Removing oil from a canvas tent

[Rich]

Hi,

Anyone know how to remove car gear oil from a canvas tent? One of my kids moved my tent and put it on top of an oil can, knocking the can over!

TIA, Rich

[Christian McArdle]

I'm no expert on this, but if the alternative is to throw away the tent anyway, I'd have thought soaking in a solution of biological washing powder might be a start. It would probably do nasty things to any special coatings, though.

Christian.

[Mary Fisher]

No - and I see many of them. It's not a real problem, the smell goes after a good outing.

It happens. I'm sure we all did silly things when we were young.

You ever tried soaking a tent? First find a big enough vessel. And when it's wet it's incredibly heavy. And then there has to be the rinsing to be effective. Aand the tent would probably shrink ...

If it's fireproofed it certainly would. Not safe advice.

Don't throw it away though, if nothing else save it for when the child's old enough to go camping and give it to him.

Mary

[Sim G.]

Yup, bio soap powder [see my reply to 'degreasing a concrete floor]. A softish car brush will help get in the fibres. Dunno what it might do to any coatings, but if it really is canvas as opposed to nylon etc then I don't think they use fireproofing do they?

[bigcat]

paraffin. Wipe inwards to avoid spreading the oil. The paraffin will evaporate over a period of several days, whereas the oil doesnt.

See the cleaning nearly-faq.

NT

[Uno Hoo!]

You will certainly need to re-waterproof afterwards!

Kev

[Mary Fisher]

Some do/did.

Mary

[David Lang]

How big is the stain?

Dave

[Ian Stirling]

[Rich]

The stains are small and isolated so I guess I could soak just the affected areas. Would the tent really shrink? It is designed to get wet :-)

I guess one can buy new coatings to replace these.

I am definitly not going the throw the tent away. I certainly can't afford to buy another one or take a holiday without it :-(

Rich.

[Mary Fisher]

Sorry, the impression was to soak the whole tent ...

I know but not soaked right through - the best canvas is pre-shrunk bit it isn't all as I know :-(((((

Why bother? It's not a huge problem.

I thought it was the end of the world when a dog peed on the specialised tent we'd just taken weeks to make on its first outing. It did affect the fabric a little which wasn't good but we've managed to live with it. Oil won't affect the fabric, it will just add to the character of the thing. All sorts of stains and fadings will happen, they're not important.

Good. Enjoy it!

Mary

[The Natural Philosopher]

If its nylon and not waxed organic fabric, soak it in a mixture of paraffin and liquid detergent, and hose it off.

Then wash with normal detergent

[Rich]

Wow! You made your own tent - that is really DIY :-)

BTW: There's also a small hole in the canvas, but I start another thread for that.

Thanks, Rich.

[Mary Fisher]

Several. Nobody else makes what we want. Spouse was delighted because he could justify buying a heavy duty Bernina!

Mary