What do You Recommend?

[John O'Connor]

Dealing with my first fiberglass - so I'll have questions all winter...LOL

1) Compact Jr. The Yellow was painted over. It's a good paint job but coming off in places.

2) What's the success of stripping the paint off to get back to the original?

3) What stripper recommended? Any chance of stripping it off with out sanding?

4) or just give in paint?

5) Interlux? is that the paint of choice?

Thank you!

John

[Gail S.]

Hi John,

Mine was painted several times before I got it. I sanded mine down - mostly out of fear of what would happen to the gel coat underneath if I used stripper. It was a lot of sanding with a palm sander.

I used the interlux Brightside (one part poly urathane) on the interior. It goes on like melamine, though be very careful and don't put it on too thick - it drips. I put at least two coats on all the interior surfaces and I still had a little left in the small can. However - If you are going white and the original colour is not - buy a primer!

I was going to use the 2 part poly urathane interlux on the outside - but I went with Endura. Endura is a tougher product, and International Plastics and Paint will tint it for you (Interlux only comes in base colours). The draw back with the 2 part system is that it needs to be sprayed on - and by some one who knows what they're doing as it can run. The paint probably ran $150-200 including a base coat (use miss-mixed paint close to your colour from any auto body shop - they sell it for cheap cuz it's hard to get rid of). I had a space to do it in and access to a good air supply system. I tracked down a painter and he painted it for me for money under the table. So I would say the cost of my paint job was under $600.

I have seen projects that people have used the one part on the outside that have looked very good. I guess it's all about what type of resources you have.

You can see shots of my paint job here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2112...mp;id=542625903

Good luck,
Gail

[Dave Baston]

Hi John,
Congratulations on your new fiberglass trailer. I found mine 6 years ago in the "Wheeler Dealer" in Williamston,MI. A 1978 Trillium 4500 Deluxe. My wife, son and I love it. I live in Howell, MI. Where do you live? I have bought, restored, and sold 3 other Trillium's and one 1976 13 foot Scamp over the last 2 years. I try to never paint these little gems. Yours is one I can not help you with directly. There are not a lot of owners in Michigan, so I thought I would welcome you. You never know , we might be at the same camp site one day! Do you camp at State or private campgrounds?

Dave
"The Trillium King"

[lloyd cicetti]

Hi John,
Congratulations on your new fiberglass trailer. I found mine 6 years ago in the "Wheeler Dealer" in Williamston,MI. A 1978 Trillium 4500 Deluxe. My wife, son and I love it. I live in Howell, MI. Where do you live? I have bought, restored, and sold 3 other Trillium's and one 1976 13 foot Scamp over the last 2 years. I try to never paint these little gems. Yours is one I can not help you with directly. There are not a lot of owners in Michigan, so I thought I would welcome you. You never know , we might be at the same camp site one day! Do you camp at State or private campgrounds?

Dave
"The Trillium King"

Dave, I didn't realize "The King" lived in the "state up north" as Woody Hayes would call it. I prefer to be an Ohioan lucky to be close to Michigan. Close enough to enjoy your beautiful lakes, beaches and woodlands. I pick up my new Trillium 1300 from Tom Young who is building one of his last prototypes before they are built by Escape in B.C. I pick it up Dec. 30 and drive it back from Willow Creek, CA. to Columbus, Ohio. I hope to meet other Trill owners sometime. We always head for Sleeping Bear Dunes each summer and either backpack on the Manitou Islands or tent camp at D.H. Day Campground (Nat. Park Service camping). Maybe we can arrange something this summer for Midwest Egg Owners (MEO)....See....I already have a name for our group!

Hope to run into you this summer.

Lloyd Cicetti

[Dave Baston]

Dave, I didn't realize "The King" lived in the "state up north" as Woody Hayes would call it. I prefer to be an Ohioan lucky to be close to Michigan. Close enough to enjoy your beautiful lakes, beaches and woodlands. I pick up my new Trillium 1300 from Tom Young who is building one of his last prototypes before they are built by Escape in B.C. I pick it up Dec. 30 and drive it back from Willow Creek, CA. to Columbus, Ohio. I hope to meet other Trill owners sometime. We always head for Sleeping Bear Dunes each summer and either backpack on the Manitou Islands or tent camp at D.H. Day Campground (Nat. Park Service camping). Maybe we can arrange something this summer for Midwest Egg Owners (MEO)....See....I already have a name for our group!

Hope to run into you this summer.

Lloyd Cicetti

Hi Lloyd!
Thanks for the reply. I have talked to Tom serveral times. They are doing an excellent job in the 2nd chapter of Trillium's Life. Are you getting the new jalousie windows? Sleeping Bear is nice. But you must try to get into "Ludington State Park" on your way up. This is considered the #1 State campground in Michigan. Where do you camp when you are at Sleeping Bear Dunes? The "Midwest Egg Owners" sounds good. I have a wife and a son who just turned 14. How about you? Have a safe drive out there. Does your Model have a sway-bar ball? It's an added peace and ease of driving. If it does, than you have to buy a sway-bar...about $125 to $150.

Dave
"The Trillium King"

[lloyd cicetti]

Hi Lloyd!
Thanks for the reply. I have talked to Tom serveral times. They are doing an excellent job in the 2nd chapter of Trillium's Life. Are you getting the new jalousie windows? Sleeping Bear is nice. But you must try to get into "Ludington State Park" on your way up. This is considered the #1 State campground in Michigan. Where do you camp when you are at Sleeping Bear Dunes? The "Midwest Egg Owners" sounds good. I have a wife and a son who just turned 14. How about you? Have a safe drive out there. Does your Model have a sway-bar ball? It's an added peace and ease of driving. If it does, than you have to buy a sway-bar...about $125 to $150.

Dave
"The Trillium King"

Dave, Wouldn't I be lucky enough to live within striking distance to "The King". You have a wealth of knowledge about Trilliums and since the basic design hasn't changed that much, I appreciate any help you can give me in avoiding problems like the one you mentioned concerning the sway-bar. I will need to ask Tom about that. He just started building it last week. I sent the deposit. We are so excited about this purchase. We shouldn't be thinking about an RV loan right now with all the private college loans we have for three boys in and out of college but what the heck, we owe it to ourselves to do this. We are passionate about the outdoors and we believe this little egg will be our basecamp for future hikes and general car camping. Can't wait to use it with the furnace this winter. We left the AC option out since it would never fit in the garage if we had one. I plan on rigging one up (using suggestions on this website) when we head for the Outer Banks of N.C. in the summer. That is the only time I think we would really need it. We would spend the rest of our time in Upper Michigan and out West. Both of us teach and have the time to head West in summer. Oh yes, we did pull into about 5 state parks along the coast on the way up this past summer. We did check the campground out at Ludington and it is really nice. At Sleeping Bear we always stay at D.H.Day (Michigan's first state park,,now Nat'l Lakeshore Park). It has pit toilets but now we will have a PORTA POTTI !!!!!!!!!! How exciting is that. We need to see the Upper Penninsula soon. By the way, we're 59, married 37 years, both teach at Columbus Academy and have 3 sons, 20, 23, and age 25.

I look forward to corresponding with you since you are really a neighbor when you consider so many folks on this site are far from Ohio. I'll make sure to mention the sway bar. If you think of anything else I should ask him let me know. He is giving us a good deal for purchasing early and we plan to show it off here in Ohio to help Tom with sales.

I will stay in touch.....where do you live in Michigan?

Lloyd

[Dave Baston]

Lloyd,
Thanks for the reply. The Trillium is 7' 4" tall. A standard garage door is 7' like mine. Is yours taller? You mentioned parking it inside for the winter. I too park mine in. I had to buy 2 1/2" aluminum adapters. and a set of 8" tires. This gives me about 1" to spare. I just waxed it and winterized it and put it in last night. Nice and cozy for the cold winter ahead.
Dave

[John O'Connor]

Thank you for the information - most helpful..