Exterior Paint - 1975 Trillium

[TrillSLC]

Hello
This fall we plan to hire a shop to paint the exterior of our 1975 Trillium. It's been repainted at least once before.

A few questions:

We're in SLC, UT with a limited population of vintage fiberglass trailers. Who would be the best resource for a quality paint job? An auto body shop? A fiberglass boat shop? Somewhere else?

I plan to take the windows out for painting. Any advice on Trillium window maintenance?

Any general advice regarding exterior paint for our beloved trailer?

Thank you

[Kai in Seattle]

I would highly advise you to do all your due diligence in prepping the surface before turning it over to a painter. They have a tendency to paint over things that shouldn't be covered, and not fill properly.

Absolutely the windows must come out first, along with vents and all logos that can come off. Not to denigrate an unknown painter, but my experience has been that like carpet layers who will sometimes go over things you've left on the floor, painters don't like to take things off that you've left on.

They don't have time to check every little detail--so you must.

Be very, very clear about what paint you want and where--yours isn't the only job they have to think about--but it is the only one YOU have to think about.

Best of luck with it. Professional paint jobs can be beautiful! OR...they can look like this:

[Kai in Seattle]

RE: This $1600 paint job ordered by a previous owner

You cannot see it in the photo, but missing logo holes weren't filled first.

They painted right over the aluminum and black belly band trim, sealing it onto the trailer with paint. Paul later had to cut it off and spent hours getting the paint off of it.

They painted over all logos still attached. They didn't "fair" any bad areas, fill any cracks first, but went right over the top. The paint itself was rootbeer brown with gold flecks--made the trailer like an oven inside when the sun shone on it for a few hours.

It was shiny, but they didn't even paint the roof! It couldn't be seen from the ground, so...why bother? They left the original old gel coat in white up there--
with all its scrapes, flaws, gaps, etc. from the first several decades of Peanut's life.

They painted around the windows, door, and all things protruding, leaving little paint ridges around them and not reseating the windows or vents as would normally happen after a proper paint job, leaving many tiny leaks. Under the "eyebrow" over the door (which hade been curiously flattened rather than sticking out to provide a rain drip shield) were several large cracks, unfilled, unsealed, but painted over.


Wishing you the best with your paint job! Don't turn it over to them until YOU know it's prepped and ready!

Nobody cares like you do.


BEST

Kathleen

"K"

Below see Peanut (one shell with two nuts in it) after Paul finished his simple hot dog roller & marine enamel paint job...

Double-click on photos to get a much larger enlargement for your viewing pleasure.

[John in Michigan]

K,

Regarding paint, since you are having it sprayed, either automotive urethane (widest range of colors) or marine two part polyurethane (limited color choice) will work fine.

Regarding the windows, we recently removed our Trillium 4500 rear window, then cleaned, polished and re-installed. To re-install window, I applied two layers of 1/8 inch by 3/4 inch butyl tape to the back side of the window flange before securing the window to the fiberglass body with 1" #8 stainless steel pan head screws.

Before re-installing the window, we replaced all of the seals mostly purchased from Vintage Trailer Gaskets.

Good luck with your Trillium!

John

[John in Michigan]

K, a couple more things:

- One caveat regarding the paint is that you'll want to sand or strip off the old paint before applying the new.

- Cleaning and polishing the windows can be a time consuming, tedious process. We dis-assembled the rear window after removing it from the camper by removing each sash to ease the cleaning and polishing, and then removing the top of the frame to replace the header gasket. EDIT: Also if any of the torque operators are worn out or any window hinges are broken, this is the time to replace them.

John

[TrillSLC]

Great information. Thank you Kai and John
Can you suggest any resources or products for fairing/patching/filling old fiberglass?

[John in Michigan]

K, I used:

- bondo polyester resin together with fiberglass mat to patch holes and structural cracks
- bondo glass to add strength to relatively small gaps and holes
- bondo filler for surface repairs and final surfacing on the gelcoat (finished) surface of the body

John

[John in Michigan]

Here is a good thread on repairing fiberglass:

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ass-52498.html

[TrillSLC]

thank you