Anyone have experience washing RVs? We washed about 30 yesterday for a new client to prep them for a show. Took ages. Had to brush really hard to get the black streaks off, especially on the metal sided ones. The owner was happy though and wants us to wash his entire lot of 160+ campers every month. Of course I want to figure out a way to do this without brushing because, well that would suck and take way too long.
Any advice would be great. I’ve thought about trying to just softwash them like a house but that seems like it could be disastrous.
Contact your local fleet wash Chem store, or call Hydro Chem out of Grand Rapids MI, ask for Chad. He will give you good advice on what to use. A soap I use called power solve, is actually made to remove black streaks from RVs.
Haha that’s funny you should mention Chad, he’s actually my sales rep at Hydro Chem. He’s great. He originally recommended using my Film Fighter, which worked but had to brush very heavily and wouldn’t remove all the streaks. I gave him a call in the middle of the job last Friday and he recommended some things I didn’t have on hand. I was planning on reaching out to him again this week to see if he had something more specialized since I’ll be washing 1500+ RVs this year (lol). I’ll ask him about Power Solve.
Honestly though, I suspect that they might have waxed over some of these black streaks, because some of them would come right off with a wipe of my finger, and then some of them wouldn’t budge with straight degreaser and a brush.
I dont have much to add to this thread. But I do work at the largest RV dealer in Kansas. We have a few things we do. Depending on situation they are hand scrubbing with soap and water. That usually removes the black streaks. If not they have a spray that gets it off. On motorhomes they use a big machine called Bitimec. All our soaps are made by a company down the street. Rinsing with RO water usually does the trick, but on the new full painted coaches it still water spots. So those get the shammie treatment.
a friend has asked if i would interested in washing their RV. the park they stay in has a company doing it now with a contract for the whole park and from what im told, they are doing a poor job. my friend is asking the park owner for approval to let me go in and wash this one RV and my friend pay for it. if i get to do this, i will have a better understanding of what all is involved and how long it should take. I have no idea how to price it yet. i have looked through some of the posts and see talks of different soaps and things to use but not much on pricing. what area are you in and what is your going rate? im in the Houston area.
The only RVs I washed had never been owned, they were just at a dealership. I got $15/piece but we were clearing 40/day and the owner told me the wanted me out there every month washing all 120+ of his RVs so I thought well the next time we come out they won’t be so bad and I’ll just have an easy $1800 or so in the bank every month.
Of course after the first wash he never had us back. Pretty sure he just wanted to low ball on the per unit price me with the “guarantee” of monthly washing.
Anyways, they suck. You have to pretty much brush the whole thing and you can’t use high pressure at all. I single stepped them with a soap downstreamed, then brushed and rinsed. For a single RV that’s owned and been on the road, I’d be anywhere between $95-200 depending on how much detail they want.
Having owned a few camper trailers, those black streaks are a nightmare to remove and the dedicated spray bottle stuff that actually works can also strip paint off and is quite toxic.
I know the campers and trailers in the parks by me have exteriors made from several different materials. I don’t know if one chemical can clean all the different types of surfaces. Some are typical trailers you pull, some have vinyl or aluminum siding and some have wood decks attached. Also the trailer parks my me have terrible water pressure.
The water pressure was a concern for me. I do have a 4gpm direct drive so was hoping it to not be a big issue. I have been looking into hydrochem for a soap that is safe on all materials.
At the end of the day it may be more work and headache than worth like some others have said.
2 step, Hydrochem, They also have safe chems for those dreadful tiger stripes. It ain’t no different than washing a aluminum trailer compared to the run of the mill siding campers, Gel coated higher end Coaches is were you wanna be.
Hydrochem systems in Michigan @KevinC , Super sonic and grizzly sir. Ask for Chad Reiffer, he’ll get you banging them out in no time,Pinky swear, Tell him weird beard sent you. Get ya some HCS 400 while you’re at it. Thank me later…
@Hotshot much appreciated sir. i just called and left a message for Chad.
i do not remember seeing it in the fleet washing posts, but can i downstream these chemicals? i don’t want to have to buy a 2 step set up if this gig doesn’t pan out.
Yes, you can downstream them. I believe the reasons for the actual two step gun is being able to apply the chems at higher pressure, being able to instantly switch back and forth between two different chems, and not having to wait for the chems to get there through a long length of hose.
Yes sir…And Grunts right, the 2 step gun applies chems at high pressure making your chems work twice as hard. but like ya said wait to see if it pans out before investing in a 2 step gun.
Good luck bubby !
well guys, i appreciate the help on this, but the park owner is not going to give me the chance. said i was not authorized before even submitting a proposal.
bright side is i now have some knowledge if something like this presents itself again.
