How to paint an Aluminum Travel Trailer

Do you actually want to paint it? If it is smooth sided then you can use a power buffer and make it shine like new. Paint will require a lot of work but will last a long time. The secret is in prep of course. Trim pieces need to be removed and a lot of masking must be done. You can get details on painting aluminum with a search. Automotive paint such as PPG is easy to apply even for a first timer. Get the stuff you don't clear coat. Then you sand it with water on the sandpaper with ever higher grit paper. Once you get to about the 2000 grit you switch to 3M products to polish it more. Eventually you will get to a plastic coated mirror finish. It is a lot of work but the results are incredible.

I wouldn't paint it but if you do aluminum requires a special primer.

Do you have a compressor with good CFM? Not PSI but VOLUME, having to stop and wait on the compressor to recover is a PITA and can more than double your labor time
Do you have paint gun? HVLP? gravity or siphon feed?
Do you have a power sander like an orbital D.A.?
There is a lot more to painting than paint, thinner, and masking tape.

Prep , prep, prep is the key.

Paint an aluminum trailer with the same technique and same products as painting a car.

I would remove all excess caulking first and then caulk again after painting.

"Someone please point me in the right direction"...Zinc Chromate primer.

X2 what IVYLOG says... Zinc Chromate Primer is what was used on my life long work history with the Naval Space Surveillance Aluminum antenna arrays spread across the bottom part of the US. We had around 17-miles of aluminum antenna structures to maintain.

This application kept them all in great working conditions over the past 50 years...

How this would adapt to fancy painting decors of RV Aluminum Trailers would be the bigger question I suspect. The Zinc Chromate Primer will cover all of the aluminum metal with a deep gray appearance which is how we left the antenna structures. Painting over the deep gray primer with fancy painting schemes would be the next challenge.

Don't imagine a deep gray RV trailer would be very appealing to the wife...

Roy Ken

Ivylog wrote:
"Someone please point me in the right direction"...Zinc Chromate primer.

Paint on aluminum won't last without it.

Before making a move, suggest you talk to a couple of good auto body shops for their recommendation. There is paint made for houses with aluminum siding, which may work just fine. But at this point, with all the work you've put in, you sure don't want to have it look like you bought a couple of cans of spray paint. Depending on the size and the $ involved, you may find that you can have it professionally done. Pictures??

Zinc Chromate is used on raw aluminum that is not previously painted so I think you would have to strip the old paint off and reprimer then paint. Total redo on the paint job. I could see doing that if this is a restoration of a vintage trailer, but how much work you want to do on it is up to you.

Oh, If you do use Zinc Chromate it should be applied light enough to read thru it. You don't put on a very heavy coat at all. If it looks like there's too little on it .... your done. you will want to apply another coat but don't.