Chalking on my unit

[HuntExPow]

2012 Mobile Suite. Unit has been waxed every 6 months since purchased in Oct 2012. Was waxing yesterday in the shade and the unit looked great. After I quit waxing and the sun got around to the side where I wax the white part looked terrible. All streaked like. I did notice that there was quite a bit of chalking this time for some reason before waxing. What is causing this and what can I do to fix it ?

[kathydavidb]

Is it possible that your roof needs to be cleaned and treated? Are the streaks coming from the roof and streaking the sides? Mine did that and once I cleaned and sealed the rubber roof the streaking stopped. Just a thought. Dave.

[RBH]

Chalking (fading) certainly does happen on gel coat but it usually takes longer than your 2 years to become apparent and it usually shows up on the end caps first, although I don't know why. Gel coat is manufactured with uv protectant built in but it loses effectiveness over time. Perhaps your unit didn't get as much uv protection in manufacturing. In my case the side that faced south in my storage place faded badly over the 6 years that I have owned it and no amount of waxing or polishing would bring it back. Gulping hard, my wife and I employed the floor finish fix to the entire unit and after much manual labor couldn't be happier with the results, it really looks like new. The alternative is to have the unit painted and clear coated for several thousand dollars. Once gel coat fades waxing and polishing is not very effective.

 

Rich

[SIBERNUT]

When you've given up on the compound/wax, try Poli-Glow.

[RBH]

Poli-Glo is just a super expensive way to buy Zep wet look floor finish. $60 a quart vs $15 a gallon for the Zep.

 

Rich

[Desertswimmer]

Second that Rich! Zep wet look took very little effort to look fantastic even on our vintage class c! I would also suggest Bartenders Friend for any chalkiness. Removes any oxidation too, gently use 3m type scrubbie with water. I did this first, then washed, then the Zep wet look. Found the Bartenders Friend and Zep at Home Depot. The Bartenders Friend was 1/2 the price there compared to Walmart. Go figure.

[GlennWest]

Is it possible that your roof needs to be cleaned and treated? Are the streaks coming from the roof and streaking the sides? Mine did that and once I cleaned and sealed the rubber roof the streaking stopped. Just a thought. Dave.

What do you seal the roof with? Mine caulks badly also

[Bobq21]

Hi, for the OP, I had noticed the same thing on my unit and as you say its really only visible in the right light. What I did was to get a good wax/cleaner and using an orbital buffer waxed/cleaned it and in some cases I had to go over an area twice. It took awhile but it does look good now. I think that what happens is the all those layers of wax create a buildup and have to be removed, at least thats my theary and I'm sticking to it. Try it you'll like the results!
BobQ

[Kirk W]

Usually when the fiberglass components begin to show signs of chalking it is an indication that the gel-coat that is applied as final coat to fiberglass has deteriorated or is gone. There are many products which will bring back the shine for a time, but for a permanent solution you may need to have new gel-coat applied.

[TxCowboy]

Kirk, any idea what a new gel-coat would cost?

[rdickinson]

I'd be inclined to go full wrap vinyl on the body and repaint the front and back caps with some bullet proof paint like Imron to match main color of vinyl. Make sure sides of slideouts are included.

Maybe 4-5 k for wrap and another 2-3 for painting caps. I went with wrap on mine.

 

Red paint is more expensive than most others. FYI

 

Roger

[Alie&Jim's Carrilite]

You generally don't re-gelcoat a RV. Boats may-be, Yacht's get painted with an epoxy based paint like Awlgrip or Alexseal.

RV's generally get painted with a decent Automotive paint that has UV protection. Everything from do it yourself to professional 50k jobs are available.

[Kirk W]

Kirk, any idea what a new gel-coat would cost?

It has been quite a long time since I had that sort of work done, but you should be able to get an idea by contacting a fiberglass shop. An auto painter might also be able to do that job.

 

I would agree that it probably would cost no more and possibly less to have a full paint job done.

[Honorman]

Painting a Motorhome is not that hard with the new type poly something type paint, I had a accident with my motorhome and messed up the paint on the top side by awning, I taped off the decals and covered other parts with painters paper that I did not want paint to get on.

 

I had a $200 spray gun I bought 30 years ago that would be $400-500 today my guess,

 

I sprayed it 2-3 light coats high gloss two part paint (one can hardener) one can paint...not cheap.. exact match to old paint, when I would get a run in the wet paint just put painters tape on the run and pull off and keep painting... works great... a trick I learned from house painters,

 

Anyway my paint job still looks like a factory job and I did that 5 years ago. of course I did not clean my best paint gun out good enough and finished with a $15.00 Harbor Freight type gun, I never needed a clear coat, it shines like just out the factory door after all this time.

 

That paint turned rock hard in my gun even after I cleaned it with a good cleaner. But the $15.00 gun worked as good as my good gun.

 

Since I only painted the top part half way down...to the decal I notice it ever time I look at the motorhome, makes me want to paint the whole motorhome.

Bragging I know.. But it really looks Great and only took a little time and 2 ruined paint guns... most taping off decals. If I had time I think I could take old Motorhomes and repaint them to look like new.