Perfumy smell in fabric of 17C

[iguthrie]

We have a 2006 Escape 17C. There is a strong perfumy smell in it, which we are guessing is due to some cleaning agent that a previous owner may have used on the fabric lining of the ceiling and walls. We have cleaned all the hard surfaces and we keep the plugs in the drains, so we don't think these are sources of the smell. Can anyone suggest a way to clean that fabric to remove or reduce the smell?


Alternatively, is it possible to strip the trailer down to the shell and refurbish the interior, including the fabric, i.e., a remove and replace operation with upgrades. Would that be a crazy thing to do? Thanks.

[Bobbie54]

Check with a company that does restorations after smoke damage. They may have a good way to do it.

[DanandDaphne]

Get an ozone generator they work great on perfume and other smells like smoke. It will also kill mold, bacteria and viruses. Something like this. https://smile.amazon.com/Enerzen-Com...1897142&sr=8-3

You may have to run it several times and be careful not to breath any ozone as it's really bad for your lungs. You need to figure out a way to turn it on/plug it in from outside or just hold your breath and leave quickly after you turn it on. Then air it out before you go hang out in there.

We use ozone on stinky (perfumy) used books. It works great but it can take several treatments.

[Chris R]

Originally Posted by iguthrie

We have a 2006 Escape 17C. There is a strong perfumy smell in it, which we are guessing is due to some cleaning agent that a previous owner may have used on the fabric lining of the ceiling and walls. We have cleaned all the hard surfaces and we keep the plugs in the drains, so we don't think these are sources of the smell. Can anyone suggest a way to clean that fabric to remove or reduce the smell?


Alternatively, is it possible to strip the trailer down to the shell and refurbish the interior, including the fabric, i.e., a remove and replace operation with upgrades. Would that be a crazy thing to do? Thanks.

take all the soft surface / cushions out and leave the trailer for a day or two to air out. You should be able to narrow down where the source maybe coming from. The ceiling and walls are covered by tough vinyl with soft foam backing, this is glued to the fibreglass shell. I doubt that this would be the source unless a product was used on the vinyl that was incompatible.

[iguthrie]

Thanks all for your suggestions. We've since narrowed down the source of the odor to the fabric and foam ceiling material (it's not vinyl in our model). We'll see what we can do to take the odor out of that porous material, but if that fails we're wondering about removing the material from the ceiling. If we removed that material would we encounter a fiberglass surface that we can recover or possibly paint, or is there some other type of surface lurking there?

[Chris R]

Originally Posted by iguthrie

Thanks all for your suggestions. We've since narrowed down the source of the odor to the fabric and foam ceiling material (it's not vinyl in our model). We'll see what we can do to take the odor out of that porous material, but if that fails we're wondering about removing the material from the ceiling. If we removed that material would we encounter a fiberglass surface that we can recover or possibly paint, or is there some other type of surface lurking there?

We had a 2006 17B and it had the vinyl, maybe yours was made before ours. Changes in production happen all the time. It would be fibreglass under the the ceiling material.
Try this, look in a upper corner cupboard. There are pieces of paneling blocking off the rounded ends. With a bit of effort, they could be removed and then you may see the bare fiberglass shell and the edge of the ceiling material.
Removing the ceiling material is a big job, it may involve removing all the cabinets as the ceiling material is installed before the cabinets. Painting rough raw fibreglass never looks good.

[RBRV]

I noticed the same in our second hand19 and narrowed it down to the blackwater treatment chemicals that the previous owners stored in the space below the bed. I discontinued using the storage method used before and I now store any and all treatment products in the outside storage box and I am much happier!