1984 Holiday Rambler Imperial 29 TT

[mfdengineer]

Hello all,
I am new to this forum but have been camping for a good while now. I have an old Holiday Rambler that is in good condition but I have been updating some things. I have replaced the kitchen countertop, sink, and faucet along with new wallpaper on the backsplash. I also have replaced the bathroom countertop, sink and faucet. I am now working on painting the door hardware brushed nickel and peeling off the old gold on the cabinet trim pieces. It is starting to look fairly good.

My reason for posting is this. I have decided that I would like to freshen up the outside paint and stripes. I have read up on using bar keepers friend to restore the paint and seal it with zep floor finish. I plan on doing all that but I want to get the stripes situated first. The sides are not in very bad shape but the front and back are. I have been quoted $700-$1100 for replicating the stock stripes depending on if I opt for roll stripes or digitally printed stripes. I am not sure if I want to invest that much money in vinyl stripes.

I would like opinions on this matter.

• Would you replace all of the vinyl? And if so, what colors would you go with? (Stock or otherwise)
• Would you just replace the front and rear where the stripes are missing?
• Would you just paint over the old stripes and tape where the missing stripes are?

I have uploaded photos of the rv and my work progress to my photobucket album. Please view them and share your opinions. I would certainly appreciate all input.

Link to view album

[mfdengineer]

westend wrote:
Good start! That's definitely going to be an improvement. Do you know about these 3M pinstripe removal wheel?

Yes, I have read about those. I looked at one made by 3M at advanced auto and it was $43. I passed, an will be ordering the one from amazon. I probably won't get around to that part until the spring.

I did get the first coat of paint on the primer. It didn't turn out as good as I hoped. I used a foam roller but its not very smooth. I hope to clean it up a bit with 300 and 400 grit sand paper. Anyone have any other advice?

I almost wish I would have just sprayed it with rattle cans but I thought the oil based paint would hold up better to the weather.

[westend]

Good start! That's definitely going to be an improvement. Do you know about these 3M pinstripe removal wheel?

[Passin_Thru]

My aunt and uncle owned a Holiday Rambler and loved it. Dragged it all over the US and it held up well.

[mfdengineer]

I got the old decal off and primer applied. I used a roller and it did pretty good. I'm going to wet sand, paint, wet sand and paint again. I think it will turn out good enough to suit me. I used primer for aluminum and will be using oil based exterior rustoleum. I decided not to spray it because it is just too windy out.

Before



After

[westend]

From your pictures, it looks like the only areas that need work are the front and rear cap. There are missing decal stripes there. You could just remove the remainder of the stripes in those areas and polish to see how it looks.

That is a big trailer and if I was going to polish it up, I think I'd use a buffer and rubbing compound. Going after it with BKF and a rag is going to be a lot of work. If you choose a light rubbing or polishing compound, it may be a days work with a buffer. I also would forgo the acrylic floor waxes in favor of a good acrylic or synthetic wax. I've done some fiberglass polishing and the marine waxes and polishes are probably best for fiberglass, IMO.

[mfdengineer]

westend wrote:

mfdengineer wrote:
Thanks for the tip. I did not even think about using a chalk line. When you painted yours, how did you apply the paint? Spray paint, roller/brush, or air compressor?

Also, do I need to apply primer first? It is all aluminum exterior but it is already painted.

Primer and body coats were applied with a Graco airless sprayer, using a fine tip. The accent colors were applied with rattle cans.

The essence of having a good bond between old finishes and application of paint is prep. If you are painting older, painted aluminum, you want to remove the dirt and oxidation in the surface. I use a prepaint liquid conditioner like Jasco and plastic scuff pads. You don't necessarily have to prime but I find that a good primer allows for good bond strength and the final coats lay down flatter with no fisheye or other inclusions. On the Starcraft, I used Sherwin-Williams DTM Industrial primer and primed the entire body. I was painting multiple different surfaces, some of them bare aluminum.

The painting was captured here.

Thank you for the detailed info. I am trying to decide if I just want to try the bar keepers friend to clean the paint, or just completely repaint the base coat. The paint is not in terrible shape, I think it could be restored and then sealed with the zep floor finish. What are your thoughts??

[westend]

mfdengineer wrote:
Thanks for the tip. I did not even think about using a chalk line. When you painted yours, how did you apply the paint? Spray paint, roller/brush, or air compressor?

Also, do I need to apply primer first? It is all aluminum exterior but it is already painted.

Primer and body coats were applied with a Graco airless sprayer, using a fine tip. The accent colors were applied with rattle cans.

The essence of having a good bond between old finishes and application of paint is prep. If you are painting older, painted aluminum, you want to remove the dirt and oxidation in the surface. I use a prepaint liquid conditioner like Jasco and plastic scuff pads. You don't necessarily have to prime but I find that a good primer allows for good bond strength and the final coats lay down flatter with no fisheye or other inclusions. On the Starcraft, I used Sherwin-Williams DTM Industrial primer and primed the entire body. I was painting multiple different surfaces, some of them bare aluminum.

The painting was captured here.

[dadmomh]

You can do an online search for new vinyl stripes/other. My dear cousin and her DH removed the old stripes on their '03 KZ and replaced them....looked like brand new. I don't know the cost, but feel sure it was not $$$. Might be a lot easier than taping and painting.

[2012Coleman]

I'm thinking that if you remove the vinyl, the paint color underneath will be darker than what was not covered, which would be due to exposure. Just a thought...

[mfdengineer]

westend wrote:
If you want to tackle the stripe painting, it's not that difficult. You'll have to schedule which coat gets painted in a schedule. The background gets painted first, of course, and the stripes follow in succession. Allow some dry time between coats so your tape doesn't pull up the former coats (two days in moderate climate). Straight lines can be marked with a carpenters snap line and the tape is aligned with the snapped chalk line.
Green "Frog" tape is the most forgiving but standard masking tape works about as well.

I did some accent stripes on my rig after painting the body and other panels on my trailer:

Thanks for the tip. I did not even think about using a chalk line. When you painted yours, how did you apply the paint? Spray paint, roller/brush, or air compressor?

Also, do I need to apply primer first? It is all aluminum exterior but it is already painted.

[campigloo]

OP, my sides are in pretty good shape too, although when one gets up close the cracks and age really show up! If you paint the stripes on 3M makes fine line tape especially for this purpose.

[westend]

If you want to tackle the stripe painting, it's not that difficult. You'll have to schedule which coat gets painted in a schedule. The background gets painted first, of course, and the stripes follow in succession. Allow some dry time between coats so your tape doesn't pull up the former coats (two days in moderate climate). Straight lines can be marked with a carpenters snap line and the tape is aligned with the snapped chalk line.
Green "Frog" tape is the most forgiving but standard masking tape works about as well.

I did some accent stripes on my rig after painting the body and other panels on my trailer:

[mfdengineer]

Thanks everyone for the kind words. I have put a lot of effort into this rig and it is starting to show. For its age, it really is in pretty good shape.

I think I have decided against paying that much money for vinyl that will not last forever. I will probably be hanging on to this rv for a while considering the work that I am doing to it. I will either go with the above idea of just removing the vinyl on front and back, repaint the front black section and just leave it that way. Or option two would be to just paint the stripes on front and back and leave sides as is. The sides are not in terrible shape, but you can definitely see the cracks and age when you get up close.

I would like to remove all of the vinyl and paint the stripes on but that seems like a great deal of work for a rookie like myself. The red, white and blue stripes in the center of the gold panel section would be tedious to do. The others don't seem as bad, but I'm not certain that I could tape it off straight enough. I may test the waters on the front section since it is in the worst condition.

Again, I appreciate everyone's input. I have really enjoyed reading this forum since I have joined a few days ago. I will take more photos as work progresses and share it here.

Thanks!

[beemerphile1]

Remove the vinyl graphics and paint them on.