Paint suggestions

[Tucson]

Greetings:
I am about 2/3 done with a slide in built from foam/wood frame & fiberglass with two layers of fabric and three layers of resin. Thinking ahead what do others suggest for exterior paint? It will be going directly over the fiberglass.

I see many people using truck bed liner but I'm wondering if tractor/implement paint would work. Certainly less expensive and probably easier to apply. Also, would regular exterior house paint suffice? Suitable primer is assumed. I have an HVLP sprayer and an automotive type gun as well as brush/roller of course.

 

[NOPEC]

Greetings:
I am about 2/3 done with a slide in built from foam/wood frame & fiberglass with two layers of fabric and three layers of resin. Thinking ahead what do others suggest for exterior paint? It will be going directly over the fiberglass.

I see many people using truck bed liner but I'm wondering if tractor/implement paint would work. Certainly less expensive and probably easier to apply. Also, would regular exterior house paint suffice? Suitable primer is assumed. I have an HVLP sprayer and an automotive type gun as well as brush/roller of course.

Tucson

A few years ago, I used a one part Coronado brand industrial polyurethane rust paint called "Rust Scat" to do the exterior of a fiberglas truck camper I had redone. It is found in Benjamin Moore stores and the same paint is now called something else, thank goodness. I wanted to have some texture in the paint and looked hard at the higher end bedliners but went the paint route for a few reasons. Easy to get any colour in the BM palette, moderate cost, readily available at my local paint store, easy to apply, I could buy a pint later for touch up or contrast colour, etc.

The local paint guys were very knowlegeable and took an interest in my project (small town stuff..). They were positive it would work well. They suggested the usual meticulious prep and then multiple thin coats, allowing very generous drying times between layers. No primer required. I wanted some texture so I ultimately used West System brand Collidial Silica filler mixed (to kind of a thin slurry consistency) in one of the early coats and applied it like all of the other coats with a roller. The paint guys didn't know what would happen if I used the filler with one of the coats but in the end there were zero ill effects. At the end of it, I could not have been happier.

I suggest searching"Rust Scat" on this forum for a considerable discussion over a post I made on that camper build and the exterior finishing part of it. Rust Scat is designed to be a metal paint and for that reason when some folks on this forum contacted the Benjamin Moore technical people at head office, they would not endorse it's use on an non-metal substrate. For me, four years after the fact, it looks as good as the day I applied it with nary a hint of a bonding or fading issue. Obviously, you have your own set of parameters and no doubt will do lots of research before you commit to anything, 'cause it ain't easy to undo this stuff... Good luck

 

[Tucson]

Thanks for sharing your info. I hadn't heard of Rust Scat but I'll look it up. Glad it worked for you.

 

[rruff]

I used Corotech Aliphatic Urethane v515: https://media.benjaminmoore.com/Web...ts/TDS_V515/20180806 Corotech V515 TDS EN.pdf

They have other slightly different types. This is a 2-part paint, of a type typically used on boats. I had some issues that might be related to my lack of experience, putting it on too thick, and using a roller, and maybe cold temperature. Later when I applied an additional thin coat in warmer temperatures it worked fine. It seems to be very durable.

 

[Tucson]

Just looked up Corotech, interesting paint and nice prices. I'll put this on the short list.
Thanks for your suggestion