Yup, here's another chime.
1A--first, first, first: all repair work should be completely finished first! Should be baby-bottom smooth and primed over
fiberglass or bondo hair or whatever filler you've used. THEN primer the whole thing (two coats or more over repairs).
1. It must be enamel paint.
2. It must not be house paint.
3. It must be put over a clean, carefully sanded, and wiped back surface. No fingerprints or oil anywhere. You can use acetone to wipe it before
painting. Let the acetone dry completely.
4. It must be a color you will enjoy for a long time--this isn't a throw-away task, this
painting of your egg!
5. Your finish paint must go on over proper primer. I, personally, suggest either marine, auto, or "Kilz" type primers (enamel). You get to choose. Will they all work? Yes.
6. You can find good paint nearby--or order it. You could order some RUBBER paint like Durabak, comes in many great colors, and rocks will literally bounce off. It comes in smooth or textured (for better walking on wet decks). There are some drawbacks to Durabak--short application window, for one thing.
WE used Rustoleum Marine Enamel and primer--it came out great.
7. You don't have to "tip" (that is cross-brush with a semi-dry brush--the purpose of "tipping" is to make sure all fine bubbles are popped and don't dry as bubbles in the finished job. If you use a hot dog foam roller (covered tip) and roll for all you're worth, like Paul, you, too, can get all the bubbles popped anyway. Paul simply couldn't get decent results with a brush--kept leaving brush marks no matter how he tried. He admits it's his own technique that may have been at fault, but he got a GOOD job with just the roller and the willingness to roll and roll until it began to self-level, which it did.
8. You can pay more for better paint...or less. You can find decent paint locally, or further away. These are all your choices. People have had good results with all kinds of paints--following the above guidelines.
9. Sand lightly between coats, once the paint is totally dry, and re-wipe, possibly with a tack-cloth type thing--cheesecloth or something clean and "catchy."
10. Use enough coats.
11. Don't skimp--roll each coat thinly and use as many coats as it takes to make the entire trailer look good--and the same all over. Most good paints will allow you to "lap" without having it look bad...and to patch repairs later if you need to without too much horror. Think touch-up paint for cars. You CAN see the repairs, but only very close-up if you do them carefully.
12. The product you use is your choice. That is, you'll have some choices and will take one of them. It's easy to make a mess with latex house paint. So don't. Spend the $100 or more bucks to do the job right, and it'll last you for years.
If you want high gloss, you can add "hardener" to some paints, you can use high gloss auto paint, you can wax with six coats of big-box store floor wax called ZEP or other waxes and lots and lots of coats... Or you can decide to enjoy the soft, fiberglassy sheen of a marine paint as is. That's where we ended up.
There are a million ways to do it wrong...and hundreds of ways to do it right. You makes your choices and you pays your money and you does the work...and voila--gotta look better than it did, right?
PS latex house paint and large daisy graphics do make it look very "hippie" or even beatnik!
BEST
Happy painting
Happy trails!
Kai
Past Tents
Shellie
Peanut
Semper ubi sub ubi. 
Painted Peanut -- enamel primer & paint
Linear Mode
