Buff, Delamination Repair, Decal Replacement, Clear Coat

2bzy2c wrote:

rgatijnet1 wrote:

I would never use a floor polish on any fiberglass or painted coach that will look good after a good buffing.

It is not a floor polish. It is an acrylic coating.

Tell that to ZEP. They don't appear to use the term acrylic, however they do call their product a polish. ZEP commercial website

Ingredients

Key Ingredients: DIPROPYLENE GLYCOL METHYL ETHER; dipropylene glycol monomethyl ether 2-(2-ETHOXYETHOXY)-ETHANOL; diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, ethoxydiglycol

rgatijnet1 wrote:

I would never use a floor polish on any fiberglass or painted coach that will look good after a good buffing.

It is not a floor polish. It is an acrylic coating.

I agree on having the decals replaced with paint. Check with some local body shop and get an estimate. I would guess that since the existing decals have already been removed, painting the stripes on your coach will be about the same price, and, depending on the number of different colors, may actually be cheaper than decals. Obviously the more colors, the more masking and labor involved.
If your coach is gel fiberglass, I would not put a clear coat on the entire coach. Depending on the stripe color, you MAY want to put a clear coat on a painted stripe, but it is not necessary if the paint already has UV protection.
I would never use a floor polish on any fiberglass or painted coach that will look good after a good buffing.

I'd have a marine shop do it, not a RV shop. Marine shops do it all the time and seem to not have a big employee turn over like RV shops do. And if you are near Santa Monica, you should have a good selection of marine shops who do that stuff.

Jackie Treehorn wrote:
The 2001 Winne Brave we just bought already had the decals removed. We're talking with some decal shops in Southern Cal right now about replacements. The coach has one small delamination spot right under driver side window, maybe 4 inches round.

Is this the right plan of attack?

Have delamination repair done by an RV shop
Buff the existing fiberglass
Buff/rubbing compound lower panels that are in pretty good shape already
Take RV to decal shop to match the lower panel color for new decals
Have new decals applied
cover all with clear coat

Frankly, most RV repair shops cannot do this work correctly. Find a good auto repair shop that has experience working on fiberglass, or a good marine repair shop.

If the decals have been already removed, (the hard part) why put decals back on? Have them painted, then they won't fail like all the others.

Regarding the delam, that is only the symptom. Don't have it repaired until you find the cause, generally a water leak.

Why go to the expense of clear coating the entire RV. Use some of the products already in use, such as Red Max pro, or Zeps floor finish. Search this site for Red Max and you will find some interesting results. A full day of labor and your coach will shine like you would not believe. The cost? excluding your labor, less the $40.00