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08-21-2008, 04:16 AM
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#1
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Member
Trailer: 2008 Scamp 16 ft
Posts: 45
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A stupid question, but here goes anyway...what do you use to clean the rat fur? For general maintenance, will just any carpet cleaner work, or is there something that is preferred??? Thanks!
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08-21-2008, 11:38 AM
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#2
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Member
Trailer: 2007 17 ft Escape B / RAV4 (19 ft74 13 ft Boler for sale)
Posts: 50
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Quote:
A stupid question, but here goes anyway...what do you use to clean the rat fur? For general maintenance, will just any carpet cleaner work, or is there something that is preferred??? Thanks!
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Ummm ..rat fur?
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08-21-2008, 03:10 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Trailer: 1970 (Circa) Compact Jr and 1993 Casita
Posts: 404
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Quote:
A stupid question, but here goes anyway...what do you use to clean the rat fur? For general maintenance, will just any carpet cleaner work, or is there something that is preferred??? Thanks!
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I vacuum with a small hand held vacuum-I just spot clean with a damp cloth and carpet cleaner mixed with water.
I presume you are talking about the carpet on the walls and ceiling-we hate that stuff but also hate the amount of work it would take to remove it.
Hope this helps
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08-21-2008, 08:38 PM
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#4
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Senior Member
Trailer: Scamp
Posts: 3,072
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Quote:
Ummm ..rat fur?
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Rat Fur is the nick-name we've applied to the marine carpet-like material that Scamp has been using since the late '80s as a wall covering (it is glued to a layer of Reflectix, which is glued to the fiberglass -- Reflectix is a layer of plastic bubbles sandwiched between two layers of reflecting foil).
Prior to Rat Fur, Scamp used a thick layer of Ensolite foam glued to the fiberglass; that is nick-named Elephant Hyde.
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08-21-2008, 10:12 PM
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#5
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Senior Member
Trailer: Scamp 16 ft Side Dinette
Posts: 1,185
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Pete for the name of the foil covered bubble rap insulation: "Reflectix is a layer of plastic bubbles sandwiched between two layers of reflecting foil". I have been wanting to know the name of the stuff.
http://www.reflectixinc.com/
Richard? Why! Why would you hate the Marine Fabric (I hate the term "Rat Fur")? It really isn't very carpet like. Backus does not like the term "Rat Fur", nor do we. It just does not look like rat fur, wrong color for rat fur, not really furry. A Fuzzy Downy Wooly, yes, a Soft Fuzz Down would be it. Remember: Sleeping in a travel trailer with ceiling and walls coved in tan fuzzy-woolydown must be something like sleeping in a Marsupial's Pouch. Cozy! The Marine Fabric is not only fuzzy-woolydown, it is very water, mold, mildew and odor resistant and so soft to the touch and to bumped heads and elbows.
So far we have not found anything we hate or dislike about the covering. We have not needed to clean the fabric, nor felt like vacuuming it. Our Trailer has seen 3 years of use, since Aug, '05. It seems to be fairly soil resistant and water resistant as well as odor resistant. I am thinking vacuuming it would be a first choice in up keep. I would think it would be best too keep away from harsh chemicals, most cleaners would tend to leave a film which would attract dirt. However, I have NO experence with an older Scamp and what age does to the fabric.
So far we really like the stuff.
Adrian
__________________
DesertHawk- Las Cruces, NM USA
2015 Lance 1985 ~ Casita de Campo ~23' 4"
~Previously ~ 2005 16' Scamp
2009 White Ford F-150 Reg. Cab Longbed ARE Topper
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08-22-2008, 04:07 AM
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#6
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Member
Trailer: 2008 Scamp 16 ft
Posts: 45
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I like the rat fur, too, it makes it kind of cosy inside. So far, I've only vacuumed it, when we just got it. It hasn't needed anything else, but, what I was wondering was for future reference...I don't want to do anything that would reduce the mold-resistance or the water-resistance. There is a place at the bottom of the door that could use a little cleaning, I'm thinking just some soap and water will do the trick.
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08-22-2008, 06:13 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
Trailer: 2007 19 ft Escape 5.0 / 2002 GMC (1973 Boler project)
Posts: 4,148
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Hi: Diane... I use Orvus W A Paste avail. from Tractor Supply Stores (TSC). It is a livestock shampoo and you just add a TBSP. or two, in a pail of water, say a ltr. or so, and whip it into foam then scoop the foam up with a soft bristled brush and apply to the carpet etc. Then vaccuum when dry. My mother used it 50 years ago in the "Dry Cleaning" business and it still works today...carpeting in the car, house, trailer etc!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie
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08-22-2008, 06:02 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
Trailer: 2005 17 ft Casita Freedom Deluxe
Posts: 315
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But where is the fur ? all i see is shiny silver. that would be easy to wipe clean
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08-22-2008, 07:20 PM
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#10
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Senior Member
Trailer: Scamp
Posts: 3,072
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I believe Scamp was using the Reflectix at first and have now changed to Astrofoil, for reasons unknown to me. Nearly identical products, as far as I can tell.
Of course they don't like anything on the product to refer to 'rats' any more than they'd like 'roach', just not good marketing. But we are the owners and calling it rat or roach or elephant or something else is up to us -- I don't feel personally degraded because something in my egg is called rat -- In fact, I like rats and when I had pet rats in my Scamp I called it the 'Rolling RatHaus', also making fun of the German city hall.
As for the color being wrong for rats, that's only true for the typical sewer rat evolved for dark colors; bred rats come in all sorts of colors, from black to white to hairless (pink), even blue, and I am hard pressed as to which rat color matches the Scamp rat fur (several are close). Judge for your self:
http://www.dreameyce.com/eagleseye/rattery.../rat_colors.htm
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08-22-2008, 09:38 PM
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#11
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Senior Member
Trailer: Scamp 16 ft Side Dinette
Posts: 1,185
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Al V wrote: ".....all i see is shiny silver...."
I hope you are not seeing the "shiny silver" in your Scamp. I assume you mean in the photos from the Astrofoil web site, you can only see the shiny stuff. You normally can not see the shiny silver in a Scamp, they did not have a photo of the Astrofoil being applyed to a Scamp on the Astrofoil web page. In the Scamps the Astrofoil is under the marine fabric, the marine fabric is glued on top of the shinny silver (Astrofoil).
From the photos of Astrofoil and Reflectix, the bubbles in Reflectix seemed not to be as large as those in Astrofoil. Reflectix looked more like what we use to cover our windows and vents with.
Mabe NOT....very simular at any rat, oh, I mean rate!
As for rats and color of rats....when I think of rats, it is the old fashioned ones, but even the ones which were close to the tan color of the marine fabric or even if they are just the right shade, rat fur and Scamp fabric do not look alike, no matter how much you like or dislike rats. It just does not look like fur. In my opinion. If the term was "Rat's Down", maybe so.
__________________
DesertHawk- Las Cruces, NM USA
2015 Lance 1985 ~ Casita de Campo ~23' 4"
~Previously ~ 2005 16' Scamp
2009 White Ford F-150 Reg. Cab Longbed ARE Topper
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08-23-2008, 03:30 AM
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#12
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Member
Trailer: 2008 Scamp 16 ft
Posts: 45
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08-23-2008, 08:10 AM
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#13
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Administrator
Name: Mary
Trailer: 2015 Escape 21; formerly Casita 1999 17 ft Liberty Deluxe
Posts: 10,941
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One of Pete's rats even made it into our "Hello World" album.
Pete and Ratatouille.
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08-23-2008, 05:02 PM
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#14
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Senior Member
Trailer: Scamp
Posts: 3,072
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The Late and Great Ratatouille -- Traveled from Florida to Newfoundland, back to Florida, then to PacNW and then to Alaska -- He died at a state park in Alaska, by a lake, so I buried him up on a hill.
BTW, even the real rat fur comes in several kinds, smooth, longer and semi-curly, plus the hairless (really fur-less because they do have tiny hairs) -- At normal rat temperature of 106*, the hair-less rats feel very warm.
One doesn't need to clean the real rats, BTW, because they clean themselves and each other all the time, even more than cats do.
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08-25-2008, 04:36 PM
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#15
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Senior Member
Trailer: Boler 1984
Posts: 2,938
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We used the spray on type canisters of carpet foam that you then brush in and let dry. Then use the shop vac to clean the trailer.
I only had to do this after a spill but the vac is used each spring. That stuff still looks like new after 24 years and we've had no problems with it. A good spray of Scotch Guard doesn't hurt either.
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08-25-2008, 09:40 PM
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#16
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Member
Trailer: 2007 17 ft Escape B / RAV4 (19 ft74 13 ft Boler for sale)
Posts: 50
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Quote:
The Late and Great Ratatouille -- Traveled from Florida to Newfoundland, back to Florida, then to PacNW and then to Alaska -- He died at a state park in Alaska, by a lake, so I buried him up on a hill.
BTW, even the real rat fur comes in several kinds, smooth, longer and semi-curly, plus the hairless (really fur-less because they do have tiny hairs) -- At normal rat temperature of 106*, the hair-less rats feel very warm.
One doesn't need to clean the real rats, BTW, because they clean themselves and each other all the time, even more than cats do.
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Ratatouille was quite a looker. And what a travel log he had.
I remember a friend's hairless rat who was quite social. And as a child, my brother had a white rat who could charm the fur off of any mammal.
Rats don't get the credit they deserve.
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08-27-2008, 11:04 PM
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#17
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Member
Trailer: Scamp 19 ft 5th Wheel
Posts: 48
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Quote:
A stupid question, but here goes anyway...what do you use to clean the rat fur? For general maintenance, will just any carpet cleaner work, or is there something that is preferred??? Thanks!
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I use a Bissel upright and the little hand turbo brush cleaner that attaches to the hose. Lots of dust and stuff comes off. Do it twice a year.
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