diff --git a/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/bootstrapchannelbuilder.go b/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/bootstrapchannelbuilder.go
index e2def3201e..b0ef532ef8 100644
--- a/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/bootstrapchannelbuilder.go
+++ b/upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/bootstrapchannelbuilder.go
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ package cloudup
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 
 	"k8s.io/klog"
 	channelsapi "k8s.io/kops/channels/pkg/api"
@@ -68,13 +69,16 @@ func (b *BootstrapChannelBuilder) Build(c *fi.ModelBuilderContext) error {
 			return fmt.Errorf("error remapping manifest %s: %v", manifestPath, err)
 		}
 
+		// Trim whitespace
+		manifestBytes = []byte(strings.TrimSpace(string(manifestBytes)))
+
 		rawManifest := string(manifestBytes)
 		klog.V(4).Infof("Manifest %v", rawManifest)
 
-		manifestHash, err := utils.HashString(&rawManifest)
+		manifestHash, err := utils.HashString(rawManifest)
 		klog.V(4).Infof("hash %s", manifestHash)
 		if err != nil {
-			manifestHash = ""
+			return fmt.Errorf("error hashing manifest: %v", err)
 		}
 		a.ManifestHash = manifestHash
 
diff --git a/upup/pkg/fi/utils/hash.go b/upup/pkg/fi/utils/hash.go
index 8d275ee912..0b04a33dcf 100644
--- a/upup/pkg/fi/utils/hash.go
+++ b/upup/pkg/fi/utils/hash.go
@@ -19,14 +19,12 @@ package utils
 import (
 	"crypto/sha1"
 	"encoding/hex"
-	"strings"
 )
 
 // HashString Takes String and returns a sha1 hash represented as a string
-func HashString(s *string) (string, error) {
+func HashString(s string) (string, error) {
 	h := sha1.New()
-	ts := strings.TrimSpace(*s)
-	_, err := h.Write([]byte(ts))
+	_, err := h.Write([]byte(s))
 	if err != nil {
 		return "", err
 	}