paint to match original Boler colors

[Peggy]

I know I am not alone in the Boler community in being ambivalent about how much to keep everything original. We love the things! But I would like to paint the outside of our B1700. I just can't see my husband and I wanting to wash and wax as much as it seems will be necessary to keep it healthy and looking good. It's so oxidized, if that is the right lingo. So, has anyone found a paint that is very close to the original color, in Krylon, or Endura, or anything else? And those orange stripes! What to do with those, in need of lots of repair, or replacement? Thanks!

[Raya]

Peggy,

Not to discourage you from having the Boler painted, as a good paint job is a marvelous thing. On the other hand, if you would like to give the gelcoat a last chance, and you have "only" washed and waxed it, then you might like to try compounding it. This removes the "dead" (oxidized) surface layer and exposes fresh, shiny gelcoat from beneath. Then you wax it to protect the new surface from UV rays.

Now, every trailer is not a candidate for compounding (it may have been done before, gelcoat may be too thin, etc.), but if yours is, it can be a way to stave off the labor and $$ of a good paint job (and the original gelcoat can be a nice look, too).

But again, I would never discourage anyone from getting a good paint job (although a mediocre one is a detriment, in my opinion).

Raya

PS: Are the stripes vinyl (i.e. "stickers")? If so you can have a sign shop make you new ones to match, then you can remove the old ones and replace them. Boat name places are a good resource for this.

PPS: A good paint shop should be able to match the original Boler color, if you want to stay with that.

[Peggy]

Thanks Raya. I can't say I have ever heard of compounding. I'm certainly willing to consider other methods. This summer, even washing it was a chore, it was all so un-shiny, kinda powdery..Every square inch had to be rubbed well. Then we camped with a friend who has an nice shily airstream, and I told him I hadn't finished the first wash yet! He thought that was pretty funny, for a 14 ft egg, to not finish washing it in one go!

[Raya]

Hi Peggy,

Compounding is sometimes also called buffing, or rubbing out. You can use a "compound" (which is basically like a cream with some fine abrasive in it), or you can use something like wetsanding paper. The idea is to take off a very thin layer of the existing gelcoat (which is powdery/white as you describe), and expose fresh new gelcoat (think of exfoliating skin).

It's a bit of work, but nothing like removing all the windows and hardware, masking, prepping, sanding, etc. for a paint job.

What you can do is look for an area that is still fresh (like maybe under a sticker or behind a spare tire or propane regulator), and then gently wet sand or compound an area right next to it. That should give you an idea whether your trailer is a candidate for the job. (Too bad there are no "inconspicuous areas" like behind a hem or something ) Actually, thinking about it, the roof would not be a bad area to experiment, since hardly anyone looks up there!

Raya

[Roy in TO]

Have you read this thread?
http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ell-43004.html

[Peggy]

Wow, sounds like there are definitely some options other than painting. I have never seen Poliglow in the stores. Is it a marine product? But on our Boler 1700, I still need a paint close to original color, as previous owners patched some little chips with what looks like wads of epoxy, a few inches across, that has now yellowed a lot. So perhaps I could paint out a block or a section, and then Poliglow. I'm not aiming for a factory finish, but some shine, and a lot of protection! So, we still need something close to original color of B1700, and I haven't found anything in our local Canadian Tire, etc. Thanks!

[Donna D.]

The problem is your trailer is 37 years old. The gel coat is not consistent in color from front to back or side to side. Have you considered covering those patched areas with decals? Use them as decoration. I'm a believer of making things obvious if you can't do a really, really good job to fix the imperfection.

YMMV

[Raya]

Epoxy does not stand up to UV, and typically does yellow and become brittle, so that sounds like a reasonable explanation for your bad patches. For that reason it should be covered by paint (or something else) just after it's applied. I understand you inherited the problem though.

It may be possible to paint or gelcoat and blend it in, but it's really hard to tell without at least seeing photos.

Donna's decal idea is a good one.

Raya

[floyd]

Use purple Scotchbrite in a rich mixture of carwash soap and water.
Just scrub it like you were using a sponge. The soapy water reduces the scuffing power of the Scotchbrite and leaves a smooth shine, it worked great on a couple of trailers on which i tried it.
If it is not enough you will at least have a good clean start and the chalkiness will be gone with only a little elbow grease.

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

The problem is your trailer is 37 years old. The gel coat is not consistent in color from front to back or side to side. Have you considered covering those patched areas with decals? Use them as decoration. I'm a believer of making things obvious if you can't do a really, really good job to fix the imperfection.

YMMV

Just braved the endless rain to refresh my memory about where the patches are, and I don't think it's a good place for decals. It's just under the back window, and just above the original "Boler" decal. Still hoping to find a paint color that is approximate???

[Raya]

Peggy,

If you are looking for a paint color: Have you tried getting paint sample "chips" from the store and matching them up to your Boler (match them up to an original/shiny spot, like under a decal, behind the spare, etc.). You don't necessarily want to use generic house paint, but once you have a color chip you can go from there.

Marine paints don't come in a zillion colors (well, two-parts such as Awlgrip do, but you probably are not going to use that yourself for touch ups), so if your chip is not close enough to one that you find, you may have to mix or have one tinted yourself.

The reason to use the color from under a sticker, regulator, or etc. is that you probably don't want to match the "chalky" oxidized color, as that is not the real color.

Given the age and the varying manufacturing plants, I don't think I would go for another person's color, even if they had a specific recommendation for you.

Raya

[Nancy A.]

I had really good results on a fiberglass Toyota motorhome by painting it with an epoxy paint - Rustoleum Tub n Tile - in the biscuit color which is very close to the off-white of my present Bigfoot.

This paint can be applied with a brush since it is self-leveling and doesn't leave brush marks. It dries to a nice hard shiny finish like new fiberglass gelcoat and is chip proof.

I am planning on using it to touch-up my Bigfoot after making some minor gel-coat repairs.

At the same time I painted the window frames with Rustoleum hammered finish paint and the result looked just like a new anodized-type finish.

[Peggy]

My goodness, why didn't I think of that! I'll take my handy Benjamin Moore rainbow book of colors out, again when it stops raining! Thanks!

[Roy in TO]

Other spots for colour matching are the recessed lip for the door (better if you have trimlock) or behind the tire. Both typically have much less oxidation.

[Peggy]

Now, aren't I trying to match the color that the rest of the Boler is NOW, if I am just doing touch-ups? If I scrub away at the oxidation, as per all these wonderful tips, will it all return to the original color, or stay this slightly faded version? Sounds like bleaching your teeth to match a crown, but they will never likely be that color again! Thanks for all the tips!

[Raya]

Well that's your choice. But if you match the oxidized color and then you ever buff or sand it back to the "real" color, you'll have light colored patches that don't match.

But if you plan to keep the trailer in the oxidized condition, then you might want to match that. Then I suppose you would want to use "flat" paint also, to better match the texture.

When you scuff the area to be painted, it will probably come back to the original color... but then if you are painting over with flat, "oxidized" color, I guess it will all match up in the end. I've never done that because I've always buffed/compounded/sanded to remove the oxidation.

Raya

[Peggy]

Okay, I didn't realize there was ANY hope of getting back to the original color! But if removing the oxidization will do that, then that's what I'll try. I figured it was 30 years of fading in the sun, and that's the color I was stuck with, no matter how hard I scrubbed! Thanks!

[Raya]

Well, as I think I mentioned in my first post (or somewhere previously in the thread), there is no guarantee. The gelcoat may be too thin (if the previous owner has already compounded it, or if it just is too thin), or there may be another issue. It's hard to say for sure from here (although photos would help somewhat).

But oftentimes, you can "bring it back." I have done that on some very oxidized boats. I think that you just have to test an area on your individual camper, plus take in the camper as a whole, to see if you are able to (and want to) go that way.

Raya

PS: You may just have used the word "scrubbed" casually, but to remove oxidation will take more than cleaning, typically. Usually you need to compound or wet sand (or similar) to remove the oxidation. That's why you want to test to see if you have a thick enough gelcoat "skin" to be able to remove some. What you are actually doing then IS removing the top (damaged) "layer" of gelcoat.

[Nancy F]

Originally Posted by Peggy

I know I am not alone in the Boler community in being ambivalent about how much to keep everything original. We love the things! But I would like to paint the outside of our B1700. I just can't see my husband and I wanting to wash and wax as much as it seems will be necessary to keep it healthy and looking good. It's so oxidized, if that is the right lingo. So, has anyone found a paint that is very close to the original color, in Krylon, or Endura, or anything else? And those orange stripes! What to do with those, in need of lots of repair, or replacement? Thanks!

I know this is an old post but you can take your boler to an autobody shop that has a paint camera and they can match it, they will also show you what compound is, they use it all the time. Also they may need to do this on a small section to get back to the natural colour.
What did you end up doing?