Agility Tunnel Cleaning in 1,000 Steps or Less

Lilly’s competition-grade agility tunnel spent most of the summer stacked up in the shade near our chimney. But, with winter coming, I figured I’d better clean it, condition it, and get it stored inside — away from the brutal, high-altitude snow, wind, and sun. Except, it turns out that cleaning a full-sized, ribbed tunnel isn’t a simple thing.

My back and neck still hurt.

First, I scrunched it up and lugged it around to our tiny patch of real grass so that I could water the lawn while washing the tunnel. I really wanted to drape it down our big hill so that it would drain better, but Tom said the lawn was a better idea since the hill is so dusty.

So, I blasted the heck out of the outside with the hose. All those crinkles between the ribs really hold in the gunk.

Then as I rolled it around, the tunnel’s exterior drained no problemo.

The inside, however, was a total pain. I tried stretching it full out and blasting each section from both ends. I tried scrunching it for a better reach.

I mostly succeeded in loosening the dirt that encrusted inside, but getting it OUT was pretty much impossible. I was already pretty wet from hose splatter, but I was NOT about to crawl inside and squeegee the middle. While amusing, for sure, I didn’t want to get stuck inside.

So, I sprayed and tilted. I tilted and sprayed. I shook it. I rolled it. I lifted it from the middle … hoping each end would sag enough to let the water out, but those ribs really form a barrier.

Eventually, I gave up and let the tunnel sit in the sun, hoping for evaporation.

With Tom’s help, I treated the outside with some vinyl reconditioning polish, but the inside still looks pretty gritty.

Is there some huge bottle-washer thing I don’t know about? Surely, there’s a better method.