Wallpaper removed. Now im in trouble

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JessBerry

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My husband and I purchased a 1990 Fleetwood Yukon Wilderness 18' travel trailer with money we received from wedding gifts. We decided that removing the wallpaper and painting the raw plywood surface would be better than painting over the existing wallpaper and risking it peeling or warping. BIG MISTAKE. Other than damaging parts of the walls we stumbled across some previous water damage that needs to be repaired. We consulted a neighbor who specializes in contracting and he asked what our plan for the walls was. When he told us the plywood "wasn't a paintable surface" my heart sank. So I took my concerns to google searching without much luck and the added concern that I may have just removed the only moisture barrier those thin low grade old plywood walls had. I could follow instructions on how to paint plywood that the internet gives but that involves sanding, priming, re-sanding, re-priming, sanding again, painting, re-sanding, two more paint layers, and then id need to find a sealant of some sort to protect against water IF the old plywood could even stand up to the sanding to begin with!
Please help, my only other option is to gut the whole trailer and redo ALL THE WALLS
 
1. we bought from family and KNEW the history and of the water damage. The floor had previously been replaced but until we removed the wallpaper the extent of the damage had been unknown and the rest of the trailer including the roof has been very well maintained.
2. We are hunters. We travel frequently. We aren't inexperienced with dealing with travel trailers. Just have never owned one ourselves.
We made a bad call removing the wallpaper. Im asking for help in finding a solution. Thank you. 
 
We ran into the same problem.  The trailer we bought had already had the walls redone and it was just painted luan with a ton of holes from where the previous owner had removed things they had hung on the wall.  After looking at many you tube videos.  We decided to just add another layer of luan then cover with wallpaper liner paper and paint.  We are not up to that step in our reno yet so not sure if it is going to work but I feel it will. I plan to stagger the seams of the wallpaper and luan so it helps in cover up the seams in the luan.
 
It sounds like your best option would be to cover right over the old surface with a new layer of wall panel. Either get one that is pre finished or bare surface and paint it. They make panel pretty thin these days, so finding something to cover it should not be too difficult.  As long as the surface you are covering is not too damaged, I would use a quality adhesive and maybe some screws to attach to the old panel.
 
SeilerBird was trying to prepare you for what you may be up against.  It may be better to cut bait now then expend more money and time only to have to ultimately do it anyway.

That said:

I'm surprised you even got the stuff off.  It's bonded pretty tightly to the luan.
I presume the plywood you refer to is luan, or is it something else?

Personally I would try to apply a new wall covering, self adhesive or similar.  Test spot one area and see if the results are acceptable. 

Another option, and more work but worth considering if you want a nice finish, would be to gut the camper and replace the walls with paneling.  Being careful to watch the added weight.  Gutting just the innards isn't as much work as it seems.  Once you get into a rhythm you can do it in about a day or less with some help.  It will be a lot easier to replace the walls.

Do prepare yourself for unexpected water damage, and reseal the roof whether you thinks it's leaking or not.
 
They make a textured wall paper in many different designs.  It is thicker than regular paper and would cover/hide any wall imperfections, nail  holes, ect. I think it comes in vinyl or vinyl coated for easy cleaning, and some of it is paintable.  Seems like a good option for you situation.
 
Thank you very much for all these suggestions. Ill talk it over with my husband and we will see which one will work best for the trailer. the water damage is very minimal. Maybe 2 sections/panels need to be replaced and the leak has long since been fixed. My main concern was how to paint the bare surface in a way that looks and feels good and to find a way to water seal it. We are also going to recalk and re-weather strip all the windows, reseal the roof, and check all the weather stripping throughout. For a 1990 the trailer is in impeccable condition. Water damage isn't an anomaly for travel trailers. its a common plague. Just need to stay on top of it.
 
I also replaced roof seam caulking with eternabond tape. Been good for going on 4 years, no maintenance.  One and done.
 
it would be nice to see pictures of what you have as im not understanding how the plywood cant be a paintable surface.
 
That wasn't traditional wallpaper - it is a factory made wall panel with the decor surface bonded to luan backer.  I see no reason it would not be paintable, though, unless you damaged it badly in getting the covering off.  Fill any gouges, sand as needed, prime it well, and paint to suit your taste.  Luan smooths out pretty well.  It's maybe not the finish that can be made with plaster-board in a site built home, but with a bit of effort it can be fine.

If you need to replace a section, luan plywood is available at most home centers, e.g. Lowes and Depot.
 
We've had success with the Elmer's glue wallpaper technique:

https://www.google.com/search?biw=1112&bih=671&tbm=vid&ei=Rfc8W8DJDuLgjwTnybWAAQ&q=elmer%27s+glue+and+brown+bag+wallpaper&oq=elmer%27s+glue+and+brown+bag+wallpaper&gs_l=psy-ab.3...18040.22317.0.22523.23.21.0.2.2.0.157.1930.15j5.20.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..1.16.1389...0j0i20i264k1j33i160k1j33i21k1.0.4lhm4ga7vLI

You can see an example in the mural we put on the door using an old atlas on our build thread:
http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php/topic,113837.0.html

From other people's testimonials this technique is very durable. We coated the wallpaper with three coats of polyurethane that should be more than enough to make it suitable to RV life.

 
The first trailer my wife and I bought was so old there wasn't even a mfg name on it.
We gutted it and redid the entire inside in luan. Stained and varnished it and it turned out great.
Fast Forward to 4:20 to see the results:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbW8CK-oRH4
 
I've painted plywood before and it turned out fine. However, I used a good coat of primer first and used a lightly textured paint. Just a thought
 
we had some of the paper that is over the 1/8" luan let loose/wrinkle, we peeled it back to good paper and, I noticed it felt like is some kind of contact adhesive. I told my wife I was concerned that the paint wouldn't adhere, well it did and with a couple of coats you can't hardly tell where the paper that came off ends. As said above you can fill any imperfections in with drywall mud or a wood filler, I used famowood filler.
 
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