refinishing exterior

[the hunter]

So after my winter trip in my tear drop the paint on it didnt hold up to well, im not sure what it was painted with. the guy i got it from said he used home depot exterior house paint so i want to repait it with something better and a high gloss what wood you recomond?? thanks for your input..

[working on it]

schaney said:

After six years out in the weather, I have retired my Durabak test panel.
As a recap, the test panel was a piece of bare 9mm marine grade Okoume plywood. Only the top was coated. It was then positioned horizontally in full sun outside. Over the last 6 years it has seen low 20’s – low 100’s, 220+ inches of Oregon rain, snow for weeks at a time, many freeze-thaw cycles and baked in the sun.

I’m happy to report the Durabak has held up fine with only minor fading. Because I didn’t coat the whole panel, some rot has developed, but not under the Durabak. You can poke at the edges and get no sign of lifting.

I’m assuming with a good scrubbing and a coat of 303 Protectant the panel would easily be good for many more years. As discussed before, aging of your compact camping trailer’s finished if stored indoors is some what like dog years. One year of full weather exposure on a finish, is roughly equal to the exposure a trailer stored indoors would see in 5-7 years.

So conservatively, a Durabak coated compact plywood camping trailer stored indoors would have a finish life expectance of 25+ years.

After deciding to use Minwax polyurethane as a basecoat, and Tractor Supply farm implement paint(made by Valspar) for the sides , and "reflective" aluminum silo paint (on upward facing surfaces), I researched for a coating that would cover, repair, and make weatherproof any future problems I might have with those original paints. Long ago I had decided that Durabak would fill the bill, as schaney's test proves. It should work for you too.