Oh yeah, I forgot to post that!

The trick is you need one of those vacuum "power steamer" carpet cleaning
machines with an upholstery attachment.  They rent them everywhere now, but
I have my own light duty Bissell unit that worked great.

The only way to get the dirt, grease, mildew, etc. out of that deep fuzz is
to flood it with enough water and cleaner to loosen the grime and suck it
back out.   Any other kind of washing I've tried has failed, the stains just
got bigger with my attempts at spot cleaning.

I probably went overboard, but I first sprayed Simple Green all over the top
and brushed the stains.  Wear a genuine organic vapor (paint) respirator if
you do this, or the fumes will do you in.  Then I used the power steamer
with its cleaning solution followed by two rinses with plain water.

I had some water stains around the skylight vent (I also removed the inside
frame and mechanism so I could get at all the fuzz), a small amount of
mildew along the sides, a couple of greasy stains, and 20 years of
accumulated grime.  It all came out with only a trace of the worst stains
(mildew) still visible.  Spraying with a 10% bleach solution instead of
using Simple Green might lighten severe mildew stains even more.  Others may
have suggestions on cleaners, but I'm convinced the key to success is the
power steamer.

You also need a warm day (or garage) so the top can dry out!

The results were truly stunning, and you can clean the canvass, your carpets
and everything else that's upholstered while you are at it.  Not to mention
everything in the house...

Have fun!

  _____

From: Scott Mccutcheon [mailto:ledogginose@yahoo.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 9:33 AM
To: macgroup@COMCAST.NET
Subject: Cleaning the fuzzy stuff

Stuart, can't wait-how did you clean the fuzzy inside of your pop top?

Scott

84' Westy

  _____

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