Okay, so I thought I was all finished with the painting decorating in the Scamp. I went to put the little table into the camper. Oh dear, it seem that this VERY shiney metallic paint I chose- seems to RUB off a bit when you handle it, even tho it's been there drying for days.

Okay I thought, I'll just put a clear coat over it. I mention doing so and one of my sons says Oh ya just throw some Laquer over it.

SO.... I go buy Laquer. The only thing I have ever used for putting on furniture was some Polyurethane stuff.

I go to put the laquer on. IT MAKES THE PAINT BUBBLE UP. Oh WHEN am I going to learn to READ the labels before I buy and open and try????

So, I had to wait and let that laquer dry thoroughly. SAND it all off in the corner that I put it on.... and drag out the silver paint and re-paint that corner.

So- if we are taking off tomorrow, it's going to have to get used with the slight rubbing-off of the silvery paint! hahaha It will have to wait until NEXT week now and I am going to try plain ole Polyurethane finish then. Boy, I'm learning a LOT by doing these projects. No wonder painters and the like handymen are worth their pay. This is a lot of WORK. hahaha

This pic doesn't really show up how shiney the paint is- boy when the sun hits it right, it'll blind ya.

Shoot. I thought your topic was on VENTS. (I need to replace the caps on mine, and when I saw your subject line I thought, "Goody! Deb's gonna show me how she did it!")

Deb, If I was you I'd check the type of silver paint you put on(oil or latex) and go with whatever clearcoat that matches. If in doubt you may want to try the water based polly. I used it on the floors in a house I'd built 12 years ago and it wore real well, it touches up well when it gets scuffed you can spot paint without any overlap whatsoever and dries in no time at all, it'll go on either oil or latex.

There are no oil based automotive paints. I hope you didn't use (house) paint on your trailer.

Most automotive paints are acrylic. And you can get acrylic clear to go over it. I am curious about which type of paint you used.

I paint cars and am always suprised what people try and use.

Harv in Colo

I put Deft Polyurathane over acrylics all the time. I do a lot of wood carving and many items have some color or paint on them. I finish with several coats of polyurathane.


Just my 2 cents worth

Hey, Deb, tell us what you did put on the table. It should be pretty easy to figure out the next step. I think a spray acrylic that I use on my oil paintings would do the trick. It dries quickly and would stop that rub off business. When I have my faux finish artists do projects for me, I always have a clear coat applied to protect the finishes. Often what works best is glaze without anything added to it or even a neutral base of paint without any pigment added.

What a bummer! I feel your pain!

Hey, 15 hours till take off, though? YAY!

Harv, I saw nothing in her post that mentioned automotive paint as this was a table that she painted to go inside, I stick with the water based poly as it will work on most finishes with no problems

Hi Deb.

My heart goes out to you. I wish I could help. Looks like you're getting lots of good advice.
You sound like me....open the can and start in.

Have a good trip and best of luck with this project.

Dorie