Paint checking - What years
We have decided that it is time to upgrade. A lot of the coaches that we are looking at are perfect other than the paint checking found on so many older coaches. My question - is there a specific ti...
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Sure......my comment was primarily regarding the clear coat along the roof, which was NOT a fiberglass issue on the Monaco coaches. Yes, paint is paint, but just like any paint job, it can have one coat of cleat, two coats, even up to ten. The coaches with deeper clear coats held up better.
When you buy a new Newmar, you get their standard paint job up to the Dutch Star line. Once you go above that line, you get what they call their Masterpiece paint job. They paint, sand, clear coat, sand and shoot more layers of clear. It's a much deeper and better quality paint job.
Take a look at older Country Coaches, especially the higher end models. They still look like new because they got a better paint job with a ton more clear.
When we bought our Diplomat years ago, we were told that it took 35 gallons of paint, probably around $35-$45 a gallon back then. You start adding more paint at that price, along with the additional labor, you can see why only the more expensive coaches get better paint jobs.
When it comes to checking, I agree that is a fiberglass issue. We have a local guy who says he can fix it. He actually found a large check on the front cap of Diplomat when I had the clear coat repaired. In the that one area he sanded down to the fiberglass and used a new epoxy base primer in just that small area. I sold the coach two years later and it was still holding up, but it sure wouldn't have been worth the extra cost to sand a coach with substantial checking down to bare fiberglass and use the expensive primer and repaint.
When you buy a new Newmar, you get their standard paint job up to the Dutch Star line. Once you go above that line, you get what they call their Masterpiece paint job. They paint, sand, clear coat, sand and shoot more layers of clear. It's a much deeper and better quality paint job.
Take a look at older Country Coaches, especially the higher end models. They still look like new because they got a better paint job with a ton more clear.
When we bought our Diplomat years ago, we were told that it took 35 gallons of paint, probably around $35-$45 a gallon back then. You start adding more paint at that price, along with the additional labor, you can see why only the more expensive coaches get better paint jobs.
When it comes to checking, I agree that is a fiberglass issue. We have a local guy who says he can fix it. He actually found a large check on the front cap of Diplomat when I had the clear coat repaired. In the that one area he sanded down to the fiberglass and used a new epoxy base primer in just that small area. I sold the coach two years later and it was still holding up, but it sure wouldn't have been worth the extra cost to sand a coach with substantial checking down to bare fiberglass and use the expensive primer and repaint.
