to wax or how to wax...that is the ?

[scottydl]

Are you sure the bins have gel coat, not painted?

Well... no.  :-\  I guess I'm not all that clear on the difference.  Are gel-coated surfaces commonly painted over?  Or has it got to be one process or the other on fiberglass (either gel-coated or painted, but not both)?

 

[Tom]

With gel coat, the color is in the material, whereas paint will have been applied on top. Looking at the color immediately above the bins, it appears that it's is painted and I suspect that will be true for the doors. Can you feel the edge of the color? If so, it's paint. The stripes may be paint or decals, but I can't tell from the photo.

 

[scottydl]

Stripes are definitely decals, with chipping/peeling in many places although it doesn't look too bad for its age.  I've thought about removing the middle multi-colored "stripe" decal to clean up the look of the coach, but I'm thinking that would probably require more elbow grease than I really want to put forth.    I'll have to check the compartment door edges more carefully and see if I can determine for sure if it's painted or not.

 

[dsolberg]

Your Residency has a painted lower skirt and the color difference could be from a door getting a repaint due to a flaw at the factory or repair later at a dealership.  Or it could be the painter ran out of the quart paint, refilled and had a little different "mix".  In '94, most of the industry used Filon sidewall material and as Tom stated, the outer skin was a thin gelcoat film.  The problem was...it had very little UV protection built in, therefore you would see one color sidewall material, another color front bumper because that was made of plastic, and another color door because that was aluminum skin.  In approximately '97+ they started going with thicker gelcoat to get rid of the fiberglass "hairs" that were noticeable and have a smoother "automotive" look to the sidewall.  In turn, they also added a UV protectant to reduce fading and chaulking.  Today's motorhome requires no wax at all other than to make it shinny and easier to clean.  PLUS...it does help add a little protection to lower skirts for rock chips.

Right around the same time, decal manufacturer's started putting a UV coating on the outside of the tapes to reduce fading, cracking and peeling and recommend NO WAX!!! as it suffocates or capsulates the tape and will actually crack or peel faster.  By waxing your '94 you may cause it to fade faster by providing a magnifying glass effect if the wax does not have a UV protection, and most don't.  Also, you should never wax over the decals.  Check out ProtectAll for UV inhibitors and products that are recommended by the tape companies as well as fiberglass.

 

[Ron]

Some folks have reported success removing decals using a hair dryer to help remove them.

 

[scottydl]

Your Residency has a painted lower skirt and the color difference could be from a door getting a repaint due to a flaw at the factory or repair later at a dealership.

Do you know that personally about Residency model, or was everything of that era finished in the same way?  Up close the color difference really appears more like oxidation (kinda swirly and cloudy looking, rather than an evenly different color) over mismatched paint.  But I guess I won't know until I try to clean it up.

Some folks have reported success removing decals using a hair dryer to help remove them.

I found another thread awhile back about using some sort of attachment on a high-speed drill to "rub" the decals off.  But I'm a little afraid of the "ghosting" effect (those faint but visible lines where the decals used to be) on the finish if some of the stripes were removed.

Edit: Here's the thread I was thinking of, that mentions a few different methods of stripe removal.  As of now I'm just not quite brave enough to try them, and I have plenty more higher-priority RV projects on my list. 

 

[Ron]

The older the rig the more likely there will be evidence where the removed decales were due to paint fad or other weathering.

 

[pghcmper]

if your camper is white, do not bother to wax it, just wash it after every trip...if its dark, wax it with a good canuba wax, you won't see as may blemishes.

 

[dsolberg]

I worked at Winnebago in '94 and we did several regional training seminars where we brought a Residency in and put it head to head with the Winnebago product.  I don't know of any MH manufacturer that would try to color match all the lower components such as doors, fiberglass skin, plastic, bumpers etc.  From what I've seen, they all tape them up and "shoot" the lower valances.  Decals will come off easily using a heat gun that you can find at any home repair store used to scrap paint.  Hair dryers generally won't get hot enough and have a shutdown mode when used too long. 

 

[scottydl]

I worked at Winnebago in '94 and we did several regional training seminars where we brought a Residency in and put it head to head with the Winnebago product.

Hey, that's interesting... apparently the Residency was considered a comparable model to what Winnebago was offering then? 

You make decal removal sound so easy... I may still try it someday and will have to fashion up a Photoshop image of what it would look like with some of the stripes removed as I'm thinking (EDIT: I did this, see this thread for future decal talk so this doesn't get TOO off topic).  Some lettering decals have already been removed by a previous owner, and it was pretty well done although there is some slight "ghosting" where the decals used to be.  It's really only visible if you look down the side of the coach at *just* the right angle, and that's only because I know where the lettering is supposed to be from seeing so many other Residency photos online.

 

[dsolberg]

A little "ghosting" would be expected as the fiberglass under the tape would not have been exposed to the sun and UV degredation?  Some of that may be adhesive as well?  A parts store would have a thinner or adhesive remover that you could use, just be careful not to use it on paint!  Test a small area beforehand.