Has anyone painted their camper? I have a 25 year old camper that has not been maintained by the previous owner. Needs paint. It is off-white color, and the aluminum skin is showing through as pinholes in places, so I am not sure how much I can sand it before I am on bare metal.If you have painted aluminum sides I would be interested to hear from you, but not looking for opinions or obvious observations so much.I have a paint gun and plan to pain it myself soon.

I have painted aluminum house trailers many times. I always acid wash the siding with vinegar to remove oxidation then rinse well and paint very soon. I have had good luck with Sears Weatherbeater and Behr exterior paint. The have held up for more than 10 years.The units are stationary though

You can do it yourself. Remember, the RV manufacturer did it when it was built, so nothing saying you can't do it yourself. The key is surface prep. As mentioned, an acid wash may be a good idea, but also you need to pound it with a pressure washer and try to remove any loose paint. No matter how good of a paint job you do, if you're applying over loose paint, it will fail pretty quickly.

I have never heard of using vinegar. You just use a rag and dip into the vinegar?On concern is that paint does not stick to aluminum very well, and the exposed dots of aluminum would be a problem. If I sand I am afraid all the paint will be gone, just cleaning with a scouring pad removes too much.I was planning on using automotive paint with a spray gun, not house paint. I have another camper that the guy used some kind of house paint on and it looks bad.

I believe that if I could remove existing paint with a scouring pad, I would. Seems like the paint would be flaking off soon anyway. I will admit that I know nothing about painting aluminum though. Are you going to shoot a primer first?

Sand gently, clean well, prime and spray with automotive paint.

Painting aluminum exterior | Good Sam Community

tnscoutr
Explorer
Oct 06, 2016
I believe that if I could remove existing paint with a scouring pad, I would. Seems like the paint would be flaking off soon anyway. I will admit that I know nothing about painting aluminum though. Are you going to shoot a primer first?
marininn
Explorer
Oct 06, 2016
I have never heard of using vinegar. You just use a rag and dip into the vinegar?
On concern is that paint does not stick to aluminum very well, and the exposed dots of aluminum would be a problem. If I sand I am afraid all the paint will be gone, just cleaning with a scouring pad removes too much.
I was planning on using automotive paint with a spray gun, not house paint. I have another camper that the guy used some kind of house paint on and it looks bad.
WTP-GC
Explorer
Oct 06, 2016
You can do it yourself. Remember, the RV manufacturer did it when it was built, so nothing saying you can't do it yourself. The key is surface prep. As mentioned, an acid wash may be a good idea, but also you need to pound it with a pressure washer and try to remove any loose paint. No matter how good of a paint job you do, if you're applying over loose paint, it will fail pretty quickly.
darsben1
Explorer
Oct 06, 2016
I have painted aluminum house trailers many times. I always acid wash the siding with vinegar to remove oxidation then rinse well and paint very soon. I have had good luck with Sears Weatherbeater and Behr exterior paint. The have held up for more than 10 years.
The units are stationary though

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Painting aluminum exterior

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