Steps - Prepping for Painting the RV Endcap

I am posting this as a reminder of the steps I took to prepare the RV for painting the endcap with primer. If I am successful at doing a good job I wanted to document my process so I can repeat it. The steps are the same for painting a bin door as they are for the endcap. This may also help others who might wish to tackle such a project.

PREP STEPS
  1. Wash area to be painted
        a. wash using dawn
        b. Clean any repair area with glass cleaner (sprayway)
        c. then use 70% isopropyl alcohol or wax and grease remover to remove contaminants that can interfere with paint adhesion  
        d. always use lint free shop towels for wiping
2. Repair any bad spots
        a. strip the current finish for any repair areas down to the bare metal/fiberglass
        b. fill imperfections with body filler - Allow filler to harden per directions
        c. DA sand 80 grit to flatten filler
        d. wipe clean with dawn/water

3. Carefully remove any fixtures that are not to be painted (e.g.. tail lights, RV ladder, license plate)
        a. use envelopes for screws and loose parts, label envelope accordingly
        b. remove any caulk entirely from surface (a flat edged razor blade works best)
        c. use Goo Gone or acetone to get any residual caulk off

4. sanding the old finish off
        a. DA with 180 to smooth chips or filler and to get old clearcoat off
        b. sand with 240 grit to get rid of 180 scratches and last of clearcoat
        c. sand with 320 grit to get rid of 240 scratches and to smooth out old paint
        d. for hard to get spots such as edges, use maroon scuff pad equiv. to 400 grit

The above steps are the most time consuming but how well you prepare the surface for paint will be reflected in the final product. This is not the place to cut corners.Remember any deep scratches from 180 grit or imperfections will be seen in the final paint job.

The header picture is how I plan to paint the endcap. The picture above was what it looked like originally. I used Google’s Magic Eraser tool to make the changes.

More Sanding on the Endcap

I have been busy sanding the back of the RV. It has taken countless hours of sanding to remove all the paint but I have made great progress.I began sanding with 80 grit sandpaper to remove the clear coat which was damaged while knowing I had to really get down to the surface of the paint.

As I was sanding through the clear coat I switched over to 180 grit to reduce my aggressiveness and to smooth the 80 grit scratches. Once I got down to the old paint I decided it was probably best to remove the paint as well and sand to the the fiberglass

To do that I continued with the 180 grit until I began to see the primer and then I switched to 240 Grit once again moving to a finer grit to smooth the scratches of the 180 grit sandpaper.

Once the primer was wearing through the last grit I chose to use was 320 grit. Once finished with this paper I will have a very smooth surface for application of the first few layers of epoxy primer.

That is where I'm at at this point in time I sanded for hours and hours resulting in a surface as "smooth as a baby's butt" ( well maybe not that smooth).Now I am focusing on caulk removal and finishing sanding all the hard to get to spots.

The next step will be to prepare a paint shelter that will protect me from the elements when I start the painting process of the epoxy primer. I will be using an epoxy primer from southern polyurethanes based upon recommendations from a forum I joined.

My paint shelter will be constructed out of 3/4 in. PVC pipe and thin plastic sheeting that is transparent to let the light in. It will be constructed so that it will cover the entire end cap. This will provide me a protected space from the elements such as dust, debris and bugs thus protecting my fresh paint.

So now it's a waiting game and time to buy my final products to get the job done. My plan is to start painting sometime around the 6 or 7th of October!

Repainting the Endcap of our RV

Well it didn’t take me long to get in trouble. Our RV is a 2007 model and thus is now 16 years old. Over the last year or so the clearcoat has begun to flake off in several places with the end-cap being the worst. What started out as little checks in the paint has resulted in some spots with lots of clearcoat peeling off as can be seen below.

Last year in Arizona I reached out to many paint shops across the USA to see what needed to be done. The consensus for fixing this problem wasto sand all the areas that are bad down to the primer or fiberglass.The cheapest bid I found was for $23,000. That is nearly half the current value of the RV.

Since there was absolutely no way I was going to pay that much money for cosmetics it left me little choice but to attempt to do it myself. The only problem was,the only painting experience I had was with houses not cars, trucks or RV’s. But hey, it is never too late to learn another trade, right?

First I had to figure out how to remove the stick- on logos and stickers on the RV. I decided to start with the end-cap first. After scouring the internet I bought an Eraser Wheel from Amazon. After a short while I had my first sticker off.

After removing the stick-ons and stickers next would be sanding. Again after reading forums on the internet and watching hours of You Tube videos I began sanding the clearcoat off with 80 grit sandpaper

To sand the entire end cap I had to remove all the lights and things attached. This also required researching because There were delicate plastic silver rings around each tail light that would surely break if not removed carefully.

After using a paint can opener and a plastic putty knife I was able to gingerly remove each of the four plastic rings without breaking one of them. The rest of the lights were easy to remove. Now I was able continue sanding.

The gas cap removal was a bit tricky too. I sure hope when I am finished I will be able Humpty Dumpty back together again!

Yikes! What’s Happening? When?

Well the day before Sharon was planning on leaving for North Carolina to help Katie get ready for her second baby and our fourth grandchild we got a phone call. Katie’s husband informed us that Katie was experiencing a complication with the pregnancy and the C-section was being moved up to this day. So Sharon will arrive a day after the birth instead of about 10 days before.

Fortunately for Katie and the baby that evening everything went smooth with the C-section and baby Emmy Kate came into this world! With that announcement When baby Emmy got to come home it was time for Benny (their Corgi) and Allie (her sister) to get to meet her. And with I’ll just post a few pictures of the new baby with her grandmother (GiGi),Allie and Benny all enjoying the moment!

I will stay in Texas until things settle down for our daughter and her new family and will fly out to see Emmy in mid October. With all this time on my hands before flying to see her I wonder what trouble I can get into?