Does anyone know the original 71 Trillium colors? And how can I safely strip paint?

[PhillyPhixy]

I found that when people do a cheesy paint job, they generally use cheesy paint as well. The good news for me has been that something inexpensive and doesn`t seem to damage FRP like lacquer thinner will "boil" or lift crappy enamel type paint. You could try spraying or pouring it on to see and it would act as a stripper. If the paint is high quality, such as a good base coat/clearcoat like they use in modern automotive, it will not lift so easily and may be a good substrate to start with in the first place.
Be careful with a hot air gun as overheating polyester resin can actually re soften it even though it is a catylized thermoset. You could also inadvertently scorch the ensolite and it may let go (seems like it is only contact cemented in place.)
I personally don`t like using strippers on any plastics as I found it hard to clean/neutralize after.

I would avoid doing any unnecessary finish work you can or you may find yourself spending more time sanding than camping..
Good luck with with it.

[coalminecanary]

So I took a leap of faith and bought the Smart Strip. I applied two small patches at 2pm and went about my business for the day.

Bottom line: great news!

At 8pm I checked up on it and it had softened the entire top layer plus it partially softened the bright yellow to the point that I could scrape it off easily.

The gelcoat beneath was still hard as a rock, as was the deep red that is under the yellow but on top of the gelcoat (in what looks like a patchy spray-job fashion). So I am thinking the red was some sort of 2 part tinted epoxy (or 2 part curing paint), and this stripper appears to not touch anything that is a chemical cure.

This is great news as I should be able to strip the entire trailer in much less time now.

I will post pictures tomorrow, and I will also test this stuff directly on a small part of gelcoat/fibreglass where I have to do a repair anyways, and then we'll know exactly how "fibreglass safe" it really is.

It was $69.99 for a gallon (compared with $93 for the Interlux Interstrip 299e)

The same company makes a product that is a peel-away stripper - it's only $39 for a gallon but the process is more complicated. You have to apply some sort of paper topping and then peel the stripper and old paint off. Then you have to do an acid wash to get rid of the residue. It also says it can be used on fibreglass but it seemed more chemically intense than the smart strip, which is water washable. I figured for the extra $30 I'd get the less aggressive stuff.

[coalminecanary]

Since I've settled on a plan now, I'm going to detail the results in the following thread:

Stripping paint from the fibreglass: Smart Strip results

Thanks for all the input so far!

[Randy Bishop]

Originally Posted by coalminecanary

Since I've settled on a plan now, I'm going to detail the results in the following thread:

Stripping paint from the fibreglass: Smart Strip results

Thanks for all the input so far!

I really wish you luck on the stripper...But I tried the same method and it worked out terribly.The camper in this thread... Trillium 1300 Renovation was the one I tried to strip...I had hoped someone had just painted it and I could strip it and reused the old gelcoat but like yours it had some small repairs so once I found those I just sanded it down since it would have to be repainted..Stripping it was a loooong drawed out process that never worked very well... in the end I used a small electric palm sander and 180 grit sandpaper at first to get it down to where you can just see the gelcoat coming through then resanded it with 220 grit until all signs of paint was gone...It really diodn't take very long to sand down the entire trailer this way....I really don't like to paint these and this was my first and it turned out great the color I used was color matched from a piece of fiberglas I cut out of the closet to install a lift out drawer that comes in most but this one didn't have it.....the small drawer on the side of the closet is the one I'm talking about its a great place to keep lighters flashlights and small items handy..I had the paint mixed at a auto paint store..could give you the mix numbers but douth if they would help you unless there was store there like it....

[coalminecanary]

Update - with the stripper I was able to get the majority of the top paint coats off through scraping - not too bad! We are having a heat wave right now so it's not the most comfortable weather to be doing paint prep so things are moving slowly. I've almost finished sanding (80 grit) the gelcoat, to remove what the stripper didn't and to prep the surface for recovering. I'll do an acetone rinse and then I'm going to do a two part bedliner on the entire bottom third of the trailer.