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Sun Jul 29, 2007 12:17 am

I took my top bunk bed pads down to my local upholstery guy because I wanted to replace the foam and perhaps get new fabric. WOW, foam is expensive...another petroleum based product and skyrocketing prices!!! The guy actually said that the original foam VW used was very good and didn't need to be replaced. I was shocked because the previous owner (original owner) had done a lot of camping in my westy (325,000 miles: 8 times across the U.S.). So that's good news for all us westy owners. He told me to take the covers off, turn them right side out, zip up the zippers, and soak them in a cold, dilute soap solution. Then wash them in the washing machine on gentle and hang dry. Well, I never thought this would work as well as it did. My covers look brand new.
Foam removed and air dried for a day outside in the coastal air

After soaking and washing, hang dry the fabric for a couple hours

Brand new top bunk cushions!!! I wish I would have taken a before picture to show how heavily stained this fabric was before I washed it

I was worried it would take a small miracle to get the foam back in the covers but actually only took a couple of minutes.

Make sure to use cold water
Soak in dilute soap solution
Hang dry
You DO NOT want these babies shrinking up on you!

Sun Jul 29, 2007 2:49 am

Wow, nice.
I'm doing the same thing this week. Got the covers off and was trying to decipher the tags to figure out how to wash them, but this clears it right up!
Thanks!

Sun Jul 29, 2007 5:40 am

I wash mine all the time, especially the small one that is on top of the toilet box, something always seems to get it dirty at every campout, due to where it sits in the van. I only wish that removal of the z bed/bench material was more doable :(

Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:08 am

A good cleaning in Woolite on the gentle cycle and then an air dry goes a LONG way in keeping the camping parts clean..

I found that BlueCoral cleaner works good on the seats...

Sun Jul 29, 2007 9:42 am

I actually washed mine in warm water, but didn't use a dryer. It seems to me they don't fit quite perfectly, though that could be the effect of just trying to get the foam in cover. I suspect that with a bit of time and use, that problem will go away.

Nice work though. Mdetro, is that toilet box OEM? It sure looks it. I've been sort of wanting something like that, but want it to look clean, so I haven't just bought a porta-potty.

If it is OEM, where, for the love of all that is stinky, did it come from? If it's not, any suggestions in the building process?

Best,

Lanval

Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:41 am

Lanval wrote: I actually washed mine in warm water, but didn't use a dryer. It seems to me they don't fit quite perfectly, though that could be the effect of just trying to get the foam in cover. I suspect that with a bit of time and use, that problem will go away.

Nice work though. Mdetro, is that toilet box OEM? It sure looks it. I've been sort of wanting something like that, but want it to look clean, so I haven't just bought a porta-potty.

If it is OEM, where, for the love of all that is stinky, did it come from? If it's not, any suggestions in the building process?

Best,

Lanval

OEM, i've only even seen them in Tourist delivery westies so I dunno if the option was something that the US market never picked up on or if it was not available here, not too many of them floating around. I ditched the toilet, it makes a great storage box, or in my case its become a fully stocked bar for our FMBC campouts :)

Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:07 pm

Hi, I have a 78 westy with the plaid fabric will this work for them without shrinking them too? Thanks Rob

Fri Jul 18, 2008 8:45 am

i had really good luck cleaning the z-bed/seats in my westy by using a shop vac.

i used warm water and laundry detergent - it's made for fabric. i dipped a clean scrub brush to pick up and dab the solution until the fabric was wet. i left it on for a few minutes to soak and then gently scrubbed.

then used the wet/dry shop vac (remember to remove the filter) with the small attachment for stronger suction to suck as much of the solution out as possible. i sponged on clean warm water to rinse, sucked that out, and repeated. it's like a poor man's steam cleaning.

took less than an hour. the water that came out...looked not like coffee, but cappuccino. (so glad i did that before ever sleeping on it!)

Fri Jul 18, 2008 3:34 pm

My favorite upholstery cleaner is the Bissel Little Green Machine. It sprays and sucks at the same time. I tend to remove anything you can remove and hand wash in cool water, letting it soak for a long while. I use a combo of detergent and a spray on cleaner degreaser, such as Formula 88 or Purple Stuff. If the seats are really dingy wet them once with the Green Machine. Then spray on some Purple stuff, brush it lightly and then do the spray and suck function on the Green Machine until the liquid being sucked out is only mildly dirty. Then just use the vacuum part until you do not get any more liquid.

I just did this on the crew seats on a return aircraft from Haiti, so if it can get that Voodoo out, then it should work for you as well.