The 15th International Portafold & Ansfold Gathering) (i.e. 2024)

Our annual gathering will be returning to the Newbury Retrofestival.

So put the dates 9th, 10th & 11th of August 2024 in your diary now and get those dates booked off work early.

Show Address: Newbury Showground, Priors Court, Hermitage, Thatcham, West Berkshire, RG18 9QZ

Don't book direct with the show organisers it will cost you more money, just contact me (07771544419) to get your pitch saved.

Quilting

Any questions about maintenance or the restoration of your Portafold or Ansfold.
Ian
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Joined: Thu, 21 May 2009, 3:47 pm
Location: Onchan, Isle of Mann

Quilting

Post by Ian » Thu, 28 May 2009, 12:46 pm

No, not a bunch of grannies making family heirlooms - the stuff on the sides...

Some previous owner kindly gave mine a coat, probably several coats, of white emulsion - gives it all the ambience of a victorian gents loo...

Anybody got any bright ideas on how to get the paint off, or, more probably, how they 'improved' their version of this DIY disaster?

Thanks

Ian

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bigbird
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Location: Ryde, Isle of Wight

Post by bigbird » Fri, 10 Jul 2009, 10:25 pm

Hi Ian, well mine was pretty lousy inside, and the fibre glass already needed repairing so I 'carefully' powerwashed it, it got the paint off and covered the lawn in dandruff!!...but..it did work!!

I hasten to add, I only did this to the roof, I didn't want to fill the unit up with water!! :shock: :lol:

Ian
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Joined: Thu, 21 May 2009, 3:47 pm
Location: Onchan, Isle of Mann

Post by Ian » Sat, 11 Jul 2009, 10:37 am

I'm tempted to powerwash an area of the quilting to see if it will shift any of the emulsion - it can't do any more harm.......... can it? :? and the interior is devoid of anything that can be damaged.

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bigbird
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Post by bigbird » Sat, 11 Jul 2009, 11:16 am

Is the quilting fabric, because if it is, you won't get the paint off??It worked bloomin well on mine mate, but mine was just paint on fiberglass, it saved a back breaking task! The ceiling was clean enough to paint over, although I wallpapered it with polystyrene paper. Have a look at my pictures of before and after...

Honestly, the one thing that grieves me in this whole process is the fact that I should have taken more time on things...but if I want to use it this summer, like I said before..'it'll do!!'

KorenM
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Location: Lightwater, Surrey

quilting

Post by KorenM » Sun, 12 Jul 2009, 3:40 pm

You might regret that ! my van had polystyrene all over it when I got it it, and it was a nightmare to get off, and made a real mess. It had to be removed because it was mouldy behind.
I plan now to cover the lower walls with that table heat protector stuff and the roof with head lining.

Need to fix the car first though..........!

Koren

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bigbird
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Post by bigbird » Sun, 12 Jul 2009, 4:07 pm

No sign of mould yet...I wait with baited breath...if it is a problem, fortunately it is on the roof only...

Ian
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Joined: Thu, 21 May 2009, 3:47 pm
Location: Onchan, Isle of Mann

Post by Ian » Tue, 14 Jul 2009, 12:00 pm

If the pressure washing doesn't work (which, if I'm honest, I don't expect it to :( ) I suppose I could continue the theme(!) and paint it in a better colour.

I did toy with the idea of ripping the quilting out and replacing it with an insulation sceme I saw in the Haynes manual on building a motorcaravan. The builder glued 1" battens around the perimeter of the wall panels and then stuck close-fitting 1" thick insulation panels (I think it was polystyrene) to the walls and then finished it all off with 1/8" thick decorative wall-boards that he bought as new-but-surplus stock from a caravan-breaker. The scheme seemed to offer the advatages of lightweight construction and better insulation than the quilting. I haven't progressed the idea because of the prohibitive cost of travelling to the caravan-breaker in Yorkshire to pick the decorative wall-boards costing only a few pounds apiece.

Ian

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bigbird
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Post by bigbird » Tue, 14 Jul 2009, 12:05 pm

Coo that sound fabulous. Mind you, I don't envy you cutting around all the curves inside. If you can do it, that will look great Ian!

Ian
Posts: 55
Joined: Thu, 21 May 2009, 3:47 pm
Location: Onchan, Isle of Mann

Post by Ian » Tue, 14 Jul 2009, 12:12 pm

I was only toying with the idea for the walls, not the roof.........- that would be too much of a challenge :shock:

Ian

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bigbird
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Post by bigbird » Tue, 14 Jul 2009, 2:05 pm

Grrrrrrr, roofs. Well, I wanted to paint Matilda today, then I realised that I'd left the foam rollers inside, despite the fact that we'd opened her yesterday and got some things out. So...I thought, do I tell OH, he's not going to be best pleased with me after getting up at 4.30 for work, then to have to come home and erect the caravan yet again.

I can do that....I thought, well with the help of my lad...lad finally emerged from bed at 1.00 and grunted something about the shower. I couldn't wait any longer I thought...so I attempted it myself, got one end up, then went to lift the other...b*gger it's too heavy and not high enough. Then I propped up the remaining inner fold with a stool. I lifted the other end, there was one almighty sway and the whole lot came crashing down.

All the headlining for the roof is wrecked, and I got moaned at by OH again for breaking her.

NOT A GOOD DAY. :cry:

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