Painting a Travel trailer question
- Thread starter GARYJ
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Isaac-1
Well-known member
This is a real hard question to answer without knowing what type of material your trailer is made from.
SeilerBird
Well-known member
I am not a painter but I would think it would be harder to recaulk in the future if the caulk was painted. I am sure Gary will know the answer.
SeilerBird
Well-known member
I have seen many repainted RVs that look like crap. However if it was repainted and did not look like crap I doubt if I would know if it was repainted.donn said:
Gary RV_Wizard
Site Team
donn knows the preferred way - remove the caulk first. Especially where silicone was used (e.g. around window frames). Most pure silicones are not paintable, or will soon shed whatever paint manages to stick at first. Also remove or at least cut down any loose or stained caulk.
However, there may be seams where that isn't really practical, or at least not entirely so. An example might be a vertical seam covered with a trim piece, e.g. a typical corner seam. The preferred method is to remove the trim and then cut back the sealant so that nothing is exposed beyond where the trim will be. Paint the trim separately and re-install after applying new sealant as needed. If removing the trim isn't practical, just remove as much exposed caulk as you can and then touch up the caulk after re-painting.
Obviously this is labor intensive, which is probably why so many DIY owners simply paint over everything. It can still look pretty decent from several feet away. For the forst few years, anyway.
However, there may be seams where that isn't really practical, or at least not entirely so. An example might be a vertical seam covered with a trim piece, e.g. a typical corner seam. The preferred method is to remove the trim and then cut back the sealant so that nothing is exposed beyond where the trim will be. Paint the trim separately and re-install after applying new sealant as needed. If removing the trim isn't practical, just remove as much exposed caulk as you can and then touch up the caulk after re-painting.
Obviously this is labor intensive, which is probably why so many DIY owners simply paint over everything. It can still look pretty decent from several feet away. For the forst few years, anyway.
blw2
Well-known member
my "neighbor" at the storage lot painted his TT a couple years ago with a sprayer and some sort of expensive marine epoxy paint. I haven't looked in fine detail, but I'm pretty sure he cut the caulk back and re caulked....but didn't go so far as to remove all the trim. It's a sheetmetal sided rig. It looks good from a distance, and ok from 10-ish feet or so.... but it's not like he sanded the whole thing bare so you can tell it's a paint over....little chips and imperfections....but it's way better than it was.
I've been toying with the idea of getting a sprayer and trying to clearcoat my rig some day. I clear coated the faded front nose cone a while back with rattle cans and it even though i did a very bad rush job of it it still looks significantly better than it did and has held up maybe a year....I forget exactly when I did it.
I have one of those airless residential type sprayers but I'd guess I'd need either a pneumatic gun or an HVLP sprayer for a better job....but I'm thinking just doing a clearcoat might be a bit more forgiving. Still, if I ever get around to it I'll strip the caulk and clean the edges very thoroughly...
I've been toying with the idea of getting a sprayer and trying to clearcoat my rig some day. I clear coated the faded front nose cone a while back with rattle cans and it even though i did a very bad rush job of it it still looks significantly better than it did and has held up maybe a year....I forget exactly when I did it.
I have one of those airless residential type sprayers but I'd guess I'd need either a pneumatic gun or an HVLP sprayer for a better job....but I'm thinking just doing a clearcoat might be a bit more forgiving. Still, if I ever get around to it I'll strip the caulk and clean the edges very thoroughly...
