Camper paint questions

[jadonk]

I have a truck camper build going on and am nearing time to paint the shell. Construction method is wood/foam composite panels with the exterior surfaces being 1/8" plywood skin. Each panel is joined with fiberglass tapes at the edges. All surfaces were then covered with a 2 part epoxy coating, this stuff: https://ssttoolbox.widen.net/view/pdf/e6pifwuqbt/T-R-RPS70-9.pdf?t.download=true&u=cjmyin

This coating is not UV stable, so it needs to be painted. Also, the coating was rolled on, so the surface needing to be painted has a pretty significant orange peel texture.

I'm kind of on the fence on what my final finish product should be. My main concern is with the texture on the substrate and how to prep it. Pretty much any paint/primer is going to require the surface to be sanded, but I'm not how well that is going to work in the low spots of the texture. Does anyone have any recommendations on prepping a textured surface?

Also feel free to throw out recommendations for specific paints too. I have hvlp spray equipment, so the plan was to use it for this step, so sprayable products would be preferred. The epoxy coating is super-durable, so I was leaning away from the truck bed liner type products.

Thanks all!

 

[1000arms]

You might want to download a free PDF of "The Gougeon Brothers on Boat Construction". See:

Gougeon Brothers On Boat Construction Book | WEST SYSTEM Epoxy

Download a free PDF of the Gougeon Brothers On Boat Construction book in its entirety, or order it from Amazon.com.

www.westsystem.com

 

[EMR714]

If it were me, I might give it one more coat of the epoxy. I’d want that extra layer of epoxy so I don’t accidentally sand through to the wood. When it’s all dry, I’d wet sand it all down until the surface is uniform. Then I’d use the HVLP with your primer and chosen single or two stage paint.

 

[Ozarker]

If cost is any issue at all, I'd use Bondo to fill voids and use a thin orange peel bed liner, color of your choice. That saves a h' of a lot of work and the end result is acceptable, IMO.

 

[jadonk]

I actually like and want to keep the textured surface. It's helping to hide some goofs and whatnot. I put down 3 coats of the epoxy coating, so I feel pretty good about that. I'm not totally opposed to knocking down some of the texture during the prep phase if that's what it takes.

I was initially thinking about marine topside paints, so I was considering rustoleum topside or total boat wet edge, but those say you need to sand between coats, so with the texture, I don't feel like that's going to be a viable option. And I'm not too keen on that much sanding either.

I went down a rabbit hole with bed liner type coatings and now I'm thinking durabak smooth might be a good option. I will have to prep the epoxy coating, but once I start applying, there would be no additional prep. It's also sprayable, so that's a plus. Anybody have experience with this stuff?

 

[ExpoMike]

I would look at something like Raptorliner or Monstaliner tintable bed liner. Do it in about any color you want, give you a texture (level of texture is based on PSI and spray pattern so can be light to heavy texture). Very scratch resistant and easy to apply (can roll on or spray). About the best bang for your buck.

 

[NOPEC]

I actually like and want to keep the textured surface. It's helping to hide some goofs and whatnot. I put down 3 coats of the epoxy coating, so I feel pretty good about that. I'm not totally opposed to knocking down some of the texture during the prep phase if that's what it takes.

I was initially thinking about marine topside paints, so I was considering rustoleum topside or total boat wet edge, but those say you need to sand between coats, so with the texture, I don't feel like that's going to be a viable option. And I'm not too keen on that much sanding either.

I went down a rabbit hole with bed liner type coatings and now I'm thinking durabak smooth might be a good option. I will have to prep the epoxy coating, but once I start applying, there would be no additional prep. It's also sprayable, so that's a plus. Anybody have experience with this stuff?

I recently completed a build thread which included redoing the entire outside of a fiberglass truck camper. For the finish on the considerably re-fiberglassed exterior, I used a readily available (Benjamin Moore/Coranado paint stores) one part polyurathane industrial enamel called "Rust Scat" (yes, thats correct...).

If you did a search on this site with something like "Rust Scat" you would find the thread (or actually, I guess just my "content" would get you there more directly..). This product definitely is not everyone's cup of tea but after almost three years, I remain totally delighted with the results and performance of this product.

 

[jadonk]

Thanks @NOPEC. I was reading your posts in the recent thread on paint recommendations about that stuff. Definitely sounds like a good option. I read in that thread that you did not use any primer, so that's definitely a plus. Also, sounds like you rolled it on, but the TDS for the product indicates that it can be sprayed, which I would prefer. After reading through the data sheets, a few questions for this product come to mind if you don't mind answering when you have a chance since the sheets are mostly geared metal substrates...

- What did you do as far as surface prep?
- Since no primer, I guess you painted directly on the cured glass, right?
- Did you use polyester or epoxy resin?
- Did you do any additional prep between coats?

Thanks again. This stuff is definitely on my short list and I have a Benjamin Moore store in my area, so the ability to buy something local instead of ordering online would be great. Price point is good and I was also interested in a satin or flat finish.

 

[IdaSHO]

Regardless of coating/paint, unless the epoxy you used specifically states it is a non-blushing epoxy, you will have to prep the surface via sanding and washing (soap and water).
There is simply no way about it. Epoxies that are NOT non-blushing pushes an amine blush to the surface as it cures.
This blush bust be physically removed in order to prep for paint/coating. If you do not, you run a risk of pealing/lifting.

Our camper was built using 6mm BS1088 (marine grade) skins, and proper marine (non-blushing) epoxy.
I built it back in 2012, and up to a year or so ago was painted in Rustoleum Pro (alkyd enamel) thinned with naptha and with enamel hardener.
You can shoot it, but I did I simple roll-and-tip method to paint it. It performed flawlessly.

Had I not wanted a different color to match the new truck, it would still be as it was originally painted.
Very few chips, zero failures.

Summer of 2020 I sanded it out and shot Monstaliner over the Rustoleum. Its never looked better.
Entire thread of the color change here

Idacamper2.0 Color change, please let me know your thoughts.

Alright, we are pulling the trigger on a color change. I have the time to do it before our next big trip, so now is the chance... The entire thing will be coated using Monstaliner. But I need your help with colors, er... grays... Bright white to match the truck is just entirely too much white...

expeditionportal.com

 

[jadonk]

Thanks @IdaSHO. I'm familiar with your build. Super-impressive stuff man. I do understand that i'll need to remove blush and prep the epoxy. Nothing is really compatible with cured epoxy for a chemical bond, so it has to rely on mechanical. I was kinda hoping i could just go over the whole thing with some scuff pads and that would be good enough. In hindsight, it probably would have been better to go smooth with the epoxy coating and get the texture I'm after during the paint phase, but at the time, I thought putting the texture in the epoxy was a good idea. Maybe the best plan is to take a DA with ~120 or so grit to it and just smoothing out the texture, then it will be prepped for whatever paint system I choose.

 

[NOPEC]

Thanks @NOPEC. I was reading your posts in the recent thread on paint recommendations about that stuff. Definitely sounds like a good option. I read in that thread that you did not use any primer, so that's definitely a plus. Also, sounds like you rolled it on, but the TDS for the product indicates that it can be sprayed, which I would prefer. After reading through the data sheets, a few questions for this product come to mind if you don't mind answering when you have a chance since the sheets are mostly geared metal substrates...

- What did you do as far as surface prep?
- Since no primer, I guess you painted directly on the cured glass, right?
- Did you use polyester or epoxy resin?
- Did you do any additional prep between coats?

Thanks again. This stuff is definitely on my short list and I have a Benjamin Moore store in my area, so the ability to buy something local instead of ordering online would be great. Price point is good and I was also interested in a satin or flat finish.

Final initial surface prep (post sanding) was a light rubbing with mineral spirits using modestly dipped clean rags followed by a soap and water scrub and then clear water rinse.

I was fully expecting to use a primer but the paint guys talked me out of it as they were very confident that none was required. In my books for my application and subsequent result, they were completely correct. So, no primer and three very light coats with generous drying time between coats.

I used West System epoxy resin and Total Boat two part epoxy fairing compound.

The only prep between coats was a quick, very light sanding with iirc, 150 grit followed by dusting off with a clean rag.

 

[NOPEC]

Just a thought or two to further muddy your thinking.

You could consider picking up some colloidial silica and a quart of some of the "short list" coatings and have a go at playing with the actual enamel and as well, creating texture by hand with a roller. It would give you a look at both the product(s) and the technique, with out much skin in the game.

Obviously, the texture is nothing like a bedliner product but I guess it would depend on how much you want or need. I think I could have gotten a little more texture by adding more filler but I was also mindful of affecting the adhesion characteristics of the enamel with the filler so I tried to err on the light side.

 

[jadonk]

The texture in your photo is pretty similar to how my epoxy coating looks. I used a fairly long napped roller to lay it down (1/2 inch nap I think) to get that texture. I didn't think ahead that I would need to roughen the epoxy coating for the final paint. ?‍♂️ Otherwise, I would have focused more on getting that coating smooth and imparting the texture at the paint phase as you did. Probably won't be too big a job to run over it all with a DA and smooth it out. I ordered some velcro backed scuff pads that I'll try on the DA too. Thinking those might get down into the low spots and be enough abrasion for paint to stick. Either way it looks like I'll be working with the sander this weekend.

 

[NOPEC]

The texture in your photo is pretty similar to how my epoxy coating looks. I used a fairly long napped roller to lay it down (1/2 inch nap I think) to get that texture. I didn't think ahead that I would need to roughen the epoxy coating for the final paint. ?‍♂️ Otherwise, I would have focused more on getting that coating smooth and imparting the texture at the paint phase as you did. Probably won't be too big a job to run over it all with a DA and smooth it out. I ordered some velcro backed scuff pads that I'll try on the DA too. Thinking those might get down into the low spots and be enough abrasion for paint to stick. Either way it looks like I'll be working with the sander this weekend.

From what I understand, it is all about knocking the glaze off of the surface, whether it be paint or fiberglass and then ensuring everything is super clean prior to coating.

I used the 3M scuff pads as well on my RO sander and they really worked well. I don't think you'll have to take your current surface down too much (and wreck all of your nice texture...) in order to get a nice fresh dull surface for primo adhesion.