Paint

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shearhawk

Active member
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Posts
39
Has anybody had their RV painted?  It is a 91 Class A Coachmen with fiberglass and something else on the sides.  The paint and tape is faded.  I was told it could not be painted.  Sounds odd.  Any help on what the body material is and approximate cost for repainting would be appreciated.

Randy
 
Oh, it can be painted, should you be capable and really want to tackle the chore.  As for having it don't- Shucks you'd be better off buying another unit. The cost of having it done is cost prohibitive.  They cost of paint a car is up to over 5 K  if it's done right.  Some of the new MH run 10K to 25K and perhaps more, and those don't need scraping, peeling, extra sanding, and filling, along with extra preparation to the body before priming alone.  It's like restoring antique cars as I used to do, only more pronounced.  Good Luck on your project.
 
Wow, talk about a costly paint job.  What are the sides composed of?  I was told luan plywood?

Thanks,
Randy
 
Assuming your sidewalls appear to be fiberglass (as opposed to metal), they are likely to be a thin fiberglass skin over laun plywood.  The glass skin can be re-finished, even though it is thin and one must be careful about sanding.  The same applies to the gel coat finish on a fiberglass boat, though.  There`are Rv shops that specialize in re-painting and most boat repair shops can also handle it. But as Shayne says, it's quite expensive and a 91 Coachman is not likely to be worth it. 

On the other hand, there are hand-applied paints for fiberglass you could try - most any marine store will have them. It's a lot of work and hard to get a nice smooth finish, though. All the decent ones are atwo-part epoxy finish, but I have recently seen some "one part, no mixing" fiberglass finishes advertised. Don't know how well they work, but they are rated for direct application to fiberglass surfaces.

Here's a couple contenders...

http://store.nationalpaintsupply.net/meglgositofi1.html

http://store.nationalpaintsupply.net/blwapoto.html
 
The o/s  is what he was refering to. Where would the Luaun be?
 
Gary,

Are you sure the outside is fiberglass.  I know the hood and nose is fiberglass but the sides seem to be made of something else.  Even the paint looks different, more flat.  The doors are even a higher gloss, they are metal.

Thanks,
Randy
 
Are you sure the outside is fiberglass.

No, not at all. If its flat and smooth, it's probably either fiber glassed panels formed into a continuos sidewall or aluminum sheet. If you see signs of rivet heads, it's aluminum. The fiberglass panels don't look exactly like the gel coated, molded fiberglass of the front and rear cap, so you can't judge by that.

The luan plywood, if any, is almost surely underneath the outer skin. Luan is typically used as the substrate for the exterior skin.
 
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