Ever find yourself struggling through another bout of RV
exterior cleaning and whispering, “I’m getting too old for this”? We’re right
there with you. Between scrubbing, hosing, and wiping, tackling a cleaning
project as big as the exterior of your RV can add up to a lot of
strain—especially if you’ve already got shoulder and back issues to begin with.
The good news: it doesn’t have to be that hard. All you need
are a few tips for making your RV exterior cleaning easier:
#1: Use a Long-handled Brush
Let’s face it: your RV has a lot of surface area, and
there’s no getting around that fact. You wouldn’t use an old toothbrush to
clean it—so why use any tool you have lying around that makes washing your RV
much more difficult than it has to be?
The best tool of the trade is a long-handled soft brush.
It’s ideal to find as wide a brush you can so long as you can easily fit it
into a bucket to load with soapy water. (An aside: you are using your Suds
Gallon for your soapy water, right?) If you get too wide a brush, however,
the whole thing can be too heavy to use. So make sure to purchase a
long-handled brush that you can actually lift for long periods of time. It
might not seem heavy now, but a long handle and repeated use add up to a lot of
strain over the course of just a few minutes.
#2: Get Your Order Right
Since you’re working with a lot of surface area on the
outside of your RV, you’re going to have to move as efficiently as possible to
avoid spending all afternoon on the project. That’s why it’s so important that
you clean your RV in the most efficient possible order. Our recommendation:
- Rinse off the area you’re going to clean
with a spray hose. - Wash from the top down. Gravity is always an
issue—it’s better to work with it, and not against it. - Rinse soap off from the top-down as well. Make
sure to avoid spraying water into appliance vents.
#3: Dealing with Dead Bugs
To a little insect, your RV might as well be a giant,
inescapable freight train. That’s just the truth about driving an RV for an
extended period of time—you’re going to run into a lot of bugs.
The worst way to deal with dead bugs on your RV is to let
them sit there and harden. Bugs will only get more difficult to deal with the
longer you let them sit there. So try to clean them as quickly as possible—even
if it’s as simple as spraying down the front of your RV after a long trip.
If you’ve already let the bugs attach themselves to the
front of your RV, give it a thorough rinsing before trying to wash them off.
The water won’t do the work for you, but it should soften the debris and make
washing a lot easier.
