What did you do to your van today?

It was old Monty the Motorhomes 15th Birthday this month so treated him to a good wash over the last couple of days


AT_Monty_Front by David, on Flickr


AT_Monty_Above by David, on Flickr

The overhead cap was a right bugger to do as it is too big to be able to reach the middle from all sides and I don't want to risk leaning on it with any weight, so getting the black spotting off was tricky let alone just the dirt! got there in the end with time and a lot of Autosmart G101.

AT_Monty_Roof by David, on Flickr
 
wildebus said:
It was old Monty the Motorhomes 15th Birthday this month so treated him to a good wash over the last couple of days
Click to expand...

David, I bought a Leiffheit Extending Pole with a 'fibre based crossed with a mop' cloth that is gentle enough for roof and window cleaning. The longest extension pole available is something like 4.3m [but these were out of stock for months last year, and are probably a wee bit unwieldy when you need to exert pressure to clean the muck], so I took the smaller 2.4m [IIRC] extending pole. Leiffheit intend the kit for window washing, but it does a good job with the van cleaning, especially when I need to do this from the on street parking. The prospect of climbing up a stepladder on the A921 without a 'Man's failed suicide attempt on Fife main road' news headline is not one that appeals :D

Steve
wildebus said:

AT_Monty_Front by David, on Flickr


AT_Monty_Above by David, on Flickr

The overhead cap was a right bugger to do as it is too big to be able to reach the middle from all sides and I don't want to risk leaning on it with any weight, so getting the black spotting off was tricky let alone just the dirt! got there in the end with time and a lot of Autosmart G101.

AT_Monty_Roof by David, on Flickr
Click to expand...
 
marchie said:
David, I bought a Leiffheit Extending Pole with a 'fibre based crossed with a mop' cloth that is gentle enough for roof and window cleaning. The longest extension pole available is something like 4.3m [but these were out of stock for months last year, and are probably a wee bit unwieldy when you need to exert pressure to clean the muck], so I took the smaller 2.4m [IIRC] extending pole. Leiffheit intend the kit for window washing, but it does a good job with the van cleaning, especially when I need to do this from the on street parking. The prospect of climbing up a stepladder on the A921 without a 'Man's failed suicide attempt on Fife main road' news headline is not one that appeals :D

Steve
Click to expand...
I have an extending brush which is maybe just about 2M long? I used that along with a hop-up platform when attacking the front of the dome and it was fairly effective, but cleaning the black spots needs a bit more direct pressure. Got there in the end

I don't know what the black spots are from, but they stick very well! This was the roof of my LT46 Minibus when I bought it. It took maybe a full day to do the whole roof with the G101, a cloth and a lot of elbow grease.

LT - BeforeAfter Closeup by David, on Flickr
The whole LT roof was covered like this. The dirt washed off easily, but that black spotting was much tougher as you can see (this is not really quite an "After" yet, just a "Before & WIP" photo).
This is the actual after (at least for the roof. Still working down and not got to the gutters yet)

IMG_20170820_105556 by David, on Flickr


The Motorhome was nowhere near as bad, but the parts that are hard to reach inevitably get cleaned the least well.

Oddly enough we were driving through Edinburgh earlier this week and there was a chap with an extending washer pole doing some windows. I think he was doing the 3rd or maybe even 4th story if you include the half-basement so the pole must have been 8M long maybe? Linda said I should get a pole that that! I did wonder just how well a job he could be doing on those windows!?
 
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wildebus said:
I have an extending brush which is maybe just about 2M long? I used that along with a hop-up platform when attacking the front of the dome and it was fairly effective, but cleaning the black spots needs a bit more direct pressure. Got there in the end

I don't know what the black spots are from, but they stick very well! This was the roof of my LT46 Minibus when I bought it. It took maybe a full day to do the whole roof with the G101, a cloth and a lot of elbow grease.

LT - BeforeAfter Closeup by David, on Flickr
The whole LT roof was covered like this. The dirt washed off easily, but that black spotting was much tougher as you can see (this is not really quite an "After" yet, just a "Before & WIP" photo).
This is the actual after (at least for the roof. Still working down and not got to the gutters yet)

IMG_20170820_105556 by David, on Flickr


The Motorhome was nowhere near as bad, but the parts that are hard to reach inevitably get cleaned the least well.

Oddly enough we were driving through Edinburgh earlier this week and there was a chap with an extending washer pole doing some windows. I think he was doing the 3rd or maybe even 4th story if you include the half-basement so the pole must have been 8M long maybe? Linda said I should get a pole that that! I did wonder just how well a job he could be doing on those windows!?
Click to expand...
For *just* cleaning windows, the Window Cleaners achieve good results, using their expertise, better quality poles, and having both feet on terra firma! The Leifheit £50'ish, incl the new longer pole that I bought as an afterthought, the wobbly stepladder on the pavement and the move to the parking bay abutting the A921 makes the motorhome cleaning a wee bit trickier!

Steve
 
My extending brush was a cheap one. The first thing I had to do was replace the hose quick-fit connector that wouldn't seal but after that it is ok, but might look for something better. I certainly don't intend to buy some kind of tri-pod stepladder that some folk apparently buy to clean the tops for around £700!
 
saxonborg said:
You can buy corrugated silicon tubes which are slit and which are intended to go on an oven pullout metal shelf. If you have a slide out hanger rail they fit well and can be held in place with a couple of tiewraps.
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Yes I had those at the last house and they might work, I'm sure I have seen similar things in vans though, but moving the table to the other side of the wardrobe it cured the problem, the hangers now shift to the front and they can stay there it was having to move them all the time to get the table in and out a PITA.

I got the pressure washer out yesterday and got the snow foam thing on it and washed the van, first time after two trips so it was well mucky, gleaming now but a fitter man would do a better job of it, a polish wouldn't harm it but I'm not even attempting that I was/am cream crackered.
 
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