Vance Vanz
Well-known member
Paint & Fairing/Body Work
So, I called about 35 auto body/paint shops, across the board (car, truck, commercial, RV, tractor trailer, boat, etc.), throughout the greater Boise area, and I could not find a single shop that was willing to take this project on, paint and/or body work. I'm not kidding, about 35. I even called paint supply houses for referrals and also called about half of the original 35 shops back to ask if they knew of anyone who does side work. Three people who do commercial/tractor trailer side work came out, they all stated they needed/wanted work, and they didn't even want to take on the project. I even put an add up on Craigslist and did not get a single response.
BONKERS!! Spending this much time: on the phone, sending emails with the scope of the project/pictures to this many shops, meeting with people and following up with many of the shops, etc. was like a part time job.
I finally said screw it and just started doing the fairing/body work myself to keep the build moving. This was something I was thinking about/hoping to sub out so I could make up some time on the project. I'm guessing that doing this much fairing/body work, by myself, the outside and inside of the camper, will probably take me around two and a half to three months. NUUUUUUUUUUUUTS.
After letting the dust settle for two-three weeks, I called back two of the commercial shops that originally came out and looked at the project, but said they were not interested. I kind of befriended the two gentlemen who came out. I asked them for their honest feedback on why they were not interested in the project (if they were comfortable being that direct with me) especially when they were recommended by so many of the other paint/body shops for doing projects just like/similar to mine. Bottom line, they did not want to do that much body work. Many of the other shops I called were intimidated by the composite construction, carbon fiber and epoxy.
Soooooo, I am eating one big fairing/body work sandwich for the next three months. And we are not talking about the 40 hour work week kind of schedule. This is the seven days a week 10-14 hours a day schedule. Not to mention that I am using marine based epoxy fairing compound, which requires me to be in head to toe PPE equipment. Nothing like long-block sanding in a hooded Tyvek suite (or should I say plastic garbage bag sweat suit) for 10-14 hours each day. That's the bad news.
The good news is, once I told the two paint shops that I had already started on the body work and I would be doing it myself, they were more than happy to bid the project. The irony is, I already stated I would do the body work if needed in my original emails and phone calls. BONKERS!!
Three solid months of body work right after the grind of composite work I have been on for over a year does not have me in the greatest of spirits.
I share this as info in case you are on a similar journey. If you happen to be on the east and/or west coast, I would start with all of the boat shops first. They will have much more experience, comfort level and willingness to take on a composite project and possibly one of this size if they work on larger boats/yachts.
I am digging deeper than deep inside myself to crank out this fairing/body work. A bit of compartmentalization and disassociation is going on to make it all happen
🫥.
Enough talking, let's get to work!
This is basically what a lot of the professional boat/yacht builders use for their epoxy based fairing material. The camper shell loves it, but my pocket book does not.
Let the punishment begin.
I'm mostly using a long sanding block and a 17" sanding block for sanding all of the fairing compound.
Structural sand and sanding for the first layer of fairing compound.
First layer going down to feather the tabbing into the field of the panels/side walls. I decided to go with 8" on the width (8" drywall knife), so after it was sanded back/feathered in, it would result in about a 6-7" wide transition. This would give plenty of width to taper/transition the tabbing into the field of the panel.
Sanding the first layer and marking everything that needs to be filled/faired during the second coat
Working my way around the camper
So, I called about 35 auto body/paint shops, across the board (car, truck, commercial, RV, tractor trailer, boat, etc.), throughout the greater Boise area, and I could not find a single shop that was willing to take this project on, paint and/or body work. I'm not kidding, about 35. I even called paint supply houses for referrals and also called about half of the original 35 shops back to ask if they knew of anyone who does side work. Three people who do commercial/tractor trailer side work came out, they all stated they needed/wanted work, and they didn't even want to take on the project. I even put an add up on Craigslist and did not get a single response.
BONKERS!! Spending this much time: on the phone, sending emails with the scope of the project/pictures to this many shops, meeting with people and following up with many of the shops, etc. was like a part time job.
I finally said screw it and just started doing the fairing/body work myself to keep the build moving. This was something I was thinking about/hoping to sub out so I could make up some time on the project. I'm guessing that doing this much fairing/body work, by myself, the outside and inside of the camper, will probably take me around two and a half to three months. NUUUUUUUUUUUUTS.
After letting the dust settle for two-three weeks, I called back two of the commercial shops that originally came out and looked at the project, but said they were not interested. I kind of befriended the two gentlemen who came out. I asked them for their honest feedback on why they were not interested in the project (if they were comfortable being that direct with me) especially when they were recommended by so many of the other paint/body shops for doing projects just like/similar to mine. Bottom line, they did not want to do that much body work. Many of the other shops I called were intimidated by the composite construction, carbon fiber and epoxy.
Soooooo, I am eating one big fairing/body work sandwich for the next three months. And we are not talking about the 40 hour work week kind of schedule. This is the seven days a week 10-14 hours a day schedule. Not to mention that I am using marine based epoxy fairing compound, which requires me to be in head to toe PPE equipment. Nothing like long-block sanding in a hooded Tyvek suite (or should I say plastic garbage bag sweat suit) for 10-14 hours each day. That's the bad news.
The good news is, once I told the two paint shops that I had already started on the body work and I would be doing it myself, they were more than happy to bid the project. The irony is, I already stated I would do the body work if needed in my original emails and phone calls. BONKERS!!
Three solid months of body work right after the grind of composite work I have been on for over a year does not have me in the greatest of spirits.
I share this as info in case you are on a similar journey. If you happen to be on the east and/or west coast, I would start with all of the boat shops first. They will have much more experience, comfort level and willingness to take on a composite project and possibly one of this size if they work on larger boats/yachts.
I am digging deeper than deep inside myself to crank out this fairing/body work. A bit of compartmentalization and disassociation is going on to make it all happen
🫥.Enough talking, let's get to work!
This is basically what a lot of the professional boat/yacht builders use for their epoxy based fairing material. The camper shell loves it, but my pocket book does not.
Let the punishment begin.
I'm mostly using a long sanding block and a 17" sanding block for sanding all of the fairing compound.
Structural sand and sanding for the first layer of fairing compound.
First layer going down to feather the tabbing into the field of the panels/side walls. I decided to go with 8" on the width (8" drywall knife), so after it was sanded back/feathered in, it would result in about a 6-7" wide transition. This would give plenty of width to taper/transition the tabbing into the field of the panel.
Sanding the first layer and marking everything that needs to be filled/faired during the second coat
Working my way around the camper
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