Painting the outer shell - the frugal way...?

[Sheryl]

I've been reading a lot here for a couple months, while I am waiting for my trailer to be delivered. At first I was embarrassed to admit that I would be "cutting corners" (for many reasons--time, money, skills, time, money). I would love to be able to do everything the right way--well, no, I wouldn't. I am anxious to make my trailer a cute, fun, usable trailer and I am totally content with the idea that it may be worth nothing when I get done with it!

[Greg H]

I've been doing all the body work on mine outside, dodging dust devils and hot weather, I took autobody in school but I don't have all of the tools I need so I'm doing the best I can with what I have to work with, and when it"s done if nobody likes it, oh well.

[Roy in TO]

Andrew,
Is there any reason you can't set up a temporary shelter outside your shop, get longer air hoses or rent (test drive) a portable compressor and spray it yourself? You said you had all the tools.

[Andrew GPSMapNut]

Originally Posted by Roy in TO

Andrew,
Is there any reason you can't set up a temporary shelter outside your shop, get longer air hoses or rent (test drive) a portable compressor and spray it yourself? You said you had all the tools.

I thought about it but, for number a reasons, not really an option.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Originally Posted by Andrew GPSMapNut

What is the worst that can happen if I cut corners on finishing?



3. We may get kicked out of an FGR rally or not allowed to a perfect RV resort.
4. Nobody will want to buy it when we decide to sell it.

3. At all of the rallys that I have attended, nobody ever got kicked out.
You would be even more popular for the stories you'd have about your choices and decisions.

4. Nobody may want to pay top dollar when you decide to sell, but it will sell for the right price.

[Andrew GPSMapNut]

Originally Posted by Frederick L. Simson

3. At all of the rallys that I have attended, nobody ever got kicked out.
You would be even more popular for the stories you'd have about your choices and decisions.

4. Nobody may want to pay top dollar when you decide to sell, but it will sell for the right price.

Well, I listed "worst case scenario". Don't forget that (at least) one RV resort used to have "no Casitas" in their policy. I know; Being kicked out of an FGR rally was a bit of a stretch. In reality, most would say: "I can only imagine how ugly it was when you got it..." Than again, most visitors here strive for a perfect egg but, not all. After all, few came out of a closet after my post ! Hmm, sound like a decent topic. I think, I'll start one under "How many corners did you cut?"
OK, the topic is now up - see http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...tml#post247573

[Larry Tenhage]

Well, Wash it REAL good first. These trailers tend to trap contaminates in the fiberglass, giving you fisheyes. So, WASH! I hope you at least prep it well. That'll make the paint easier to apply. Sometimes those little rollers work pretty good, especially with the many little angles you find on a trailer.
Here's a link to how I painted my Trillium. I know that's not how you're going to do yours, but the prep work might be of interest to you.

YouTube - '74 Trillium repaint '10 A little better this time!

[Bill Reilly]

Andrew:

Here is an article I saw some time ago which may assist in your quest for an inexpensive paint job. It sounds incredible but with Tremclad being so cheap (and sometimes even a bit laying around the shop ) it might be worth experimenting !

I vaguely remember seeing the final resultsof this persons paint job. Seems to me it looked really good. sorry I can't come up with the original article or the author's name

Bill Reilly

PAINTING YOUR CAR WITH TREMCLAD

Here's how i painted my car for about $50:

It’s actually very easy and the results are amazing. First off, get a can of Tremclad real orange (or what ever color you want) in the can, not spray. Yes Tremclad -- it is a acrylic/enamel paint which is very durable. Next, prep your car as if was any other paint job, fix all the rust, etc .... no need to prime the car since the Tremclad already contains elements which allow it to be painted over bare metal. Next, after prepping the car get a small 4" professional FOAM rollers, it's tiny and has one end rounded off, and the other cut straight, and is a very high density foam. You also need a jug of mineral spirits to thin the paint. The thing i really like about this is that there's no mess, no taping the whole car, just key areas, and you can do it in your garage, since your not spraying there is virtually no dust in the air, just clean your garage first, also it doesn’t really smell at all, dries overnight and it super tough paint. also it you decide to paint the car professionally later, just prep and paint, there's no need to strip the Tremclad. I have done this to a few cars, and I can say it works amazing, You just have to be patient. next You thin the paint with mineral spirits so it just about as thin as water, a little thicker. get out the roller and paint away, don't get the paint shaken when You buy it, enamel is stirred, otherwise you'll have bubbles in the paint for a week! 1 after You do 2 coats, wet sand the whole car, then repeat, 2 coats, wet sand, 2 coats wet sand. I painted my Dodge Charger using one can Since your not spraying the car you use all the paint and not spray 50% in the air. Use progressively finer sand paper each time. It's not really that much work, cause you can stop and start any time, You can do just a door, or the hood, etc, do one panel at a time, and don't stop once you start. Once your done the final coat, wet sand with about 1000 grit to a totally smooth finish, and then using a high speed polisher. I use a buffing bonnet and turtle wax polishing compound. do the whole car with this, and I'm telling you, depending on the amount of time and patience you have, the results are amazing. Laugh if you want, but for $50 ($30 for paint, about $20 for rollers, sand paper, etc...) it really looks good.

Also you can do these steps overnight, paint one evening and by morning you can wet sand. I have personally done a lot of painting, mostly single stage acrylic enamel, and I’ve sprayed several cars in my garage with really good professional results. Spraying stinks, and it's a real pain to do, easy to make a mistake, messy, and expensive. The Tremclad is awesome paint, the "real orange" is an amazing hemi orange, and almost looks like it has some pert in the sun, awesome color right out of the can. I used this technique on my 1974 Beetle also.

Author Unknown

[Andrew GPSMapNut]

Thanks for the tips. Currently, I'm at the stage of patching holes. Oh boy, so many holes and scratches and cracks and... I'm tired. I hope I don't run out of juice before finishing the trailer. I'm finding myself more and more often saying. Oh well, that will do. There is no way it's going to be perfect...

[Andrew GPSMapNut]

Update;
Got the shell painted. With help of the friendly neighbours, donated industrial quality paint. Nice colour. Now, that was the good news. The bad... despite the tests that showed that the paint was compatible with whatever was already on the trailer, several spots the paint badly reacted with the undercoat. We primed it using a roller and had few problem spots that reacted but with enough oft the elbow grease, blocking layers of other primers and so on, we had it primed nicely. Still, the xylene in the finish coat eat through the primer and some other layers and we finished with several problem areas... Also, as expected, the finish coat exaggerated all the imperfections in patching the shell... Our July deadline is closing fast so, we decided that, like with any project, there comes the time when engineers must be shot so the production can start. Tomorrow, I'm off to Home Depot to have Zeisner (sp?) 123 colour matched as close as possible to the finish coat and all the patches will be covered with that. Since most of the bad reaction patches are on the belly band, it will be covered with either close colour match or, maybe simply black Tremclad. Windows are already going in, sub-floor finished. Once paint patches are dry, I'm putting in marker / tail lights and doing the electrical. Once that done, we can lay the insulation - it will go over some of the marker wiring. Than the floor than.. but that is another story. It's about paint here so, let me just say that in retrospect, we are sorry that we didn't stick to the plan of doing it with tremclad and a roller. We lost a week because we jumped at the offer of nice, industrial quality paint... Yes, yes, I know. If we stripped all the previous layers of paint and patched everything perfectly we wouldn't... well, we still be stripping the original paint and be nowhere near a chance of using the trailer this summer!

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Frederick L. Simson

I have a photo of a 13' Burro that was painted with a roller. The person who painted it doesn't own that particular trailer now and she is presently traveling so I'll share what I remember...

Attachment 35185 Attachment 35186

If you want a smooth automobile-like finish: pass on the roller, spraying is the only way to get that quality IMHO.
A roller will leave a texture in the paint, and the result on this trailer made a child exclaim, "It looks just like an Igloo Cooler!" That kid nailed it.

While what you say is generally true...
We painted a trailer with Perma White and micro rollers and the finish is smooth without the texture associated with ordinary paint and rollers.
PermaWhite is only semigloss but it dries hard enough to wax.
Pictures can be inadequate for this sort of thing but here's one anyway...
In fact it is smoother than some types of spray on applications