moment myself and regret selling it.

My tent also had mildew/mold, but it was easily cleaned. You may never get the stains out though. I scrubbed my whole tent inside and out with Simple Green after soaking it in Lysol first. Lysol will kill mold/mildew without bleaching the tent and ruining the fabric. It made the tent smell better too. Being clean that is.

I doubt seriously that Nikwak will have any effect. My tent had a lining on the inside to keep it waterproof and it worked quite well. I say this, in part, because Nikwak has never worked on my hiking boots so I don't use or trust it anymore. I know it's not as environmentally friendly or human health friendly, but using 3M Scotchguard would probably work better. There might be a similar, less toxic version of it, but I don't know of one off hand.

You can have a new tent made. There are shops that specialize in canvas fabrication for tents and marine applications, possibly a good auto upholster, or even a place like Colorado Camper Van that custom makes pop-tops for vans and trucks.

I had also planned to remove the metal pole frame and have them powder-coated as they were a little rusty and corroded. Could probably have them galvanized as well.

Be careful to check for stress cracks near where the hinges are on the inside.

Enjoy!
 

WildernestTaco

New member
Thanks for the info guys. Did you have any problem removing the tent/ re-installing the tent from the camper? My only concern is that once I remove the tent, it may not be able to be re-installed. Any experience with this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
It's not too much risk removing the tent. It might change shape and shrink a little when you wash it but it's no worse than when they were new (which is a PITA). You used to be able to get factory replacement tents when WilderNest was still around but that's been years since they went under. Take the opportunity to replace all the screws with stainless ones, get a box from McMaster.

As far as washing them you do have to be careful. As NorthernWoodman mentioned the tent is urethane coated nylon, so there are not a whole lot of chemicals that are safe for both. Regular mild dish soap is fine (this is what I use). I have a couple of bottles of stuff called Sail Bath that works, too. It was made by Davis for cleaning sailboat sails. It does not seem to harm either the urethane or nylon but as far as I can tell it's no longer made.

Do what climbers do when we clean ropes, wash it in the bath tub. When you dry it hang it carefully so it's not drooping, that's what distorts the shape mostly. Lay it out, use lots of support or just put it back on damp and let it shrink to the frame. You don't want the fabric laying on top of itself wet and there's not much better way than to let it dry on the camper. Pick a weekend with good weather and just leave it open for a couple of days to dry.

The main reason why WilderNest tents fail is the urethane coating separates from the nylon. There's not much you can do to avoid it forever but being gentle will keep it sound for a long time. Problem with mold is it gets into the nylon and forces the urethane to peel away, so if you can stop it right away that's best. Open the camper periodically to keep it dry, definitely open and dry after using, etc.

I would avoid trying Nikwax on the nylon unless the urethane coating is already gone. The fabric itself was waterproof from the factory and all it needed was the seams sealed. Most people mistake condensation inside for a leaky tent, not many of them actually leaked but they did not breath either. Now there's more and more of them that are actually leaking as they get old, though. Anyway, putting something like Nikwax on it might cause the urethane to come off, so I'm one to avoid using anything that soaks into the nylon. I also clean the tent of pine tar and bird poop for the same reason, to keep them from acting as a solvent on the urethane.

One thing to realize is that you might never get mold and mildew stains off the fabric and so don't try. Wash the tent, dry it, seal it and spray Lysol on the outside (Lysol is the best way I've found to stop mildew) and then just use it. Using it is actually the best way to clean the stains, UV bleaches the fabric over time. The tents when new are very green and after a few years they fade to a very pale greenish.
 

DaveInDenver

Middle Income Semi-Redneck
The frames seemed to have been made from galvanized EMT with copper plumbing elbows in the corners painted silver. It's not fancy and can literally be fixed at any hardware store.

For the most part those cracks that form around the hinges and other places are just in the gel coat. They are not structural, just cosmetic. You can sand and re-gel them if they bother you, but just keeping the fiberglass waxed (you have to wax fiberglass) is all you really need. If you do not wax the shell the fiberglass over time becomes chalky and picks up stains easily.

I use boat hull products to clean and wax them. Good excuse to buy yourself a random orbit sander/buffer! 3M #09010 is a good general purpose cleaner/wax that's not too aggressive. For damaged 'glass you can run a polish, 3M #06011 is what I like followed by a plain fiberglass wax (no cleaning grit), 3M #09027. If it's really bad you might go to a more aggressive compound than #06011 but I'd be careful about taking too much gel coat off with a machine.
 

Saguache

Adventurer
I would start by looking at The Samba. Volkswagen owners have been dealing with tent mildew since the early 60s so they sort have corner the market on solutions to this all to common VW camper problem.

But DaveInDenver's suggestion that you wash, dry and then use is an awesome one. UV light will remove the stains and eliminate the smell. The additional benefit of the UV light solution is that if you head on down to the South West, pop your Wildernest, and then camp out in the gritty sunshine of the desert you'll be getting all that nice sage smell to replace it with.
 

WildernestTaco

New member
Thanks for all the info guys. Going to take off the tent, clean with a mild detergent like Lysol, replace the screws, and hopefully get out there soon. Headed to Joshua tree in a few days. Bummed the nest isn't going to be ready yet, but there will be plenty of more adventures.
 

Saguache

Adventurer
Thanks for all the info guys. Going to take off the tent, clean with a mild detergent like Lysol, replace the screws, and hopefully get out there soon. Headed to Joshua tree in a few days. Bummed the nest isn't going to be ready yet, but there will be plenty of more adventures.

There is another option your post made me think about. Not sure how much experience you have behind the peddle of a sewing machine, but tents are actually pretty easy MYOG projects. You currently have a pattern that is about ready to come off your rig, if the cleaning doesn't help and you're not interested in waiting for UV to do its business (or it doesn't) then replacement of the tent material shouldn't be all that difficult.

PM me if you need help with this (I've spent a lot of time making my own gear like this).
 

Arclight

SAR guy
If you're near SoCal, you're welcome to use my industrial sewing machine as well.

Arclight

Thanks for all the info guys. Going to take off the tent, clean with a mild detergent like Lysol, replace the screws, and hopefully get out there soon. Headed to Joshua tree in a few days. Bummed the nest isn't going to be ready yet, but there will be plenty of more adventures.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
188,026
Messages
2,901,325
Members
229,411
Latest member
IvaBru
Top