Hi,

We've been busy on our Pacer (along with regular work & fam). We finished the outside and all that's left is to put on the Poli-Glow gel coat to get her nice & shiny again. It's incredibly windy here today & expect rain, so guess that'll be next week. We thought we could get her in the garage, but like everyone else, we are just a bit too tall. I found the complete kit of Poli-Glow from Fore and Aft Marine for only $49.95, online & on eBay.

Here are some pic's of when we brought her home, Sept 19th, the work in progress and a few of what we've updated so far. OK, now I realize I can only add 2 pics here, so hopefully I'll set up a photo gallery link later this weekend. I'll post a couple "finished" in next post. So far, we've only been able to work the exterior & do some interior wall pop corn repair. I'm really happy how the new graphics came out, it really brighten her up. Preparation is everything when is comes to a nice paint job, so although cleaning, light sanding, primer coats and final coats took time, it was well worth it!

So far we've cleaned all the rust and staining off the shell, made a few small fiberglass repairs, repainted the graphics, added a new porch light, polished the plexiglass window (Blue Magic from auto parts store worked great), tightened every bolt & screw we could find, cleared out the enterior and making some new curtains and seat covers in my spare time. Oh yeah, hubby added a pirate spare tire cover to keep it from becoming the chick mobile.

Billy, another Pacer owner asked about our frig & we were just talking about adding a real frig last night. There is an ice box right now. We would need to cut the exterior to add a vent & hubby says he's up for it but I'm a little leary about cutting a hole. If anyone has tried this, maybe you can respond & send info & pic's. There is wiring/convertor underneath the sink so power isn't a problem, just installing the vent concerns me.

OK, that's it for now. With less than 3 weeks until the Lake Casitas Rally, hoping we can get her set up on the inside & finish painting the shell. Off to work & I'll catch you later.

Eve

Man, I'm such a dork about uploading pic's. Here's 1 of "almost" finished exterior.

Pacer Photo Gallery, I hope. Thanks for looking.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?...mp;conn_speed=1

Lookin' good Eve. Looking forward to seeing it at the Lake Casitas rally. I thought somewhere you mentioned having a Compact Jr. Perhaps I got the messages mixed up.

Thanks Cliff. It's getting there, just not enough time in a day. Yep, we also have a 1972 Compact Jr. Initially, we got my folks involved but they soon lost interest so now I have 2 to fix up. Looking forward to the Rally too, see you there.

Did you paint over the decals? If you did what did you use for paint? We have a burro with the decals but they are so sun washed the look bad. We have been lookng for a fix. Thanks, Bette

How about new ones? Click this link: Attn: Burro Owners

Eve, Wow, it's so cute! Coming along very nice! I thought you were worried you'ed be in a pop up at the rally ? You guys are spiffing it up quick! Nice Job! Robin






P.S, Did you end up getting a site in the same area or are you still across from the rally. Like I said, it's been years since I camped at Casitas but I think you be ok if your not in the same loop. Have a great time, and enjoy that cute trailer.

Hi Bette, The graphics on our Pacer were painted on with a type of vinyl paint.

• With all the scrapes & dings, we lightly sanded the graphics with a fine sand paper to smooth the surface & then cleaned with a Mr Clean Magic Eraser.
• Then we used the blue painters tape and time stakingly taped around the graphics to carefully match the pattern.
• Then, using butchers paper cut out basic forms & taped around graphic for over spray. We used Valspar (Lowes) primer for plastic/fiberglass & lightly sprayed 2/3 coats to fill, smooth & finish the surface.
• Then 4/5 light coats of red, painted with same brand paint for plastic/fiberglass until we had complete coverage and smooth surface(shown in pics). Even my Mail Carrier stopped by daily & informed me I still had blue showing 1/2 way through. By Friday, he stopped again & gave me 2 thumbs up.

Rustoleom also make same type of paint, I researched paints at their website to make sure this would work. Now, the process didn't go as smoothly as described above. There were 2 graphics that had to be sanded back down & started over after the first red coat, as small areas of pits showed up. This process took about 4 days here & there to work around the trailer.

Now, this is how I repainted over the original painted vinyl graphics. With regular decal/pin stripe type material, I'm not sure the same process would work, but I would think if you remove any defects/sticky stuff off the old graphics, (try goo remover), prep & primer, I don't see why not. The plastic paints are great for adherence & finish,(we discovered them when we wanted to paint an old resin patio set & have been hooked ever since) but the surface needs to be carefully prepped & I found the secret was to paint in multiple light coats for a nice smooth finished product. I'm even thinking about painting a new graphic on the front, right on the fiberglass which should be a lot easier. We also discover our rear bumper is fiberglass, so we'll repaint that too with a nice gloss black from the Plastic Paint line.

My first attempt scared the heck out of me. With no primer, I got areas that didn't stick, pits & runs. I thought OMG what have I done! After I started over & took my time, added priming to the process and nice light coats to prevent running, it went along great. When I did over spray & got runs, I started over. Spray painting takes a nice steady hand & even application, not to mention a couple of bandaids for the blister I got on my index finger.

So that's it. As a Burro owner, I think you may luck out and you may be able to find manufactured decal for replacement. I think I saw something here about someone making them or ??? Or maybe it was the Compact Jr's. If not, practice painting on a similar type decal in the garage before you start the real deal.

Hope this helps. Eve

PS, forgot to mention we'll be adding a clear gel coat soon over the entire egg & that should add a nice finish. I think if you add/change decals or graphics, painting with a Poli Glow Clear Coat will seal & protect the graphics & add a new shine to your egg.

Hi Robin! Thanks. Yep, we worked the outside first before the rain came & thought we could get her in the garage to finish. Opps, too tall. There is still lots to do on the inside, but she's almost campable. We are booked for the rally and whether we're at Bass or Egret, we'll be fine, just deciding if we want to rough it in the Pacer as is or take our Pop up with a real frig, real heat, real running water (hot & cold). Thinking about taking her out for her maiden voyage to Carpinteria. I booked a beach front site months ago for the weekend before the Rally. I know we'd be the talk of beach row parked amogst all those motor homes and toy haulers. Boy, you sure get hooked with these little cuties. I'm so behind all the regular stuff around the house because I keep hearing her call me from the driveway. Hmmm, chores or go play with my Pacer.

CU, Eve

Ah, rough it, you will have so much fun and a lot of great suggestions if you got her with you. Enjoy!


I might just have to run to Carpinteria and say Hi on my way out of town. I will be in Ojai for my class reunion that weekend. I use to love to camp there when I was in high school. Great memories of the beach. Robin

Very nice work Eve! I love the red swish!

Hi Robin, Well, looks like our trip to Carp is out. Hubby just informed me he has to head out for 2/3 weeks for work. We also discovered that many of the bolts holding the egg to the frame are loose, so we have to pull the floor in order to tighten them. I'm gonna be on my own to get this done & put back together, so now I'm just hoping I can get it done & Hubby will be back in time for the Casitas rally. Sorry we'll miss you & hope you have a great reunion trip. Eve