So after months of research about this "rolling and tipping" method of painting my Class A motorhome, I finally decided to tackle it.
It is a Phoenix Arizona RV, so over the years the sun has just absolutely killed it. It got yellowed, the decals all cracked, and not even a heatgun or 3M decal eraser wheel would remove it...only varnish stripper and razor blades not held like you're cutting under the decal, but the blade perpendicular to the surface and dragged back and forth to shave it off.. Varnish stripper can't sit too long or it'll eat into the fiberglass so it was an art. In other states I can see people peeling off their decals in one huge sheet....ya I wish.
There were a couple of products, Awlgrip, Interlux Perfection, and a couple others you can use for this method. They are 2 part polyurethanes so I chose that for durability and the "do it yourself" ease of use that they claim. They use it to paint boats and yachts so figure it durable.
I was worried that it would looked rolled on and just ...well..... "ghetto" especially since this was going to be outside and what about bugs, dirt, wind, etc? Oh My!
But as a total amateur, I figured screw it, it can't look any worse than it is. Also, I had 5 body shops quote me for about $10k to $12k. I asked "what if I do the sanding and masking?" They still said $7,000. The way Interlux works is that it is 425 square feet coverage per gallon for their primer and their paint. So figure 35 foot RV, 10 foot tall, plus front and back, blah blah...let's just say 900 square feet. Well, it has to be done in 2 coats of primer, and 2 coats of paint. So at 1,800 square feet worth of paint, You're painting the vehicle four times.....and sanding in between each coat. Ya, massive undertaking I know. I used 2 gallons of primer to do the 2 primer coats, and 2 gallons of color coat to do 2 coats. (Interlux color coat comes in quarts so gotta buy four quarts for every gallon so I bought 12 quarts at $75 each).
Here's how it played out with 2 of us doing it:
- 2 full weekends of 5 hours a day to remove decals = 20 hours
- 1 full weekend of 4 hours a day sanding to prep for primer = 8 hours
- 1 full weekend of 10 or 11 hours a day to add primer coat 1, sand, then cure overnight, then primer coat 2, sand for final coat = 22 hours
- 1 full weekend of 10 or 11 hours a day to paint color coat 1, sand, then color coat 2, = 22 hours
Doing this above alone? Double those hours to 160 for sure.
Half the time was cutting around the windows (which leaves brush marks if you just leave it like that, but after you brush your cut-in edge, immediately follow up as close as you can with a roller to remove those brush marks). The other half is rolling the paint out vertically, and the 2nd person following up with a brush to "tip" the vertical roller marks and bubbles out horizontally, and that triggers the paint to flatten and level out like magic.
So a good 80 hours in....or 2 weeks worth of my wife and I showing up at our respective jobs to work the same amount. Well, we don't make $10k to $12k worth in 80 hours at work so you get the budget idea here.
As long as you only paint from 60 to 80 degrees out, use a paint measuring cup to mix the 2:1 ratio exactly, and start early in the morning the rest is just up to whatever stamina you may have.
First pic: How it came from factory before stupid Arizona killed it
Second pic: I don't have a shot of it being yellow and cracked, so the pic jumps right to the point after we had sanded it all down
Third pic: 2 primer coats applied
Fourth pic: halfway down with the first coat of color applied
Fifth pic and rest of pics: After 2 coats of final color coat. At 2 or 3 feet looking down the side, some of those slight vertical marks if you look really closely are just the panels themselves being 20 years old, others are slight roller marks.
I must say it was well worth it.. Time will tell to see how it holds up. I'm moving to the Pacific Northwest so it won't have a Phoenix rate of degrading of the finish to report back on, but years out maybe I'll post one. I'm 44 and I can barely move after this project, but it looks like it has been sprayed on.
I can answer any questions anyone may have...for examples yes there were drips (sanded out after first coat, and learning from those mistakes for the second coat), there were parts that had orange peel, (but that all came down to me mixing the paint at 9am, it having a 2 hour pot life, and at 10:45am the paint getting thicker/tackier. But on the second coat of paint, learning from that first coat's mistakes and adding thinner as needed to maintain consistency) but overall just taking your time.
It is a Phoenix Arizona RV, so over the years the sun has just absolutely killed it. It got yellowed, the decals all cracked, and not even a heatgun or 3M decal eraser wheel would remove it...only varnish stripper and razor blades not held like you're cutting under the decal, but the blade perpendicular to the surface and dragged back and forth to shave it off.. Varnish stripper can't sit too long or it'll eat into the fiberglass so it was an art. In other states I can see people peeling off their decals in one huge sheet....ya I wish.
There were a couple of products, Awlgrip, Interlux Perfection, and a couple others you can use for this method. They are 2 part polyurethanes so I chose that for durability and the "do it yourself" ease of use that they claim. They use it to paint boats and yachts so figure it durable.
I was worried that it would looked rolled on and just ...well..... "ghetto" especially since this was going to be outside and what about bugs, dirt, wind, etc? Oh My!
But as a total amateur, I figured screw it, it can't look any worse than it is. Also, I had 5 body shops quote me for about $10k to $12k. I asked "what if I do the sanding and masking?" They still said $7,000. The way Interlux works is that it is 425 square feet coverage per gallon for their primer and their paint. So figure 35 foot RV, 10 foot tall, plus front and back, blah blah...let's just say 900 square feet. Well, it has to be done in 2 coats of primer, and 2 coats of paint. So at 1,800 square feet worth of paint, You're painting the vehicle four times.....and sanding in between each coat. Ya, massive undertaking I know. I used 2 gallons of primer to do the 2 primer coats, and 2 gallons of color coat to do 2 coats. (Interlux color coat comes in quarts so gotta buy four quarts for every gallon so I bought 12 quarts at $75 each).
Here's how it played out with 2 of us doing it:
- 2 full weekends of 5 hours a day to remove decals = 20 hours
- 1 full weekend of 4 hours a day sanding to prep for primer = 8 hours
- 1 full weekend of 10 or 11 hours a day to add primer coat 1, sand, then cure overnight, then primer coat 2, sand for final coat = 22 hours
- 1 full weekend of 10 or 11 hours a day to paint color coat 1, sand, then color coat 2, = 22 hours
Doing this above alone? Double those hours to 160 for sure.
Half the time was cutting around the windows (which leaves brush marks if you just leave it like that, but after you brush your cut-in edge, immediately follow up as close as you can with a roller to remove those brush marks). The other half is rolling the paint out vertically, and the 2nd person following up with a brush to "tip" the vertical roller marks and bubbles out horizontally, and that triggers the paint to flatten and level out like magic.
So a good 80 hours in....or 2 weeks worth of my wife and I showing up at our respective jobs to work the same amount. Well, we don't make $10k to $12k worth in 80 hours at work so you get the budget idea here.
As long as you only paint from 60 to 80 degrees out, use a paint measuring cup to mix the 2:1 ratio exactly, and start early in the morning the rest is just up to whatever stamina you may have.
First pic: How it came from factory before stupid Arizona killed it
Second pic: I don't have a shot of it being yellow and cracked, so the pic jumps right to the point after we had sanded it all down
Third pic: 2 primer coats applied
Fourth pic: halfway down with the first coat of color applied
Fifth pic and rest of pics: After 2 coats of final color coat. At 2 or 3 feet looking down the side, some of those slight vertical marks if you look really closely are just the panels themselves being 20 years old, others are slight roller marks.
I must say it was well worth it.. Time will tell to see how it holds up. I'm moving to the Pacific Northwest so it won't have a Phoenix rate of degrading of the finish to report back on, but years out maybe I'll post one. I'm 44 and I can barely move after this project, but it looks like it has been sprayed on.
I can answer any questions anyone may have...for examples yes there were drips (sanded out after first coat, and learning from those mistakes for the second coat), there were parts that had orange peel, (but that all came down to me mixing the paint at 9am, it having a 2 hour pot life, and at 10:45am the paint getting thicker/tackier. But on the second coat of paint, learning from that first coat's mistakes and adding thinner as needed to maintain consistency) but overall just taking your time.
I saw an all white motorhome with no decals or lettering on it when we were in Quartzsite for the RV show. Was it yours? It looked nice.
