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How to wash an RV?

m3tt5

Active Member
What is the best stuff to use to wash a RV? Like getting the bugs off and the under side of the plane that gets a little oily. Any place on the plane not to spray water on? I was told not to use simple green on my RV. Is this true?
 
Regular Simple Green attacks aluminum. There is an aircraft grade that works well, but is a tad pricey.

I use 409 on the belly to get oil off.
 
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Regular Simple Green attcks aluminum. There is an aircraft grade that works well, but is a tad pricey.

I use 409 on the belly to get oil off.

I buy the aircraft version of Simple Green (Boeing spec) from Aircraft Spruce. It's $18.95 for a gallon jug, and around $7 for shipment. But it's concentrated and you add at least 50% water. This will last a long time. It was available at Home Depots for a while in 32 oz. spray bottles (Simple Green Extreme), but doesn't seem to be, anymore.

L.Adamson --- RV6A
 
Regular Simple Green attacks aluminum.

Here's a quote from Simple Green's website

"Aluminum - Is it safe to use Simple Green? on aluminum?
When used with caution and according to the instructions, Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner has been safely and successfully used to clean aluminum. Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner, Crystal Simple Green? Cleaner/Degreaser, Simple Green Pressure Washer Concentrates, and Pro Series? Simple Green? Automotive Cleaner have been used on aircraft, automotive, industrial and consumer aluminum items for over 20 years. However, caution and common sense must be used: aluminum is a soft metal that easily corrodes with unprotected exposure to water. The aqueous-base and alkalinity of Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner can accelerate the corrosion process. Therefore, contact times for unprotected or unpainted aluminum surfaces should be kept as brief as the job will allow - never for more than 10 minutes. Large cleaning jobs should be conducted in smaller-area stages to achieve lower contact time. Rinsing after cleaning should always be extremely thorough - paying special attention to flush out cracks and crevices to remove all Simple Green? product residues. Unfinished, uncoated or unpainted aluminum cleaned with Simple Green products should receive some sort of protectant after cleaning to prevent oxidation.

Simple Green has also developed break-through water based cleaners that are safe for use on metals, plastics, rubber and high tech alloys. Extreme Simple Green? Aircraft & Precision Cleaner and Simple Green? Pro HD are available on both the industrial and retail markets, respectively. These products were initially developed for the aircraft industry and extensive testing shows that they are safe and effective on a variety of metals and other sensitive surfaces even in the most extreme circumstances."
 
Simple Green has also developed break-through water based cleaners that are safe for use on metals, plastics, rubber and high tech alloys. Extreme Simple Green? Aircraft & Precision Cleaner and Simple Green? Pro HD are available on both the industrial and retail markets, respectively. These products were initially developed for the aircraft industry and extensive testing shows that they are safe and effective on a variety of metals and other sensitive surfaces even in the most extreme circumstances."

And if I knew for sure that the Pro HD version is the same or about the same as the Extreme version, then I'd use it too. I have a gallon, and just use it for the fiberglass parts. It's still available at Home Depot. It just doesn't have that Boeing spec listing.

L.Adamson --- RV6A
 
Wow I did not know that simple green was so hard on stuff. I don't know where I have been. I have been using it on my rotor blades and tail for a long time. I hope I have not hurt anything. How would you know? I just got my plane so I will stop using it on it. Hopefully when I am at Oshkosh I can pick up the right stuff. Is that why when they hand out the free sample's at Oshkosh it is yellow? I did pick up some 409 cleaner today but I think I got the wrong stuff. It is blue and says it will clean glass. It looks like glass cleaner to me.
 
Will probably get told we're wrong ;) but the stuff that comes out of the tap ("faucet") works well on bugs, and the stuff in the tanks deals with the oil :)

Andy
 
Water on bugs, no problem with a little wax on the plane. I use Carbon-X on the belly diluted 4 parts water to 1 part Carbon-X. Plane cleans in 5 minutes.
 
Will probably get told we're wrong ;) but the stuff that comes out of the tap ("faucet") works well on bugs, and the stuff in the tanks deals with the oil :)

Andy
Andy,

Due respect and all, but Mineral Spirits better and much safer than the "stuff in the tanks"

YMMV

.
 
Will probably get told we're wrong ;) but the stuff that comes out of the tap ("faucet") works well on bugs, and the stuff in the tanks deals with the oil :)

Andy

Add a few table spoons of 409 or Fantastic to the water in a spray bottle and the bugs clean off much easier. Makes the water wetter.
 
Here's a quote from Simple Green's website

"Aluminum - Is it safe to use Simple Green? on aluminum?
When used with caution and according to the instructions, Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner has been safely and successfully used to clean aluminum. Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner, Crystal Simple Green? Cleaner/Degreaser, Simple Green Pressure Washer Concentrates, and Pro Series? Simple Green? Automotive Cleaner have been used on aircraft, automotive, industrial and consumer aluminum items for over 20 years. However, caution and common sense must be used: aluminum is a soft metal that easily corrodes with unprotected exposure to water. The aqueous-base and alkalinity of Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner can accelerate the corrosion process. Therefore, contact times for unprotected or unpainted aluminum surfaces should be kept as brief as the job will allow - never for more than 10 minutes. Large cleaning jobs should be conducted in smaller-area stages to achieve lower contact time. Rinsing after cleaning should always be extremely thorough - paying special attention to flush out cracks and crevices to remove all Simple Green? product residues. Unfinished, uncoated or unpainted aluminum cleaned with Simple Green products should receive some sort of protectant after cleaning to prevent oxidation.

Simple Green has also developed break-through water based cleaners that are safe for use on metals, plastics, rubber and high tech alloys. Extreme Simple Green? Aircraft & Precision Cleaner and Simple Green? Pro HD are available on both the industrial and retail markets, respectively. These products were initially developed for the aircraft industry and extensive testing shows that they are safe and effective on a variety of metals and other sensitive surfaces even in the most extreme circumstances."

Tony, if you are washing a flat piece of aircraft skin no problem. Simple Green will clean and etch the aluminum nicely for painting. For simply washing a flying aircraft the Simple Green will migrate between the skins, under the rivet heads, into creveses, ect., potentionally causing serious corrosion damage as a result. There are much better and safer products to use to simply wash an airplane. JMHO
 
Is anyone using a dish-washing detergent like Dawn?

So far I am mostly cleaned my plane with Acetone and MEK. Sounds like mineral spirits will do the trick. Dawns cheap though. Any thoughts
 
The Simple Green aviation product makes it all shiny (painted planes) when wiped down. We spray it on, use a damp rag to clean, and another rag to dry.

L.Adamson -- RV6A
 
I use lemon Pledge to get the bugs off the leading edges, wheel pants, fairings, and prop. After many times of doing this, the bugs seem to come off more readily. No matter what you use, the trick is to get them off before they become baked or dried on.

Tom,
RV-7A N175TJ Flying
 
Is anyone using a dish-washing detergent like Dawn?

So far I am mostly cleaned my plane with Acetone and MEK. Sounds like mineral spirits will do the trick. Dawns cheap though. Any thoughts
I've been using Dawn for 10 years now on our cars and plane. My (Boeing painter) brother painted our plane using Dupont, two-stage (automotive) paint: base coat / clear coat. After 10 years of washing, Dawn has cleaned the clear coat to shiny-new; no haze and no effect on the paint colors whatsoever. The colors are just as vivid at 3200+ hours as they were in the year 2000 at first flight (same for the cars) :D Rosie
 
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Simple Green Aviation works wonders. I started with the 32 oz bottle and when I used about half of it, I just topped the bottle off with water. I have done this several times now, and the bugs just about melt away. Use a microfiber cloth as well. WD40 on the belly, and Plexus for the canopy.
 
VM&P Naphtha works better than regular old mineral spirits for cleaning an oily aircraft belly. It evaporates way quicker and more completely than mineral spirits without leaving an oily film behind. Negatives are that it costs significantly more than mineral spirits, and is a lot more flammable than mineral spirits, but it is significantly less flammable than gasoline is.
 
"Goop" works great to remove the crud from the bottom.........

product_353434.jpg
 
Scrubbing Bubbles

I think I read it here on a prior hashing of the same topic. Anyway, I tried Scrubbing Bubbles - and it works! Just follow the directions on the can. Wet the bottom of the fuse. Spray on the SB. Let it foam up. Rinse after a few mins.
Hint - Keep your mouth closed while moving about on your creeper.
 
GUNK is a water soluble degreaser. Spray it on a damp rag. Scrub the belly then wipe it off with a wet rag. Rinse the rag in a bucket of water and wipe the belly till clean.
There will be no oil residue anywhere. None on the rag or in the rinse water.
 
I think I read it here on a prior hashing of the same topic. Anyway, I tried Scrubbing Bubbles - and it works! Just follow the directions on the can. Wet the bottom of the fuse. Spray on the SB. Let it foam up. Rinse after a few mins.
Hint - Keep your mouth closed while moving about on your creeper.

We used to use "Scrubbing Bubbles" spray on our T-6, until we read the MSDS and looked at the Ph. YIKES! No wonder it cleans well. Great on sinks, china, porcelain, but a disaster for aluminum. It will get into the seams, and that ain't good.

Strongly recommend you not use Scrubbing Bubbles on your plane. Or any other household cleaner, unless you KNOW is won't harm the structure.

That's why Simple Green came out with the Aviation version.

Any standard solvent, such as Mineral Spirits, kerosene, Jet fuel, etc. will get the grease and oil off, and won't attack the aluminum. And if you want to get fancy, add Gunk SC in a 10:1 ratio. Gunk SC (special concentrate) turns the solvent into a substance that emulsifies when washed off with water. Dry to the touch after rinsing, no film. Gunk SC is available at NAPA stores, usually in a 1-gallon can.

Very similar to Gunk spray engine cleaner, which also emulsifies when you rinse with water.
 
Coleman lantern fuel on a paper towel...

Explosively flammable, just like gasoline.

A long time ago when I was in my early 20's out camping with friends, I used some Coleman lantern fuel in lieu of charcoal starting fluid to try to light a campfire made from some dead oak branches we'd gathered. When I tried to light it, the whole thing basically exploded in my face, singed all the hair off my arms and gave me minor flash burns, and to make matters worse, big chunks of wood got tossed pretty high into the air and came raining down on top of my head. My friends thought it was pretty funny, I didn't. I learned a valuable lesson that day, thankfully at the expense of only some very minor injuries.
 
I sincerely hope that all of your respective wives or partners don't read this thread or you are all toast..........

You will be talking about ironing and cooking muffins next :rolleyes:

What do you wash your car with ?

Use that,

Move on to the next build project and get the wifey to fetch a beer down to the shop - pronto !
 
Wax & Grease remover

I still have some Wax & Grease remover left over from what I bought to prep for paint work. Bought a 20 litre drum.

Works wonders for getting the oil of the belly, rolling along on a trolly, rag in hand.

Pete.
 
Don't use acetone or methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) very toxic to your liver. How acetone has survived in nail polish remover all these years is a mystery to me... bad stuff.

I use Dawn and swear by it as a degreaser.

T.
 
Don't use Dawn

Gentleman (and ladies)...Dawn for cleaning and as a degreaser works great...but...please use it on your hands or unpainted surfaces only. It is extremely hard on paint. Do some research and you will find that paint has "oils" that can be washed away, and Dawn does an excellent job at this! Before my flying adventures began, I was involved in building and racing stock cars, and at the time did much research into paint/paint products and painting techniques. Granted, some of the products available today may withstand degreasing better, or maybe the "oils" could be re-introduced via some speciality product, but I would certainly do some research on the current stuff before I would consider Dawn.
Respectfully,
Mr Charles
 
A skydiver jumps out at 14K. He pulls his ripcord at 10K. Nothing. He pulls his backup. Nothing. At 5K he passes a guy on his way up. He hollers "hey buddy, know anything about parachutes?" The guy says "No, you know anything about coleman stoves?"
 
Rubbing alcohol

I use isopropyl alcohol for everything and it works great with no damage or residue. Very low toxisity. Buy the more dilute stuff (cheaper) then dilute further with distilled water depending on the task. I use a spray bottle. 50% for heavy bugs and grease, 10% for every day cleaning. Cuts grease and bugs, safe for paint, aluminum and the canopy. Cheap, avaliable. Denatured alcohol works well too.
 
dish soap to wash plane?

I usually wash my cars with dish soap (the soap you use for hand-washing dishes). Anybody use this to wash their plane?
 
There is also a product that I buy at NAPA, named "Bugs-b-gone". After you spray some on the leading edges, the bugs literally start disolving moments later and you wipe them off with a damp cloth.

It's mild and can even be used on the plexi canopies and windows.

Best,
 
yup

I used dish soap to wash the film off my QB fuse. Washed it like a car. Then followed same with a second pass using rainx car wash solution.

(for those of you that dont know; the QB's are shipped over seas with some type of WD-40 like film to resist corrosion.)
 
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Timing

Is everything!
I found if I wipe the leading edges with a wet towel right after I land it's much easier to clean the bugs off.
Ditto on the dish soap, but I do want to try The NAPA product
Tim
Dues paid
 
Timing as Tim said

I have only "washed" my -4 twice in 3 years ...but I do a religious water bottle wipe down after every flight. Takes 10 minutes at the Max, and easily cleans the bugs, ect. Anyone ho has seen my plane thinks I wash it every week. Dried bugs are the killer of paint and plastic,so clean them while they are fresh! I also have a smoke system, and the tank sump drain off will clean every bit of the belly residue.
 
Mmmmmmm......bugs!

For a simple and HIGHLY effective solution(pun intended) to clean bugs off that is also environmentally safe and easy on the paint....make up a saturated solution of meat tenderizer. Get a basic, no frills or flavours added, type. Franks used to make one. Put it in a sprayer bottle and spray on the leading edges, nose bowl, spinner etc and wait 10 minutes while the bugs are basically digested off your paint enzymatically.

Wash/rinse liberally when done.
 
With a good wax job like the one mentioned in the above post, I wash my 6A with two gallons of water in a bucket and a terry cloth. Wipe down a section with a very damp terry cloth, rinse the cloth and twist it dry and wipe the area dry. I do this in my hangar. No soap, no hose, no spraying water and no mess on the floor.

I can do the entire (except under the wing and belly) aircraft in about 15 minutes. The other gets done twice a year.
 
This stuff is absolutely amazing. I washed half the plane with soap and the other half with this stuff diluted 1:8 and after a month it was clearly staying cleaner.

Supposedly anti corrosive and anti static. The paint on my Cessna is 30 years old and no matter how much the belly was scrubbed, it was a gray/white color. This stuff made it 5 shades whiter and the plane looked amazing after just one wash.

Worked great on all my cars/motorcycles too.

http://www.rpm-technology.com/eox/tds_ac.htm

Photo examples: http://www.rpm-technology.com/LabNotes/LabNotes_eOx.htm
 
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I've had 25 or 26 RV's and Rockets and have NEVER washed one of 'em :rolleyes:.

Meat tenderizer and bug b gone :confused:??

I take 2 minutes with a spray water bottle and a towel and wipe the bugs off when I land then I go home. My planes are always clean and ready.

What are you folks doing that you need to 'wash' your airplanes?
 
How about all the oil on the belly and the dust on the top wing surfaces? Wiping dust with a rag is going to scratch the paint, hence the need for soap and water.
 
It's more preventative maintenance than vanity for me on my 60 year old metal airplane. Hangared less than one mile from the Pacific Ocean, you end up with salt spray in the air that cakes on the leading edges and works its way into the aluminum sheet mating surfaces. No matter how clean the plane looks, it needs a fresh water rinse to get rid of all the salt from the hidden nooks/crannys.
 
Dish Soap

I was under the influence that using dish soap on your car will remove the wax. I only use dish soap when I'm going to rewax my car.

I just wipe down leading edges with DI water and one of those sponges wrapped in netting.

And an occasionally car soap wash once or twice a year for something to do.
 
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