Painting travel trailer white to reduce heat in summer?

The larger question is: Why would you want to leave the best summer weather in the nation and head to Arizona for some of the worst? 68 degrees forecast for today after a cleansing rain last night. We, in the northwest, definitely pay the rest of the year for our beautiful summers; gotta stick around and enjoy them.

White would be the best, just not good enough in a trailer.

IMO the amount and size of windows in the sun will play a larger role than color unless you're going from black to white. But windows will still effect the inside temp a lot.

Another solution....it's a travel trailer. Point it in a different direction than the most miserable weather to camp in, in the northern hemisphere, in the summertime.

But for the love of.....your trailer, don't break out the Sherman Willums and a paint brush.

I just read an article that tested interior temperatures of cars painted black or white. After time the difference was only 4 degrees. Car insulation is about the sane as RV’s.

Microlite Mike wrote:
If one really wants to reduce heat on the roof one could spread non-synthetic fabric tarp on the roof and have a sprinkler/misting system that keeps it moist.The evaporation will reduce the temp greatly.

I toyed around with mounting an automated lawn sprinkler system on top of my motorhome - and programming the timer to spray water every 15 minutes or so during the hottest hours of the day.

The main drawback is that the water in most areas is hard enough to quickly leave mineral deposits, rust stains and other ugly stuff after it dries.

If you fed it from a reverse osmosis filter - or had access to a lot of distilled water - it could work.

White, as compared to other colors, will reflect heat but not as much as many think. Many white surfaces are not "glossy" and reflective so heat is still absorbed. It's generally considered that a white surface with an "80 gloss" (reflects 80% of the light that hits the surface) is best for heat reduction.

If one really wants to reduce heat on the roof one could spread non-synthetic fabric tarp on the roof and have a sprinkler/misting system that keeps it moist. The evaporation will reduce the temp greatly.

Here's how some keep the roof of their vehicles cool in hot climates:

Found what trailer OP has and quite likely the colors that it is, and read a few other recent posts he's made.
This is the worst idea I've heard in a while, unless your goal is to ruin the camper further than ripping stuff off the wall...

It will help some but ACs are the only solution. Phoenix area is 81 degrees now at 6:15AM and it's been 108 in the PM lately.

You'll pay for electricity one way or another. Mid May in Sedona it was warm and cost $9/day for our rig. 52 kWh @ $0.17/kWh

My 1st 5th wheel rv trailer was a 26' new 1984 Aljo by Skyline which had the typical mill finish aluminum roof. Man was it ever hot.
I used 2 coats KoolSeal white Elastomeric roof coating. It made the trailer much cooler when we had to camp in direct sun and 110 degree heat here in OK.

But being a camper with 2" thick walls and probably R7 insulating value all around it was still hot.

That was years ago and not being youngsters we don't camp in that kind of heat anymore.

Ok, gotta ask, since you lobbed over a very vague question, albeit directed at the benefit of being white (hope that doesn't come off as racist, lol), and not necessarily the process it would take to get it white.

What is the camper, what color is it now, what is the siding made of and what type of paint/how do you plan on "re-painting" it?

Asking because, 99% of campers, especially older than say the last 5-10 years ARE white in color. (obviously yours isn't)
Most campers that aren't white, aren't a very dark color. Typical shades are beige or grey.
Most darker colors on campers are not paint but rather decals.
Lets talk paint. You talkin a paint brush, roller and some Rust oleum? Or a good single stage or 2 stage urethane auto paint? And what is your level of experience painting vehicles? This is the main reason that your thought sounds like the effort will not be worth the gain.
I'm middle aged and with experience in autobody and painting and quick thoughts, IF I had the time to work full time on something like this, would be "about" 2 weeks worth of full time work. And probably $1000 min in paint materials assuming you have all the tools, gun, big compressor AND an indoor place to paint it, or at least out of the sun. (outdoor paint jobs in the summer are another whole discussion)
Back to materials, that $1000 is bargain priced paints. Double that if going for long lasting quality (you are in fact planning on exposing the camper to the worst possible conditions for paint for extended periods of time....or why would you go through all this effort for 1 or 2 months trip)


In short, need to hear your thoughts on what and how you would accomplish this, to decide whether it's simply not feasible or super ridiculous to attempt.



And to the original question, I've lived in AZ in the summer, and not sure if the color lowered the temp from say 140deg to 125 deg, it would make a discernable difference. Being in the shade would, as would, not trying to air condition a canned ham in a convection oven.