Painting the Motor Home / RV

Well, after perhaps up to 40 years, this little beauty is getting a makeover. What girl doesn't like that? She's been scrubbed and exfoliated and is now ready for paint. Stephen finished the taping and we've decided exactly where to paint the blue line up to (just under where the middle orange stripe is now) and the weather looks like it will be good for painting today. We're definitely at the mercy of the weather being outside but this morning dawned bright and sunny without gale force winds so it's looking good.

Here's the plan.

1. Run a tack cloth over the body to remove any new dust or grime.
2. Check that the tape is firmly in place.
3. Apply the first coat of cream with a roller and cut in using a small brush.
4. Apply the first coat of blue on the sides but not the doors or hood **
5. Paint the fenders, bumpers, side mirrors.
6. Go to work/Lunch/pick kids up at school (kill 4-5 hours basically)
7. Water down some of the cream paint 10% with water and re-coat the cream areas with their second and final coat.
8. Water down some blue and apply the finish coat to the main body.
9. Second coat fenders, bumper etc if needed.

**10. After 24 hours tape the lines on the hood and paint the blue accents in 2 coats at least 4 hours apart. We have to wait 24 hours before we can do this because we'll be putting the tape onto the newly painted cream surface and we don't want the tape to pull off the paint.

Et Voila! A freshly painted motor home with a nice somewhat glossy hammered finish. As we're using rollers we will not get a mirror shine like automotive paint, but it will be a durable finish. We are using Envirogard Gloss from General Paint which is a waterborne acrylic enamel. The colours we are using are called sheepskin and malta.

The new finish will be both attractive and durable, replacing the paint that was chalky underneath from many years of exposure. By the time we are done our re-paint will have cost us approximately $120 for paint and materials.

We may consider painting the roof with any leftover paint to cover up the black tar roof and provide a cooler surface which will be particularly nice in the summer I'm sure. We do have some aluminum paint but I'm not sure that it won't react chemically with the tar and make a terrible mess so we'll do some experiments and see. The main thing is to have a good and durable finish on the main body and cab.

So that's what we are hoping to accomplish today. And hanging out more laundry of course, it looks like a good day to freshen up everyone's quilts.

We have 41 days to go until we leave so time is running out! Gotta get to work!