Any fabric that is unattended in a popups case will mold and mildew if allowed to get wet and not dry out. The living hinge sits behind the the sidewalls and is not supposed to get any moisture of any kind. It is also behind a lip on the bed end wall. If these pieces of living hinge are getting wet, molding and mildewing than there is a bigger problem than the living hinge. It sounds as though there are cracks leading to leaks to your ABS or that the sidewalls and bed ends are not fitting together correctly. I have yet to see Living hinge mold, mildew and rot and i have worked on just about every year and model there is. If you have ants, I'm sure it's not the Living hinge attracting them. If you have food stored in your Apache, those little pests will find it. They love to nest under the foam mattress's. Every instance of living hinge problem I have encountered is from the fact that it was plastic hinge and every unit that has the cloth living hinge, 1974 and up, that I have restored has been good. The only reason I change the living hinge on a restore is that I have it and I like to fully restore to as new as I can get. In the bed ends, at the base of the end wall is a plastic living hinge and it has (2) plastic stops that have screws thru the inside end wall into these stops. For those who do not know, this is to keep the end wall from sliding back and forth. When you change the living hinge here you want to remove the stops and put the living hinge all the way accross and replace the screws. This will secure the end wall in place. The plastic stops are not available anymore and are usually all broken. A way to check it to see if yours are broke is to pull up gently from the outside on the bed end wall by the end cap. If your wall lifts away from the aluminum extrusion more than 1/4", your stops are broke.
