The 15th International Portafold & Ansfold Gathering) (i.e. 2024)

Our annual gathering will be returning to the Newbury Retrofestival.

So put the dates 9th, 10th & 11th of August 2024 in your diary now and get those dates booked off work early.

Show Address: Newbury Showground, Priors Court, Hermitage, Thatcham, West Berkshire, RG18 9QZ

Don't book direct with the show organisers it will cost you more money, just contact me (07771544419) to get your pitch saved.

Repairs to the roof

Any questions about maintenance or the restoration of your Portafold or Ansfold.
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RayH
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat, 13 Oct 2012, 2:54 pm
Location: Ascot, Berkshire

Repairs to the roof

Post by RayH » Fri, 26 Oct 2012, 12:37 pm

Have been trying to get the old gloss off the top of the roof for a couple of evenings so that I can paint it. Really struggling :(

Using wet & dry, sand paper, etc. I was hoping to avoid using paint stripper in case it attacks the gel coat.

There are patches where the gloss has come off (middle to rear) and also areas of bubbling (front) which go back to gelcoat when sanded. About a third of the gloss is ok (front and rear). I assume that the movement of the fibreglass has caused the lifting in the middle.

Current plan is to try some more elbow grease to flatten as much as I can, use high build primer and then Toplac it but the edges of the remaining paint are likely to show through.

Anyone successfully used paint stripper or another method ?


Cheers
Ray

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phunkie hiboy
Posts: 79
Joined: Mon, 04 Jul 2011, 7:57 pm
Location: Lindford, Hampshire

Re: Repairs to the roof

Post by phunkie hiboy » Sun, 28 Oct 2012, 5:04 pm

Some detailed photos of the areas you're struggling with might be helpful in trying to assist you with a direction to go in.
Built without compromise by the more luck than judgement method

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Admin
Posts: 856
Joined: Sun, 05 Nov 2006, 8:53 pm
Location: Christchurch, Dorset

Re: Repairs to the roof

Post by Admin » Sun, 28 Oct 2012, 6:37 pm

Ray,

I used a boat paint stripper on mine, a special paint stripper designed to be used on GRP boats. It's not as strong as Nitromors and did the trick perfectly.

Paint it on, leave for up to 10 minutes (depending on how thick the paint is), carefully scrape off and then rinse down with plenty of water to neutralise it. I'd probably remove the roof to somewhere well away from the rest of the caravan to avoid any splashing/dripping.

After I removed the paint I got the T-Cut on it, several times, then car polish, the a good car wax. No need to repaint mine luckily, a nice and shiny gellcoat finish!
Matthew
portafold.co.uk
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Wanted: Any original Portafold, Ansfold or Mini-Motel brochures, adverts or magazine articles.
Also, any chassis numbers for the above caravans!

RayH
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat, 13 Oct 2012, 2:54 pm
Location: Ascot, Berkshire

Re: Repairs to the roof

Post by RayH » Tue, 30 Oct 2012, 11:00 am

Went to Halfords to investigate paint strippers and got chatting to a guy who renovates camper vans. He put me on to U-Pol high build primer. Took the plunge, got some, sprayed it on , rubbed it down with fine wet and dry and put a coat of Toplac over the top.

I'm really chuffed with how it looks and will post a picture when I work out how :-)

Another tip I found out at the weekend - I was going to change the floor carpet as it smelt. Went to the carpet shop and the chap there told me to just sprinkle bicarbonate of soda on to neutralise smells. It worked a treat !

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