What would you recommend to remove paint that won't etch the aluminum?

Hi Ken,
We stripped our Barth with regular ol' paint stripper. I just looked to see if I had some left to get the name of it.. I don't, but we bought 5 gallons of the stuff at True Value Hardware. It was in a mostly yellow can. Just make sure you don't use a metal scrapper and it wont hurt the aluminium.
Have fun... John

John, Thanks for your response, Did you consider removing the paint with a presure washer. Can that be done without harming the Aluminum?

A pressure washer will remove only loose paint, but it's a good way to remove it after stripper has been applied.

quote:

Originally posted by ken Partney:
... Did you consider removing the paint with a presure washer.[?] Can that be done without harming the Aluminum?

Do you have well water? You might want to rethink this, or at the very least, do this in an area suited for chemical runoff.

Hey John(Touring Bee)--What did you do with the aluminum after you stripped the paint off it?
Jim

OK,

Yes, We have a well.... big deal, the paint stuff off of the Barth went into a garbage bag and off to the dump. Who knows what Hanford has dumped in my aquifur, what is a couple of oz. of paint remouver gonna do? I have a friend who restored antique airplanes until he retired and He told me to use a bottle of "etching" compound that he had on the parts I wanted to paint... It was Phosphoric acid and it did NOTHING on the Barth!!! We tried to polish the thing out with some airplane stuff my pal recomended, but it was "iffy" at best. I painted the fiberglass "peak" on the front around the whindshield Ford Engine Blue.... Irene hates it, every time I think our 34T is ugly and needs painting, somebody will walk up and tell me how wonderful if looks. Arghhh!!! We just did a 2,000 plus mile trip and with the Gear Vendor and Banks System we got 7 to 8 MPG.(our speedo is dead on every 5 mile test thingy we pass) That's the "good" news.... the "Bad" news is: we were struck by lightning in Utah (Don't say it, I know) and the 50amp service caught fire.... We had come home 15 minutes before and I was able to put the fire out... We'd have lost our cat if we'd not been there! Next, a tire on the tag axle threw it's tread I put the spare on, but we still spent an extra day on the way home in Pocatello, Idaho, finding tires. Since we got home a couple of weeks ago, I've replaced the bearings in the Tag Axle (lots of fun for an old man picking that heavy stuff up) The tag has a tough life.. It gets dragged sideways on every turn it makes. My Instructions that came with the Barth says 20lbs for single tires and 45 lbs for duals" It's called a NewWay Axle( The Tag Axle is really a "DEXTER" Axle... I just bought parts or it so believe me) and honestly, I can't tell if I have 20 or 40 lbs in the airbags, so from now on I'll run 20lbs just to be on the safe side.
We figured out what it cost to run our 34 foot Gas (454) Barth and it came out to 39-40 cents a mile... this is figuring in food, gas and camping fees (and We have our own toilet and our cat is with us) as compared to whatever you can come up with for food gas and hotels/motels for a car, airplane etc....
Cheers, John

So, John, except for the fiberglass "peak",did you just leave it bare aluminum?
Jim

Yes, it is bare aluminum ... Eventually, when we decide on a pattern we like we'll paint it. I doubt there will ever be more than stripes or such on the bare alloy though.
Just read a Trailer Life at the Dentists... WOW, compared to a new Pick-up and a new stick and staple 5th wheeler, the nicest Monarch or Regency is a super bargin!!
Cheers, John

I keep hearing about paint jobs done in Mexico, does anyone know about them? Has onyone seen a coach painted there? I hear that they can get better paint there that we can't get here because of EPA, I would appreciate some first hand information if anyone has any. Thanks

Interesting! I hate our ugly peeling paint problem. Could you post a picture of what yours looks like striped down to just bare aluminum? This might be a solution for us too. Do you wax it or what?

Thanks!

Also, how did you protect the windows and the rubber molding around them while you were doing the stripping?
BTW, I talked to a company in Knoxville that uses plastic beads to remove paint from cars, trucks and even motor homes. They have some trouble with certain types of aluminum. The biggest problem is that they want $2500 just to do the sides. That would buy a lot of paint stripper.

I would also like to see a photo of Touring Bee's stripped Barth. Our 84 is silver paint, but most of the paint is gone with the exception of the stripe. It has a rough surface and Bare aluminum can be seen along with the original paint.

Ken, if you go to search type in"Mexico Paint you can see Ed Gilmore 40 footer he had painted in Mexico for $5000.

Ralph Glover