Painting Fiberglass

[Larry Rogers]

I started out painting with the roof of my Travco. Travcos are a two piece fiberglass body.  The seam down the middle is a major source of leaks.  Unless you have hundreds of hours to spend don't attempt what I did to my Travco. I am a sick puppy and always get a bit OCD when I do a project.

I ground off all the gel-coat until I was down to the fiberglass. I then ground out the seam and used fiberglass tape to fill in the seam. The next step was to spread Dura-glass, which is harder then Bondo, in a 2' by 2' section cheese grating it and sanding to make it level. Once the whole roof was covered I started doing the same thing with Bondo.  I starded long boarding with 36 grit, 80 grit, 120 grit then finally with 220.  Next step was epoxy sealler then sanding primer.  I wet sanded with 400 grit, epoxy primed again and it was ready for paint. 

I used  PPG DBC base coat then 2 to 1 Upol clear.

I did not sand and buff the roof that would even be beyond my OCD issues.

 

[jody kaplan]

It came out great . Love the coor scheme and what you did with the pesky center seam . Best wishes in the New Year . Jody K , 72 270

[Larry Rogers]

Jody,

 

Thank you and have a great New Year also.

 

Larry

[Pat Daly]

this is my favorite how to paint photo. properly done...!!

[Pat Daly]

devil's in the details. love the prep work. bet the finished paint will be great.

[Pat Daly]

Wow! what a great fiberglass paint job!  Looks better than new...

[Eric Fabel]

Your rig is beautiful. And almost exactly what I envisioned, when I first saw an old Travco. Gorgeous.

 

[William Hannah]

Looks like ya did a really great job.

[john nancy]

Very nice work great result

I enjoy the style of the travco

My wife and I have been restoring a 1970 Cabana "Fun living machine"

and are about to finish ,I have a question for you

What would do if the seams were overlapped as ours are?

I'm thinking grind out the high side and fair in ,but the plastic is thick like 1/4" in places ,the original leaked of course with screws and aluminum trim into wood. We have added aluminum nailers embedded in the wood and glued and screwed.

We are  going to use rivets instead of screws for the exterior.

We have a plan but the more I look at it the plan may involve some lumps on the outside

with overlapping and fairing

thanks

[Larry Rogers]

Do you want to send me some photos and I can maybe give you some ideas

 

Larry

[john nancy]

Larry,

Some poor picture examples of the Cabana we mothballed ,I just smeared some silicone on the joints for temporary weatherproofing,perhaps you can see the end caps overlap the sides and roof panels ,pretty typical wobbly construct.

The factory then used some aluminum L metal and screws into the wood framing, can't really take any material away from the sides or top ,so I guess fair the end caps?

thanks in advance

John 

[Larry Rogers]

Hard to tell what is going on in the pictures could you send me some photos back a ways so I can get the total picture?

 

Larry

[john nancy]

sure thing