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Painting was the 1st of eight projects to renovate my Four Wheel Pop-Up Camper.
Project 1: Painting
Project 1: Painting
I had previous experience repainting an old camper with Gripper and auto paint. This time I researched a bit more and decided to re-coat it with marine topside paint and ultimately decided on EZPoxy Modern Polyurethane. I had a love/hate relationship with this paint. It was great, superior paint and looked great, but was the hardest paint to apply to a vertical surface that I have ever worked with. I applied 5 coats, but each coat was so thin (to keep it from running) that it is probably equivalent to a total of two regular coats.
The trick to applying it on vertical surfaces without spray equipment is to get the best quality brush you can purchase and:
Dip it into the special Pettit Brushing Thinner 120 (worth every penny) that they often sell with it. Home store thinner just didn't work the same.
Wipe the edges of the brush lightly against to top of the container holding it to wick away the excess thinner from the brush.
Dip the brush into the paint and then wick the excess paint from the brush by running it lightly on the top of the container.
Apply in small areas with thin coats in a horizontal motion. Be patient. If you try to put just a bit more on the brush, you will be swiftly punished with paint running down the side. Don't use rollers, even the flattest, smoothest ones. Use rollers only for the flat, horizontal surfaces.
For the silver striping, I used two coats of silver auto paint with two coats of clear applied after that. The topside paint does not need clear coat. I was quite happy with the result.
I also replaced nearly all exterior screws with stainless steel versions. I never imagined how many fasteners I would purchase for this project.
One small section of the aluminum was worn through.
After cleaning with simple green and then ammonia/water solution, the camper was taped up.
I tried not to get any topside paint on the truck, but some got on it anyway.
Some small spots were sanded on one side only to remove some flaking before putting on the new paint.
The only portion of the interior to receive the topside paint.
Painting the silver horizontal lines required new taping and cleaning.
The painting tools and equipment I used for the process are shown on the bench.
EZPoxy topside paint: I love it. I hate it. I recommend it.
I did not re-paint the roof until after renovating the interior.
First, I pressure washed and cleaned with ammonia/water and then rinsed.
Top side paint on a flat surface is so much easier to apply.
A second coat goes on just as easily and thickly. That's all I needed.
This "Four Wheel Pop-Up Campers" decal was the only one not completely bleached before I painted the exterior. I tried to find new decals like this but they seemed to be unobtanium.
So I had new ones designed just like the original and stuck one on each side and one in the back.
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