We're about to start to paint the Barth. We first are recoating the roof with Anvil 400, the same material used by Barth originally. It lasted well for 24 years. Will have that finished this weekend. Next is to paint the area from the edge of the roof down to the awning rail on both sides as well as the front and rear caps. We have stripped those areas down to aluminum, (plastic on the right and left sides of the front cap, will use self etching primer, and acrylic enamel. Question is this: There are riveted seams where the front and rear caps meet the side curved sections. Those seams seem to have been sealed when the coach was put together, but no bondo or other body filler used. Should we use a paintable silicon sealer in those seams before we prime them?

Jim and Tere, The body shop that painted our Barth used a product on the seams made for sealing automotive seams before painting. Owner is Terry Davis, shop is Collision Pros, in Thomson, GA. Don't have his number but you might give him a call to get the product name.

Nick

Visit an autobody supply store, like NAPA or Sanels. There are many products available such as 3M seam tape, epoxy sealers and Sikaflex which are designed to seal and not crack the paint. My caution, use as little as is possible to do the job and clean well prior to adhering.

Although incredibly expensive, Epoxy Primer is some amazing stuff! It will literally stop corrosion in its tracks, but requires supplied air on application due to its toxicity.

I highly recommend you get a quote on using epoxy primer!!

I have my own little restoration shop in my barn in NH where I do motorcycle restorations for myself, so I'm speaking to a subject I've had some experience with as both a consumer and a user of the products.

Corey

Good luck,
Corey

quote:

Originally posted by Jim and Tere:
We first are recoating the roof with Anvil 400, the same material used by Barth originally. It lasted well for 24 years. Will have that finished this weekend.

This is one job I know I have to do. Please post some pictures and insider info on what you did.

Did you state that there are 2 types of Anvil 400? Which one will you be using and why? Where did you find the stuff? How many gallons are you using for a 29' roof? What roof prep will you be doing?

I believe, this is the year, I'll be painting myself into a corner for real.

Bill - You can get it here
http://www.anvilpaints.com/400.html

Anvil does not do much promotion of their product for the motor home industry since most of the RV roofs now are rubber. They are much stronger in mobile homes and commercial applications. That said, they will tell you where their nearest distributor is. The one they referred me to in Tennessee knew next to nothing about their products. Anvil then told me to call Sherwin Williams Paints. They didn't know anything either but did order the material for me. They can also get Anvil's seam sealer and primer if you want to use it but Anvil also approved the seam sealer'Pro 4200 brushable', and primer 'SEM Self Etching' I got from NAPA. I gallon of Anvil 450 is supposed to cover 150 square feet. Anvil 400 and Anvil 450 are the exact same thing. 450 is marketed for commercial applications. 400 is marketed for mobile home and RV applications. We are repairing areas of the roof where the original Anvil 400 has flaked off by scrubbing them with a Scotch Brit pad, rinsing with a degreaser, and then going over with a lacquer thinner then 3 coats of primer and finally 2 coats of Anvil 450. Then we will re coat the whole roof with Anvil 450. Before we did any of this, we scrubbed the roof twice with TSP and water, being careful to protect glass and painted surfaces. We also used the brushable seam sealer on all seams before we recoated the roof. Will send pics in a few days after I figure out how to do it.

Just a note - it's best in most cases to use only one coat of primer. The exception is cold galvanizing primer on steel.

Primer is used to provide an adhesive interface between the surface and the overcoats.

Will be interesting to hear any and all information you have to share about this project.

I would like to do my roof this year as well. Was thinking Kool Seal, but now I'm wondering what is best / will last the longest, in comparrison to the products suggested in previous posts regarding roof coatings(???)

I'm not sure what is on mine ...looks-like a "white-in-color" version of "Non-Skid", the stuff the NAVY uses on aircraft weather decks.

...and do you coat right over the existing materials???

How-about the silver stuff that Kool Seal makes??? It too, claims to have fibers in the mixture.

quote:

Originally posted by Medic37:
Will be interesting to hear any and all information you have to share about this project.

I would like to do my roof this year as well. Was thinking Kool Seal, but now I'm wondering what is best / will last the longest, in comparison to the products suggested in previous posts regarding roof coatings(???)

I have owned elderly RVs since the sixties, and found Kool Seal to be a decent roof paint, but not much of a leak sealer.

I have had good success with Liquid Roof/Liquid Rubber. Even at the notorious Fleetwood cap-to-roof joint. Since Barths are better built, LR might be overkill. But, since I have some around, I use it whenever I install another solar panel, a new vent, re-rivet a seam, whatever.