Propane tank cover

[DutchmenSport]

My Outback is now 5 years old and this year I've dedicated myself to some detailed maintenance. One thing on my camper that's been bugging me, almost since the first day I owned it, is the bla looking propane tank cover.

Actually, when it was new (2013) it still had a shine to it. It was a rat fur grey color that did have some shine to it, and blended in OK with the front cap of the camper.

Here's a photo from Fall 2013, showing the original color:



Within 2 years the cover was faded and lost all of its color.

Here's a photo about 2 years later. We just had the front cap repainted, and this made the tanks cover look even worse.



I tried just about everything I could to help restore the original color. I finally used some of that "As Seen On TV" restorer for fogged headlights on cars, which worked pretty nice. But was a lot of work. The luster returned, and actually lasted a couple more years.

This Spring, 2018, I decided it was time to do some touch up paint on a lot of the black frame and metal work. I repainted the tongue the entry steps, the bumper and surrounding areas, and the main frame, which was exposed from under the colorplast.

Here again, this really made the tanks cover look even more horrible. By now, the color was faded beyond a dirty rat color grey. It was fading patchwork colors, and looked horrible.

So on a whim, I thought ... "Why not?" I'm using black Professional fast drying Rust-o-lium on all the other metal parts, why not just give the cover a shot and see what happens. I figure I had nothing to looses, and I'm now considering just buying a new cover.

Well, I spray painted it with the Rust-o-lium (black) and it actually looked pretty good. I put the cover back on, and now a month later, (just yesterday) I gave it a second coat. The first coat held fantastic. I'm greatly impressed. So, yesterday I gave it a fresh coat to cover the thin spots I missed. Wow! What a beauty now!





The tank jcover matches the black on the tongue now, and actually looks better than that original rat grey color. It's shiny again. But I did notice between the first layer and paint and yesterday, it really does show dirt more now. But I'll give that a trade off.

Looking at my last photos (I took today), I think my next touch up will be that electric tongue jack now. Compared to all the new paint, it looks really drab now too!

Moral of the story? If your old tank cover is not broken or cracked, still in good condition, just loosing it luster and fading color with age and sun exposure, to make it look beautiful again... spray paint it the color of your choice! Rust-o-lium holds to the vinyl (plastic) cover pretty good!

I've got more trim to go, and more to get under the trailer, like main propane line that all rusted up, and some other small things under there. But meanwhile, my camper is (almost) looking new again!

Fading cover???? Zap it with some spray paint! Why not? You've got nothing to loose except the "ugly".

[SoundGuy]

bartlettj wrote:
You can buy them in black.

Sure you can but that's not the point as over time, whether white, black, tan, or whatever these plastic propane tank covers will fade noticeably from exposure to the sun. Repainting them is easy and a lot less costly than buying a new one.

[bartlettj]

You can buy them in black. That's what I did since my cover had blown away and it was covered in grease that had leaked out of my tongue jack

[SoundGuy]

SoundGuy wrote:
... but everything on the tongue looks like new.

DutchmenSport wrote:
Nice! I like that cover. Thanks!

Here in Canada we have a "toy store" called Princess Auto with all sorts of great stuff and it was there I bought this generator cover. Other than fading from the sun it's held up really well and although I thought about replacing it because it's pretty faded who really cares what it looks like as long as it does the job! :B

[DutchmenSport]

SoundGuy wrote:
... but everything on the tongue looks like new.

Nice! I like that cover. Thanks!

[SoundGuy]

SoundGuy wrote:
I did the same last year...

DutchmenSport wrote:
SoundGuy, how has the paint held up after a year now?

Is your photo recent, or just right after you painted.

Pic was taken last year but when I put the cover back on this spring it looked the same, other than a couple of wear marks ... I'll give it another shot of spray one of these days but it still looks just fine otherwise. :B My bigger issue has been how the plastic battery boxes also fade but I solved that by keeping the entire tongue covered when the trailer is parked ... cover has faded badly but everything on the tongue looks like new.

[DutchmenSport]

SoundGuy wrote:
I did the same last year...

SoundGuy, how has the paint held up after a year now?

Is your photo recent, or just right after you painted.

It looks nice too.

Thanks!

[myredracer]

Looks great!

If it's HDPE plastic, which I *think* these things are, you may find the paint not lasting very long. Nothing much sticks to HDPE and for painting it, I believe you need a chlorinated polyolefin primer which isn't in your typical rattle can paint. If it does stand up, please post a year or two or three down the road because if it does work, I'll do the same with ours.

I've been using 303 protectant on our black cover. Makes it look snappy again, but it's backed to being faded in short order. 😞

Fading stuff on RV exteriors seems to just be part of owning an RV... Sad!

[harley4275]

I did mine also and used " krylon " spray paint made for plastic. Jack still looks new as I keep an inverted small garbage can over it.

[SoundGuy]

I did the same last year and although my cover now has a couple of scrapes a quick spray will get it back to looking brand new once again. BTW, I really like Rust-Oleum Professional spray paint, makes the trailer look like new again also and it dries to touch in no time at all. :B

[Lwiddis]

I just can't wait to try this idea. Never thought of it.

[bob213]

Looks great! I agree, the jack would make it look new. Nice job.

[Lwiddis]

That looks great! Thanks for the idea re propane tank cover.