Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am planning to paint the sides of our tear to closely match our tow vehicle. I would like to coat the entire cabin with an epoxy of some kind. (Suggestions?) Question is, can I paint over the epoxy?

Yep. Check out my build here: http://www.overlandtrailer.com/body-external/. I painted mine with marine paint. After a year it is still beautiful and I have no complaints.

Looks great. I hope mine turns out half this nice.

You can even use Auto paint with epoxy.....

You need to remember that how good your paint job comes out is completely dependent on how much time and effort you put into the subsurface. A paint job doesn't hide anything, it amplifies it. 1 or 2 coats of epoxy isn't going to do it. If you want it to be like an auto finish in terms of smoothness, it's going to take a while to build it up, with much sanding and effort between coats. I think it's worth it, but don't cut any corners as you might not be happy with the results. Just my experience. Doug

Second that! However, a good "hiding" or "filling" primer may make life a little easier when you are "almost there". IMO, finishes with countless hours of hand time generally go unnoticed by many, but a half ass, super shiny job can look like hail damage, or worse. There is a reason rat rods are flat black.

You need to remember that how good your paint job comes out is completely dependent on how much time and effort you put into the subsurface. A paint job doesn't hide anything, it amplifies it. 1 or 2 coats of epoxy isn't going to do it. If you want it to be like an auto finish in terms of smoothness, it's going to take a while to build it up, with much sanding and effort between coats. I think it's worth it, but don't cut any corners as you might not be happy with the results. Just my experience. Doug

I can testify from personal experience to what Doug said. I put 4 coats of polyester resin, sanding between each coat, and even tried to hide the wood grain with glazing putty. Each coat of polyester resin (basically same application as epoxy resin) plus the sanding killed a day.

If I had opted to stop at the primer stage (when the imperfections become very obvious) and tried to make it glass smooth, it could have easily added several more days to my build.

My final paint coat laid down with quite a bit of eggshell, which actually worked out fine as it didn't amplify the flaws quite as much.

Read the instructions carefully on the epoxy you use. There is a window between application and painting that must be adhered to. If you wait too long, you need to sand before applying paint.. not too big of a deal. The polyester resin I used had a very long window, almost a week.

Corvettes have been painted over f/g since 1953

Corvettes have been painted over f/g since 1953

This just emphasizes the point! You can get an awesome outcome if you are willing to put in the work necessary!!

yup, putting on the paint is just the last step. the real job is the prep work. you might as well say it is the whole job and the paint just makes it the colour you want..

you need to make the surface smooth and that's pretty easy but you need to make it flat too. running around the surface with an RO sander won't do it, you need to hand block it. Dura Block makes good ones and you can get them at most auto supply stores.. get the longest one you can.

http://www.dura-block.com/durablockline.html

If you watch any of the auto restore shows; they get body panels as straight as possible then sand, lay on a "THIN" coat of epoxy filler then sand with the blocks. They prime and sand, prime and sand, etc until it's 'smooooth'. Then they shoot the color

I do a lot of epoxy work.. to get it flat after building up the coats I use a scraper plane.. Lee Valley makes a good one but there's other ones that will work just as well.. they're easy to find at swap meets and flea markets too. you can probably pick up a used one for $10.00..

even if you buy a new one it will pay for itself in sandpaper alone and get you where you want to be very quickly to compared to sanding. even faster than power sanding. for a project the size of a TD I wouldn't even try without it..

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.a ... 10&p=46266

this kayak was done with a scraper plane and a full size Dura Block