Gray gelcoat and black trim

[N-Trouble]

Looking at a 5er that comes with two different gelcoat options. One being your standard white gelcoat with white trim pieces/awning and the other being gray gelcoat with black trim/awning.

While I like the looks of both and am leaning towards the gray I'm a bit concerned about how the black trim pieces and especially the awning will hold up to the elements over time. Any input or experience with the black trim on a trailer?

[spadoctor]

don't like the grey or dark colors....get hotter then white

[SH]

transamz9 wrote:
I'm not saying you don't maintain it, sorry if it sounded like that. These boats I'm referring to are washed and waxed with Bass Boat Saver every time they come out of the water. I'm not doing an RV like that. Not worth that much to me to have it match the truck. Sorry if you misread my post.;)

Not a problem! I certainly understand the not wanting to wash/wax every use! Many think the fading is oxidation and I just want others to know that is not necessarily the case...it really does fade!

I purchased a gray rig because I liked it too. The colored gel coats look really sharp when they are new. After owning a rig with it, I don't think I would have it again. Perhaps a full body paint would be the way to go.

[Dandy_Dan]

SH wrote:

N-Trouble wrote:
Yes I can see a dark gray being hotter but the unit I'm looking at is a pretty light shade of gray.

Here is an example of the color: http://www.rvusa.com/rvs/2015/eclipse-attitude-32sag-gray-call-for-the-lowest-price-slideout-s-toy-h...

Mine wasn't exactly dark gray

We have had our Open Range since May 2008 and like the gray. Haven't had any problems with the gray. Tired of looking at the white.

[transamz9]

SH wrote:

transamz9 wrote:
Something don't make sense to me. Why all the fading on the RVs but boats don't have this problem? Maintenance maybe? Just about everyone I know with dark colored boats are not having fade problems. Do you think it's because they are washed and waxed so much and and RV is hard to keep up the maintenance up on?

Absolutely NOT! My therapy is caring for my toys. I treated my new "gray" gel coat no less than once a month with Rejex...supposedly a great UV protectant.

I'm not saying you don't maintain it, sorry if it sounded like that. I'm just try to figure out why this is occurring. Like I said, the DW and I are looking at these also but I don't want to if they are fading. These boats I'm referring to are washed and waxed with Bass Boat Saver every time they come out of the water. I'm not doing an RV like that. Not worth that much to me to have it match the truck. Sorry if you misread my post.;)

[SH]

transamz9 wrote:
Something don't make sense to me. Why all the fading on the RVs but boats don't have this problem? Maintenance maybe? Just about everyone I know with dark colored boats are not having fade problems. Do you think it's because they are washed and waxed so much and and RV is hard to keep up the maintenance up on?

Absolutely NOT! My therapy is caring for my toys. I treated my new "gray" gel coat no less than once a month with Rejex...supposedly a great UV protectant.

[C-Bears]

Our new FW is an off-white color with black trim, including upper wheel trim, air conditioner covers, handles, etc. The whole rig gets waxed twice a year and the cap gets waxed at least 3 times.

Compared to our last FW, which was all white, we haven't noticed it heating up more in the hot weather.

[transamz9]

Something don't make sense to me. Why all the fading on the RVs but boats don't have this problem? Maintenance maybe? Just about everyone I know with dark colored boats are not having fade problems. Do you think it's because they are washed and waxed so much and and RV is hard to keep up the maintenance up on?

The reason I'm asking this is because the DW and I are looking at black and gray RVs. We are anal about washing are 5er but I'm not going to was and polish it regular like I do my boat.

Six years and no fade on my boat.

[SH]

N-Trouble wrote:
Well the sides are about the same, but the front cap is noticeably darker. Is that where you primarily saw signs of fading?

Yes, the front and rear caps faded. The sides are made of a different material and not gel coat. I wouldn't expect the sides to fade but perhaps I didn't have the rig long enough.

[N-Trouble]

Well the sides are about the same, but the front cap is noticeably darker. Is that where you primarily saw signs of fading?

[SH]

N-Trouble wrote:
Yes I can see a dark gray being hotter but the unit I'm looking at is a pretty light shade of gray.

Here is an example of the color: http://www.rvusa.com/rvs/2015/eclipse-attitude-32sag-gray-call-for-the-lowest-price-slideout-s-toy-h...

Mine wasn't exactly dark gray

[N-Trouble]

Yes I can see a dark gray being hotter but the unit I'm looking at is a pretty light shade of gray.

Here is an example of the color: http://www.rvusa.com/rvs/2015/eclipse-attitude-32sag-gray-call-for-the-lowest-price-slideout-s-toy-h...

[Dayle1]

SH wrote:
Secondly...this may be my imagination but I swear the darker color made the inside warmer on those hot summer days.

They do look nice for awhile though!

It wasn't your imagination. When I was checking out new units, I used an IR gun on two side-by-side units of the same brand, one grey, one white. Huge difference in outside temp and even inside wall temp was about 6 degrees higher. Made my decision ez and that was w/o hearing/seeing all the fading problems on front caps.

[larry_barnhart]

My neighbor had a tiffin MH with some black on it. I used the heat gun to see the difference in the temps from each color. The black was a lot hotter and just using my hand it was easy to notice.
chevman

[millesecond]

I don't like how they put black ac covers on the tan and gray trailers.