Exterior Paint

[Keith Moffett Co-Admin]

My roof rails and tops of the end caps are peeling clear coat.  Paint shops are spendy.  Any suggestions?

[LaMonte Monnell]

I just recently redid the end caps and side rails myself on our 2001 Contessa. I had an estimate given by a local rv paint shop and it was unbelievable what they wanted.

So I ordered a bunch of three different sandpapers, and I ordered primer, paint, and clear coat in spray cans and went to work. With the weather in Florida changing constantly and working completely outdoors with calm days and windy days I did it in three weeks.

I am very happy how it turned out and happy with the total cost of the job. I ended up getting a metallic sage green paint for a 2004 Hummer and it was a close enough match for me. Maybe not 100% as a body shop would do it in ideal conditions but the wallet isn't empty and we are happy!

The sandable primer was - T-235-6pk Plastikote/ ordered on Amazon

Clearcoat and paint from Amazon - ColorRite aerosol clearcoat 45wa605H / paint from ColorRite too.

[Joel Ashley]

I have the same issue.  Guaranty's body shop said Monaco never laid down enough layers of clearcoat on their coaches, and the rails (aka radius) and cap tops get the worst solar exposure which is where the common problem is.  They quoted $3-4k without even looking at the coach, as the issue is so common.  BCS doubled that and then some, but they were repairing fiberglass micro-cracking at three of the four cap-to-body-to-radius junctures that Guaranty wasn't.

LaMonte - I respect your wherewithal.  Not sure I have the time or ambition to do what you did - at least to do the job right, like our Beavers deserve.  But then with recent medical bills and new siding and roof on the house, neither are we flush with cash for a pro's effort.  I know I can't fix the cracks as they will take laying fiberglass probably, and there's no point painting until that's done anyway.  Sometimes there's no easy answer.

-Joel

[Adam Hicklin]

Does anyone know the brand of paint used on the SMC era coaches?  I have some color numbers but nothing that identifies the brand.

[Keith Moffett Co-Admin]

Hey Adam
The paint info is available from BCS parts but you should have all that on a decal inside a cabinet in the coach.  Try looking in the bedroom cabinet and the one over the kitchen sink.
I mention this because it is important info.  The kind of paint and each of the colors used on the exterior and where they are used are all on this decal.

[William Ervin]

For the most part they used Diamont auto paint its a BASF product.

Bill

[LaMonte Monnell]

I have the same issue.  Guaranty's body shop said Monaco never laid down enough layers of clearcoat on their coaches, and the rails (aka radius) and cap tops get the worst solar exposure which is where the common problem is.  They quoted $3-4k without even looking at the coach, as the issue is so common.  BCS doubled that and then some, but they were repairing fiberglass micro-cracking at three of the four cap-to-body-to-radius junctures that Guaranty wasn't.

LaMonte - I respect your wherewithal.  Not sure I have the time or ambition to do what you did - at least to do the job right, like our Beavers deserve.  But then with recent medical bills and new siding and roof on the house, neither are we flush with cash for a pro's effort.  I know I can't fix the cracks as they will take laying fiberglass probably, and there's no point painting until that's done anyway.  Sometimes there's no easy answer.

-Joel

I didn't have much choice but to do it myself Joel, I kept putting it off because I didn't know if I could tackle it physically with my medical issues. But I in no way could afford to have it done. Is it perfect, no, but its good enough for the wife and I so its ok. It looks better now than it did before and who knows how long it will last. We have realized with us both on disability you have to tackle things the best you can yourselves or look the other way as money is tight.

I have scraped up enough money at times to take the coach to a shop only to spend a lot of money and leaving quite unsatisfied. It may take me 4 times as long to get a project finished but know when I am done its correct, or as correct as I can do it.

[Edward Buker]

LaMonte,

Good for you, it is the roof, you need not torture yourself trying to be perfect.

Later Ed

[Doug Allman]

Correct on the BASF paint but most paint suppliers do not have it anymore as it is an old style and materials to make. SO,

The last few times I wanted to paint something on the roof, antennas, a/c covers etc I went to NAPA store that has paint shop. They will match extremely close if you take something in for them to analize the color from. They make it in spray cans for your use.

Last winter in Yuma the Napa store made me some for the new storage covers I installed in front of the dual wheel wells for the new small compartment storage. They do a base coat clear coat which is extremely easy to use. Put the flat color down til you are satisfied with color then clear coat it as much as you like.

Yes it is not cheap if you compare it to the rustoleum cost but you are not doing that process on your Beaver. It is the least expensive way to get a matching automotive paint for your coach.

If you need to take a color in there are several covers, refrig vent, dryer vent, air intake vent, and the storage compartment covers that do come off quite easily to be able to let them match the color you need.

For the base coat clear coat it is about $65.00 for the 2 12oz spray cans. I have been quoted $450.00 for a quart of the BASF paint 2 years ago because that shop had some of the catalyst left so they could make it from the formula.

[Joel Weiss]

When I bought my coach ~6 years ago the previous owner provided a set of touchup paints he had matched to specific automotive paints of the period.  My attempts to use the numbers from inside the coach even with the assistance of folks at Industrial Finishes in Bend, who actually supplied the paint, were futile.  They even sent me copies of original drawings which don't seem to correspond to the "as painted" colors on my coach (not all that surprising, I guess).  Believe it or not, the codes from inside the kitchen cabinet in my MH are incorrect!

For my MH I've been able to use the automotive paints provided by the previous owner.  They work pretty well.  The most difficult paint to match is the very strong gold used for the lower portions of my MH.  I just noticed that PaintScratch.com has tried to match some Beaver paints so I just sent them that I think is the code for the gold paint in the hopes that they can match it.

[Bryan Beamon]

Keith
We had our 07 Contessa 42 foot rails and both caps repainted and cleared coated along with repairing 2 stress cracks on the rails for $2000.00.Ynez RV did a great job in one day. They are in Hemet,
California. Their phone # is 951-526-9089.
Good luck, Bryan