BAC Forum
General Boards => General Discussion => Topic started by: Fred Cook on October 08, 2017, 01:59:16 PM
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Just bought our beaver patriots thunder about two weeks ago. I want to get out and wash it down and make it shine. So, what do you guys use on your coaches to make it look great?
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I use "Wash Wax All." I gave up hand waxing. Takes 1/4 of the time and looks just as good. The company says it is resistant to UV also. I do the entire coach a couple of times a month while traveling.
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We use Wash Wax All - buy it by the gallon and pour it into a spray bottle.
If the coach is very dirty (meaning muddy), then we wash that stuff off with a mitt and soap, and spray it off with a water hose.
Usually, the coach is not too dirty but has lines from the roof going down the sides. We dampen a microfiber cloth (10"x 10" or thereabouts), spray the Wash Wax All on the cloth every five feet or so, and wipe. Every ten feet of reachable side wall we rinse out the cloth. For the higher, unreachable side wall we have an extendable washing brush. We customized several microfiber cloths and installed two snaps on each cloth so they fit over the brush snugly. Dampen the brush and cloth, spray with Wash Wax All on the cloth and I (I'm 6' 1" tall) can reach to the white roof line from standing on the ground.
The hardest part to clean is the bottom three feet or so of the sidewall because bending over is harder than reaching up with the extendable brush. For the bay doors, we found that opening them to a horizontal position makes them very easy to clean... and that is almost half of the sidewall on the long sides of the coach.
If it's not too hot, then cleaning the whole coach (two sides, front, and back) takes two hours or so... including breaks. A gallon of Wash Wax All will do the whole coach eight to ten times.
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I follow the Monaco/Beaver instructions we got at purchase.
Pretty much I start with Dawn or a clear coat/paint-safe auto wash, working of course roof down. The wrong products can do more harm than good to clear coat and fiberglass, so steer clear of strong detergents. Simple Green is good for tough spots if need-be, but use only Extreme Simple Green for Motorsports on hard to rinse aluminum like a radiator. You can use a power washer, but beware what it can do to sealants and through-roof fittings. Use caution scrubbing such things as AC housings, whose finish oxidizes and disintegrates under much solar impact. Coat such plastic things with Aerospace 303 protectant.
After thorough cleaning, I use Mequiar's liquid cream wax (M66 I think) and my Porter-Cable 7424 polisher top to bottom. It takes awhile, but after applying with the polisher in 3' X 3' sections, it's an easy microfiber wipe off. Just watch the slickness on the roof... I wear boat shoes up there.
Admittedly I haven't done this all as often as originally intended, sometimes due to "laziness", sometimes due to illness. The coach really glows when I've managed to do the job, and the roof stayed clean and oxidant-free for a year thanks to the UV protection. The more exposed upper clear coat suffered, though, from my more recent negligence. So if you have the wherewithal and time, do it at least once a year. The rig will wash easier next time too, if you can make the waxing an annual thing. It's far easier with family help, a luxury I've only been able to muster once. Reckon I scared em all off after that experience 😂.
Joel
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Wow! Doing all that hand wiping with wash wax all in a spray bottle sounds like a lot of hard work especially for one guy like me on a 40 foot coach. I was thinking maybe first rinsing it off with a pressure washer and then using a wash-wax concentrate like rain rinse or turtle wax in a 5 gallon bucket, using a pole brush.
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Fred
First, congrats on the new coach and welcome.
We wash with a good hose and sprayer but no pressure washer. I dont like the wear and tear on the seals and windows from pressure washers.
We use Zep Blue Marvel Truck Wash mixed in a pump sprayer and a microfiber with an extension pole. The Zep removes oxidizatoon very well and does a great job on wheels. It is also good on limiting water spots.
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Wash with car wash. Wipe dry with Costco microfiber towels. Takes about and hour and you need a ladder and about two beers. For campgrounds there "Quick and Easy Wash" made by Protect All. It seems to be getting hard to find.
https://smile.amazon.com/Quick-Easy-Wash-32-oz/dp/B003YJNBEQ/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1507548839&sr=8-17&keywords=protect+all
Instead of getting out the hose, flooding the campsite and P***ing off the management, I would do a "sponge bath". "Quick and Easy Wash" is not a soap. It is a wetting agent. No rinsing required. Two capfulls in a bucket, a long handle brush and work from the top down. Do a 40 footer in 8 parts. Four buckets total. No campground ever complained about sponge baths.
For wax I used Protect All. I used it for 12 years on the Monterey. It works like Pledge but it has UV protection and carnauba wax. One spray can and an hour would do the hole Monterrey. Two beers helps.
The roof was a separate job. I used an entire can on the roof once a year. I put it on heavier than the shiny side parts. At the end of the 12 years the roof was in great shape. Didn't usually take any beer to the roof.
Walmart has it in a squirt bottle. I like (the more costly) spray can.
https://smile.amazon.com/Protect-All-62015-Surface-Cleaner/dp/B0012TRNTY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1507548839&sr=8-4&keywords=protect+all
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After an extended trip, or even a short one in rain, Blue Beacon Truck Wash is your friend! :) I make sure they are instructed not to apply the pressure wash directly in to the fins of the side radiator. It's a good cleaning, but I still do the hand wash at home from time to time.
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The roof was a separate job. I used an entire can on the roof once a year. I put it on heavier than the shiny side parts. At the end of the 12 years the roof was in great shape. Didn't usually take any beer to the roof.
Walmart has it in a squirt bottle. I like (the more costly) spray can.
https://smile.amazon.com/Protect-All-62015-Surface-Cleaner/dp/B0012TRNTY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1507548839&sr=8-4&keywords=protect+all
Wow. Beer in a squirt bottle, but now in spray cans too! What'll Walmart come up with next?
😋 Joel
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Wow! Doing all that hand wiping with wash wax all in a spray bottle sounds like a lot of hard work especially for one guy like me on a 40 foot coach.
Just me..40 foot coach. When I do the spray bottle..a few feet at a time, it takes about 2 hours.
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Streaks down the side of the motorhome from the roof, it's a constant problem. Happens even from the dew left on the roof when camping along the Oregon coast. No 'rain gutter' on the sides of our Patriot Thunder. All our previous RV's (5vers, travel trailers) have a rain gutter along the side that channels roof water to those little corner drains, not so with the MH. Has anyone retrofitted their coach with a rain gutter?
Worse was just last week when we were in Coburg Or. Had the RV washed at the truck stop Rv wash, you know the one. When we motored the 2 miles to Armitage Campground, the runoff from the roof had made the sidewalls dirtier than before the wash! AND I had paid an extra $10 to have them wash the roof. ARRUGH!!
If you take your rig to Blue Beacon or some other truck wash, make sure they use a 'spot free' rinse, or you will have water spots all over your windows and rig. Time to get the Wash Wax All kit.
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Bill,
To permanently stop the white streaking from your gel coat roof you need to apply a coating that permanently covers/seals it. Just cleaning it with the Camping World type roof treatments will only stop the streaking for a short time. Here is a link to an article on roof coatings located in the Common Problems section under the Technical tab on the BAC web site. Many of us have coated our roofs using the procedure outlined and said goodby to streaking.
http://beaveramb.org/acadp_listings/protecting-your-rvs-roof-rv-roof-coating/
Steve
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As I tried to say above, cleaning and waxing the roof worked for me for a dozen years. I did not have a white streak problem.
Cleaning the roof before waxing may require a "scotch brite" pad.
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Really doesn"t matter what you use on a 40' or 45' coach it is WORK. I never did this on our Marquis even though I looked at it but with the new Entegra Cornerstone and much more surface area to clean including the higher sides I bit the bullet and got the "Aero Cosmetics Wash and Wax All kit".
Kit comes with all the items needed to DRY wash and wax your coach. What others have indicated is that once you have done this about three times you will create a very smooth surface that will repel the dirt and water from your coach. One other benefit is that you do the exterior walls and the windows with the same product so there is no climbing up to do the windows.
Now if it is real dirty after long trip I do wet wash before I dry wash at least the lower and rear parts. The micro fiber towels and covers for the excellent pole that comes with the kit are all washable and reusable. One caution I received, and did not follow correctly on first dry wash, was to use a much smaller amount of the wash and wax liquid and it spotted and streaked just like they said it would. 2nd dry wash it came right clean and smooth again.
The coach does appear to stay much cleaner and I would say it is about like as if you had just recently hand waxed which helps keep it cleaner. The very good part is that you do it all from the ground with the exception of the front cap which is so rounded that it is almost impossible to get looking real good with the flat wide pole attachments. IT IS ALL WORK, TAKES TIME, THAT HAS NOT CHANGED. The interval for doing it is less I feel as we have completed 3 dry washes and coach remains far more cleaner and shiny looking. Over 3+ weeks, three states travel and several stays in various campgrounds it stayed very clean even with rain for half a days driving in Ohio.
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On our trip to Newfoundland several years ago a contest grew between me Wally Kimball. (Tom did not participate.) The game involved keeping the rig cleaner than the other guy's. The daily winner was the one who made it to happy hour with the shiniest motorhome. To speed things up one day I used a quality dry wash product on the front. It permanently ruined it. My opinion is only worth what you paid for it, but it is that dry wash products are wonderful if you have a dusty rig. If there is any road grit or grime, water flowing from a sponge, brush or hose is the only wise thing to do.
Yes, I have and do use dry wash products. My favorites come from Griot's Garage, a car care company headquartered near where I live. (https://www.griotsgarage.com/)
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I'm told and the instructions seem to indicate that you can use the dry wash products on the dirtiest of surfaces. They say that the "stuff" they use encapsulates the dirt and protects the surface. That may be 100% accurate but I could never see myself spraying heavy dirt and rubbing it around on my painted surface!! I use Wash Wax All frequently but if the coach is "Alaska" dirty, I wash with good old soap and water first. On our recent trip to Alaska I think we washed with water about 4 times including once at a Blue Beacon in Arizona or NM on the way to the Balloon festival. Then Wash Wax All to clean up the streaks and renew the shine before the festival. Had to look good while parked next to all these "other" coaches!
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Have to agree with Jerry. The thought of relying on "encapsulating" mechanics working perfectly just doesn't sit well. Water and well-foamed suds to lift grit away from the surface seems far more palatable. Even then, a look at the front cap's softer protective film gives a clue to what could happen to clearcoat.
Joel