Which paint is best to use when re doing the outside of our motor home

[Louise Holland]

 

We are almost finished taking  off the stripes, decals etc from the 87 travelaire and will be painting some kind of design on it in the spring after we paint the cab etc.  Can some one suggest the best paint to use for doing this the body of the unit is fibreglass!  I have never done anything like this before and would hate to use the wrong paint.

 

 

There are fibreglass wheel covers, we took off to repair that will also be put back on the unit and I am re doing the inside covers on the seats, windows etc. 

 

BEFORE PIC

 

[Bruce]

Fiberglass? Could they have meant epoxy? I understand that there are some good epoxy paints available. What type of siding is on your RV? Fiberglass or metal can make a difference on which type of paints stick best.

[Louise Holland]

Its not metal Hub said it was fibreglass!

[Bruce]

Oy vey. Re-reading your initial post makes me want to retract my first reply. You are going to be repainting the cab; you are removing the decals and will be painting on a design on the outside on top of the white fiberglass. Correct? I am going to go with a standard answer for determining if the paint will work - try it on an inconspicuous spot. Unless the design is going to cover the entire side of the RV I honestly think you can get by with almost any paint - I am a fan of Rustoleum brand myself.
Bruce

[Louise Holland]

Thanks yes we are repainting the cab as well with auto paint and I would like to paint some kind of decal design etc on the actual body of the motor home, Nothing to fancy maybe even a stripe or swirl design!

[Louise Holland]

He prepared the cab and put a primer on it now to actually paint it and then do some more work on the unit and fix the wheel covers!

[Bruce]

Another good (better?) option for the design paint may be to use house paint. Probably cheaper and more variety of colors. Best of luck on the RV, should look good when you are done.

[Tony durfey]

Hi from Tony and Joy,
The most important part of any paint job is the prep work. Also be sure to get primer and paint that work well together. House paint. It is all latex based and will peel off in a fairly short time. Be sure to check what your painting over. Some paints require a sealer or they bubble whatever you put on top.

Depending on your experience level. Auto body supply stores, looks like you have been there for the primer. Go back there for the paint or take the can to the new place. A good store can computer match any color you want, for the cab. And that should work with the fiberglass body as well. You could as Bruce said check epoxy paints as well. Also marine paints are spendy but last. Gel-coat is also an option.(difficult to apply) And last but very important as well, read all you can get as to how to apply the paint. Temp humidity all affect thinner or reducer amounts. Also protect yourself. These types of paint are nasty to your health.

I have for custom paint made a line drawing of the rig( lots of copies) and then sat down with colored markers and played till I got what worked for all concerned.

Hope this helps or at least makes it more confusing(LOL), Fair winds, Tony and Joy

[Louise Holland]

thanks for all the help on this I had thought of the idea of doing the drawings on pics of the body of the MH with markers and I think that is what I will do over the Winter. We will use a good paint truck paint on the body that is now grey we took a sample of the clr of the cream to napa auto parts and got car paint. Will shop around for a good fibreglass paint marine type sounds like the best bet and go with that more than likely. Its a big job and I do not want to put on the wrong paint or make the design etc something that I will not be happy with down the road. Since the windows are brown and the body is cream I want to do something that will co ordinate with the brown and also be pleasing to the eye!

I have also attached a pic of the kind of look I am going for in the inside as well. Again Thanks for your help!

[Draglink]

Louise its looking great! I used an exterior oil base enamel, high gloss. The paint was intended for ext marine, industial, or home. I used blue tape to come up with my design. I found that a marker and even pecil was VERY hard to remove. The tape can be moved and manipulated as you need. Take pictures of your designs.

[Louise Holland]

Thanks I happened upon most of the fabric on big bolts at a garage sale got it all for 15.00 and the wall paper I got for 3.00 enough to re do the inside I am kind of leary about painting the inside so think a nice scrubbable will do or maybe just leave it the wood look

It is my winter project to re do the inside cushions etc looking forward to seeing how it all turns out

[Louise Holland]

Time to get the little bit of decal left on it off finish with the cab we will worry about the body of it in the spring

[Louise Holland]

Here is the Motor Home with most of the stripes gone and the primer coat on the cab