Staying on Track(s)

Photos by the author

In the past, I would get on my hands and knees and pick out the debris with a chop stick or similar “tool” after spraying the surface with good bathroom cleaner. Not the easiest task and the job was tedious at best. It’s amazing how fast the crud builds up — and keeping the tracks clean was a frequent chore.

Fortunately, I’ve since found the “Magic Window Track Cleaner” on Amazon for only $12.99, a kit that includes scrubbing tools, brushes and cleaning pads.

The kit is obviously earmarked for cleaning window tracks — which are also a pain to clean — but it looked like it could be adapted for the shower tracks. In any case, I figured that I had nothing to lose — if it didn’t work in the shower I could always clean the window tracks, which also get dirty quickly, especially when the RV is parked on a dirt site where the wind blows. It turned out to be one of the best bargains I ever found on Amazon.

The cleaning process using the newly discovered kit was really simple — and the back-breaking labor was taken down many notches. I first sprayed Scrub Free Total Bathroom Cleaner (available at Walmart for $2.24 for a 32-ounce spray bottle) into the sliding-glass-door track assembly, then used the little brush that came with the track-cleaner kit to get into the corners and extract the hair and gunk. I knew the kit’s scrub tool, which is fitted with pads to clean the inside of the tracks, would not reach into the corners, but the brush did a great job; two of these brushes are provided with the kit. And the shower cleaner — even though it was inexpensive — did a good job removing soap scum and other byproducts of showering.

Once the corners were clean, I once again sprayed the cleaner into the track and slid the cleaning tool into the grooves, moving it in a back-and-forth motion several times. To my surprise, I could see that the debris was “swept” away immediately. The cleaning tool got hung up on the screws holding the track down to the shower pan, but once I reduced pressure it worked more smoothly.

Satisfied that one side of the track was clean, I moved to the other side and performed the same cleanup task.

The cleaning tool comes with extra cleaning pads, so the components of the kit should last for many years. I may even find other uses for these brushes and cleaning pads (other than cleaning the window channels). These cleaning pads appear similar to kitchen scouring pads, which should not scratch the black paint off of my shower track (based on my first experience with this product).

I’m impressed with the capability of the Magic Window Track Cleaner, and anything that makes RV clean-up easier — and saves my back — definitely gets my vote.