I would dry mould up and brush it out dry with a soft brush then kill it with Milton,
it reduces the staining. my Troll has so much fresh air whistling through it I have
to microwave the cat to keep it from getting mouldy.

I think it's virtually impossible to guarantee no mould. Winter 2011/12 we had some appear and it sounds identical to yours. I've not heard of anyone leaving the top up all winter but that would keep surfaces away from each other and disperse damp.

We had a very bad mould problem in our ensuite. Cleaning with Dettol Mould Remover did little good and even a complete ceiling repaint with anti-mould paint only lasted a few months before it recurred.

Somebody recommended the Lakeland mould remover and I gave it a try before Christmas. It's v powerful stuff, containg bleach but in two applications the mould disappeared and so far hasn't recurred. It's quite an expensive product but you don't use much. I reckon there's enough left for a dozen applications.

However using something so powerful on an Eriba needs thinking about.

This year the humidity has been so high, even on days it hasn't rained,
that all the air is too damp unless you supply the heat with an electric
radiator or similar dry heat.

we removed the canvas and put in washing machine, with 303 cleaner then 303 reproofed last year.
usually vacuum when pop top airing,but accidently left power on while doing something else other day, the heater was switched on, that helped dry the air up top

As I am close to Glastonbury, I may get a joss stick or two and see what
opening and closing various orifices does to the air circulation by observing
the smoke movement.

Quote: crow wrote in post #2

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I would dry mould up and brush it out dry with a soft brush then kill it with Milton,
it reduces the staining. my Troll has so much fresh air whistling through it I have
to microwave the cat to keep it from getting mouldy.

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I've borrowed an electric dehumidifier from work and this seems to be helping. Its plugged into a gadget that measures the % in the air and kicks the dehumidifier on if too high.

I was gutted when I found the mould, thought I had a bad buy, so don't take this the wrong way when I say I'm glad I'm not the only one.

I removed it with mould cleaner, but it has stained the roof and crept onto the canvas, waiting for some dry days to scrub and maybe steam clean .

I doubt a dehumidifier or any other so called means of removing damp will do any good. Caravans leak like sieves and the air inside never remains for long, so you're basically trying to dehumidify the world's atmosphere and that's doomed to failure I suspect.

Well it's working for me! And would rather dehumidifier the world than have mould! Roll on summer!

I doubt that the humidity inside the van is any different to the humidity outside the van.

What you have is a patch of mould because the top has been pulled down onto the canvas and/or net and it's all been in very close proximity in a relatively sealed environment whilst temperatures and humidity fluctuated outside and in, leading to some condensation, which has allowed mould to grow. It's a rare Eriba that doesn't suffer and those are usually the ones kept indoors over the winter.

Attempting to reduce the humidity is futile as the incident has already happened and the damage (which is just visual) is done and may well have been done early on after it was laid up for the winter.

Even applying constant low level heat throughout the colder weather might not guarantee no mould because the area in question can be a cold pocket, sealed from the warmer interior of the van and fed by could drafts coming under the roof edge.

If you want to reduce the possibility of a recurrence next winter I'd suggest keeping the top up so the materials aren't in contact with each other and the roof. However that may raise other issues.

I can even feel the before and after difference in the van. It is an industrial dehumidifier that we use when our communication equipment/system are put in storage. There is no container to empty, the water goes straight down the plug hole. Good enough for servers etc, good enough for my little Eriba!

Thanks Roger, I've been reading all about removing the canvas, cleaning and waterproofing. Just waiting for the weather to change for the better.