Sticky, tacky interior walls

[Wyowill]

We have a 1979 16' Scamp. The interior walls are deteriorating. They are sticky and tacky. Is there any product to cure this problem? I called a paint store and they suggested oil based bonding primer, then latex paint. I was hoping for something easier to work with. Any suggestions? Thanks, Lisa

[KenjiFox]

Perhaps white Plastidip? You will want to try it out in a small section first.
Hopefully this will help. I only have the "Elephant skin" in the bathroom in my Scamp, and I have not tried putting anything on it. Mine has not deteriorated from what I can tell.

This is just a possible solution, someone may have a much better one!

[Gina D.]

LA's Totally Awesome Cleaner

I detail RV interiors. I never leave home without this. It gets rid of nicotine/smoke tackiness, which is one of the major cause of walls being sticky. And it takes very little effort. Spray it, let it sit for a minute, wipe it off with a soft and slightly damp cloth. You can also dilute it, but I don't think it works as well.

And did I mention.. every dollar store has it for..well, a dollar!

[Wyowill]

Two great suggestions. Thanks! I'm going to try the Awesome Cleaner today. I really like the idea of plasti dip. I'll investigate further. And thanks KenjiFox for describing my walls as "elephant skin". Now I know what to call them. Keep the suggestions coming! Thanks, Lisa

[RogerDat]

My 77 Scamp had very sticky walls when I got it. Used LA Totally Awesome, scrub brush, bucket of rinse water and towels.

Spray, scrub, let sit a minute wipe with one towel, rinse with another. Sticky gone, grunge gone, white again. I removed the yellowed seam tape before I cleaned walls. Then replace the tape with new tape after.

That elephant hide is pretty tough stuff and cleans well. Some safety glasses would be good when doing the ceiling and while not a toxic fume it can get a bit intense smelling if air is not moving through the trailer.

I found Barkeepers friend is a good scrub for tough stains on FG or elephant hide. I used this Starbrite Color Restore FG wax product on inside FG to good effect. Fiberglass Color Restorer With PTEF

Starbrite available online, Ace Hardware, Marine or Auto supply stores.

[Bob Miller]

In any event, before adding anything (sealer/plastidip ?) to the existing surfaces, clean it first with the Totally Awesome stuff. Also disposable Nitril gloves are a must. That stuff is nasty to the hands and other body parts.

And as mentioned earlier, use lots of fresh wet towels to wipe the cleaner off with, otherwise you will just spread a thin coat of everything all over.

[Wyowill]

Now I am really excited to try LA Totally Awesome. My husband is bringing some home with him and I can't wait to go at it. Thanks! I'll let you know how it goes.

[Wyowill]

Holy Cow!! LA's Totally awesome Cleaner is working GREAT!!! I just did a small section of one of the stickiest areas and it removed the sticky and made it white. I really can't beleive it. I am so happy.

Gina D., since you detail RV's, is this stuff safe for all surfaces?

I made sure to wear my rubber gloves, thanks Bob. I applied it just like RogerDat wrote.

THANK YOU!!!!!

[Gina D.]

I would be careful with it on some textile surfaces and newly finished surfaces. I haven't found any that it has damaged yet, but I use products specific for those types of surfaces. Read the label, it has some specifics.

It cleans wood, but I would dilute it and use sparingly. Again, it needs to be "rinsed" or it will temporarily leave a sticky surface. The smell isn't that pleasant at first either.

I generally always wear gloves because of other peoples germs, not the Awesome. When diluted, I have not had issue with skin when not using gloves. I recommend them anyway.

[Lynn Musgrave]

I have used the LA Totally Awesome cleaner for years in my everyday house cleaning it is awesome! I like to use it to keep my stove clean after I cook our meals,spray it on wipe it off with a wet sponge,done.....no scrubbing required! wood work is a breezes,I take my minnie blinds down once a year spray them down let them set about 5 minutes then hose off. They now make a laundry liquid....it is now all I use...no need for bleach in the whites or special color brighteners.

Try them both well worth the $2.00...oh and I have used the spray on my awning and my tents....haven't tried the laundry liquid on them yet cause we haven't been out camping yet this spring.

Happy Camping

[Gina D.]

another thing it works miracles on is the stove vent/fan screens, as well as regular roof vent screens. same process..spray, set, rinse.

Lynn....SHHHHHH!!! You have exposed my mini blind cleaning secret! It even gets the strings clean!

[RogerDat]

Pictures! We want pictures!

Judging by the age of your trailer you might want to look into this thread. If your outside fiberglass is sort of dull and chalky this solution can work really well.
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ell-43004.html

It's a 47 page thread you might read the first page then skip to the last one and work backwards to get latest information. One of the products mentioned is no longer available. It's actually sold as a floor wax stuff is really tough and shines great after 4 or 5 coats.

To avoid pulling the debate of using this stuff from that thread to here I'll point out some caveats. It's a wax that is very thin and thus soaks into the pores of the chalky FG. This makes it hard to totally remove for paint prep or fiberglass repair prep. So if painting or FG work is in your future don't do this or any waxing. Just making more work for yourself.

If you plan to replace decal of scamp logo, stripes, tree etc. than do those first and wax over.

Buried in that thread are how to remove, how to apply and lots of other details on prep cleaning before application. Plus lots of pictures of really old trailers that shine like new. When we got ours first thing we did was clean inside as you are doing now, second thing was make the outside clean and shiny.

Love the "your kidding" when I tell people it's from the 70's Of course when they see the harvest gold color scheme inside they believe.

[KenjiFox]

Another item to try where even LA's totally awesome fails is Wesley's Bleach White. Beware, this stuff is a caustic and will strip your fingerprints right off if you don't use gloves. However, it will get any rubbery white surface spotless new clean.

I would rate LA's up there with Mean Green and Simple green. The price is also right!

Wesley's Bleach White can be found in the automotive isle of many stores as well as places like advance auto. It is made to put the "white" back in white wall tires!

[Wyowill]

Beautiful day here today. Finally! We decided to put our energy into the outside of the trailer. There were thousands of black speckles all over the top. My husband figured out it was tree sap. We scrubbed it with Barkeepers Friend Soft Cleanser and they came right off. Then scrubbed the rest.

I have read about Zep Wet Floor Finish like in the link above but decided to go with a Marine Restorer and Wax. Napa has a 3M product on sale now. We bought an electric buffer and my husband did a section and it looks great! I tried the buffer and even though it is a 5 1/2 lbs. buffer it fatigued my wrists quickly. I am now doing it by hand. A small section at a time.

We just bought the trailer last Monday and we are having a great time sprucing it up. My husband is ordering a new axle for it. But that is the only major repair. We can't believe the condition of it for a 1979.

We would put pictures up but can't figure out how.

[Lori K]

We just bought a li'l Bigfoot trailer. It's in great shape except for the walls. I like the description of "elephant skin". That perfectly describes it. Except I think it's deteriorated more than we first thought. Some patches of it are coming right away from the wall under the windows. I'm wondering how you replace it. Is it a DIY job? Has anyone else fixed the skin? Thanks.
Lori

[RogerDat]

Elephant hide was just glued on in the first place and can just be re-glued if it comes loose. I have done some small areas with 3M spray adhesive. Spray wall, spray back of elephant hide, let tack for 5 minutes and press back in place.

For some repairs you have to peel off the inside skin and put it back on, it's not that uncommon.

Others may have more experience with best glue to use. I had 3M available from doing seam tape.

[Wyowill]

Update: I am over half done on de-stickafying the elephant hide.

It has been multiple times spraying, scrubbing and rinsing. That sticky is sticky stuff. Just when I thought I had one section done I'd find a few sticky spots.

My shoulder and elbow got real sore so I had to take a week off. I did more yesterday and it looks great. LA's Totally awesome works good and the dirt comes off fast. In the closet where it was only dirty not sticky, I was done in two fairly quick scrubbings.

We are ordering new tape from Scamp and I can't wait to put that up.

[Carol H]

As its a Bigfoot I wonder if it originally had a thin vinyl type wall covering finish over the interior walls as you see on their larger trailers which may explain why it wasn't sticky in the closet area as it didn't have it. Perhaps the PO removed it?

[summer scamp]

Here was my wall/seam process and man do we love it:

scrubbed with deck brush and handheld brushes with LA cleaner....should call it LA's freakin unbelievable cleaner (best cleaner we ever have used ....and its a buck!). Filled all seams with ALEX caulk. Primed every seam with KILZ2 Premium. Taped seams with double sided carpet tape (one of the stickiest adhesives ever... cant reposition it or it will pull the caulk out of the seams!). primed over the tape to 'de-stickify' the face when i primed all the walls. filled in any small voids at the edge of the seams with dabs of caulking then coated all walls and seams with behr premium semi-gloss.

attached is a pic of the 2 types of seam tape.... although the carpet tape shows some imperfections if the seam is not caulked well, we liked that looked better than the tape sticking up from the surface...seemed to look a lot cleaner

[Wyowill]

Summer Scamp, your interior looks awesome. All your hard work paid off big!