portafold.co.uk

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

Some detailed photos of the areas you're struggling with might be helpful in trying to assist you with a direction to go in.

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!

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 !