Painting Fiberglass Shell

[ajriding]

The exterior gel coat seems to be gone, the camper is down to just bare fiberglass.
What is the best solution?
Anyone who has done this I'd be interested to hear results, since I already know ideas.

I was thinking to just apply a clear coat over the fiberglass. The entire outer body is fiberglass. Not sure if a rattle can will produce god enough results or I would just do that as easiest option. I have a paint gum I have never used, would that be worth the extra effort?

[doxiemom11]

There was a fiberglass garage door on a house I bought that looked terrible. I couldn't afford to replace it, so I primed it with Kilz, then painted with a good quality outdoor paint. Looked great until I replaced it several years later.

[cdl2]

I painted my faded gel coat with a urythanr paint & a roller
It looks great!!!!!

[theoldwizard1]

Veebyes wrote:
A friend did his 44' sailboat roll & tip. Looked pretty good provided you did not get too close to it.

Roll an tip will never look as good as gelcoat, but you can make it close !

Apply at least 3 or 4 coats of paint carefully following directions for subsequent coats. Let it FULLY CURE ! This is critical and can take a week or more depending on the ambient temperature and humidity.

Then, fire up the power buffer and some light buffing compound. You will be surprised at the results ! Pretty close to a spray job or gelcoat.

[RLS7201]

Dave H M wrote:
come on folks, don't you think the questions that wolfie asked should be answered before we jump in. :h

Wolf's question was answered in the first sentence of the OP's post.

"The exterior gel coat seems to be gone, the camper is down to just bare fiberglass."

Richard

[ajriding]

I will try the cleaner/wax approach first, maybe it is just oxadized as some suggest. It is an 05, but I dont know its history, TCs are not titled…
I had a corrugated aluminum camper that I painted and clear coated with rattle cans, It looked decent. I sold it after a year as seems to be my habit. No such thing as a perfect camper, but I keep trying.
So, low budget was hoping a clear rattle can would be decent. I won't be paying a paint shop anytime soon. Just bought it and I think I need motorized lifts. Either the fiberglass shell is so stiff or so flexible that it creaks worse than the wood frame one I had before - when operating one jack at a time…
thats my story anyway

[BarabooBob]

I have a Scamp fiberglass camper in addition to my Viking. When I bought it, the paint was trashed. I carefully sanded it down and had my neighbor spray on Brightside paint by Interlux. This is the information:
https://interlux.com/en/us/boat-paint/topcoat-finish/brightside-polyurethane

This is the same paint that they use on million dollar yachts.

[Dave_H_M]

come on folks, don't you think the questions that wolfie asked should be answered before we jump in. :h

[Veebyes]

A friend did his 44' sailboat roll & tip. Looked pretty good provided you did not get too close to it. I think humidity got to it before it had dried properly. The job was not the first for him doing this sort of thing.

As asked already, how good do you want it to look & what is the budget? There is a relationship between the two.

[Almot]

...should also be mentioned that many boats (both FG and wooden) are get brush-painted (or roller-painted) with latex paint that you can find for cheap in big box stores. The kind used on exterior house trim etc. Yes, water based. Though it seems the concern is more about giving it a better look than remedying the wear, can't help with this.

[theoldwizard1]

Matt_Colie wrote:
The first question you need to answer is,"How good do I want it to be?"

Almost all boats <50' are fiberglass/gelcoat. Over time, many (most?) get painted. The classic process is called "roll and tip". Lots of YouTube videos on the technique.

"Roll and tip" will not give you as nice of a finish as spraying, BUT you if apply 2 or 3 coats (follow directions for doing additional coats) you can use a power buffer and some buffing compound and it WILL look almost as good as sprayed and you will have a much thicker and more durable paint job.

[Veebyes]

Like anything else, all it takes is money. The more money, the better the product, the better the job & the longer it will last.

The work is in the preparation. I have never done a RV but I have done a hurricane damaged boat. I did the fiberglass damage & major dings from docks over the years. Paint guy did the finish fairing, 2 coats primer, 2 coats paint, no clear coat.

The paint used was Sikkens 2 part epoxy. You need to know what you are doing with this stuff. Job done the boat looked way better original gelcoat & has stayed that way for many years with minimal maintenance.

Oh yeah, it was expensive however the payoff came with time of durable good looks.

[TurnThePage]

ajriding wrote:
My upstairs maid was arguing with my Tuesday koi pond water tester and they were talking about how it is better to never do anything yourself. I had my brunch chef to go tell them I agree, but the car wash guy came a day early and wanted to be paid anyway. When my IT guy posted this he forgot to mention that I have an auto body guy that always does my dents, but I just wanted to be able to argue with him. Sometimes I just watch.

:B LOL :B

[pauldub]

Link to Meguiars Fiberglass Restoration Products

[ajriding]

My upstairs maid was arguing with my Tuesday koi pond water tester and they were talking about how it is better to never do anything yourself. I had my brunch chef to go tell them I agree, but the car wash guy came a day early and wanted to be paid anyway. When my IT guy posted this he forgot to mention that I have an auto body guy that always does my dents, but I just wanted to be able to argue with him. Sometimes I just watch.