Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Has anyone tried or had any success with metallic paint such as rustoleum's oiled based metallic aluminum paint? I really like the look of aluminum skin but don't especially want to fork out the money for it. I wonder maybe if applied correctly, metallic paint could have an even finish? how would the metallic paint wear with the properties the plywood that its on? Im guessing it would definitely need several clear coats on top.

If I paint a finish on, I'm leaning towards using a marine plywood like okoume to avoid delamination if any water got into the wood. I figured if I use aluminum or filon then delamination wouldn't matter so much so I could use luan without much worry.

You would need several heavy coats of sealer on the plywood prior to paint application. A high build auto primer might work followed by sanding to level it out. Then possibly a few coats of a good base coat for more sealing. From my time painting if not already owned the cost of the paint material and time could be very close to actual aluminum skin. As fuel prices climbed so did two part euros and thinners and primers.

Tim

My son is a professional painter, so he has good spray equipment and is skilled in its use. I wanted a somewhat aluminum looking exterior, but wanted the simplicity of a paint job. So here is what we did: 2 coats of CPES, 2 coats of oil based primer and 4 coats of Rustoleum oil based "Hammered Aluminum" paint. We also used Rustoleum "Hammered Brown" for the door trim and aluminum edge molding, and exposed parts of the frame (color combination sounds odd, but, the finished product worked very well together. I don't know if there is any metal content in the paint, but it takes a close look and you still have to ask "is that paint?". My TD is garaged, so it doesn't sit out in the weather 24-7. I like it and would do it agian.

Here's the finished product


In this shot you can get an idea of the hammered finish - Close up. The hatch latch & bumper are painted with the brown hammered finish.

wow that looks great! I think I may go that route too. I'm assuming you all used a regular paint sprayer? like you would paint a wall with, not some kind of automotive paint sprayer?

I don't know a lot about paint spraying equipment. I was fortunate to have a pro do this for me at no cost except for the materials I know it was not done with an air compressor and spray gun. He used one of the "high volume - low pressure" (HVLP) units and it works on 110v household current. Its a fairly expensive unit to buy. I think cheaper versions are available, but, I can't say how well they work.

Here's my son at work spraying the aluminum paint in his shop:

I don't quite understand why the coat of CPES matters at all if it's so far under all those coats of primer and rustoleum. Can anyone explain that to me? It isn't just a waste of time and money?

You need something to seal the wood to apply the paint to. It will also smooth out the plywood and give the paint a nice smooth base to lay on and the paint will cure evenly. Just how nice your top coat comes out depends on the prep work you did underneath. Paint doesn't hide poor substrate work. Just my opinion. Doug

I have done both CPES and Aeromarine epoxy. lets talk cost for CPES you are looking at about 120$ for a gallon. For AeroMarine 300/21 (1 1/2 Gallon Kit) - Total yield of 1.5 gallons epoxy. looking at 91 plus shipping. for an extra 10 dollars you get meter pumps so worth it. There is also West Epoxy for 1.25 gallon your looking at 150$.
I used teh CPES and Aero and i was happy with both. i ran out of CPES and bought the aero to finish it and when i do this again i am going with the aeromarine. Becky (Oldragbaggers) uses West and she is happy with it. For a trailer you will need about gallon and half to two gallons. I thing using some sort of epoxy will just had a another layer of protection.

If you are doing any sort of painted or sprayed on finish, is it considered total standard procedure to apply CPES? Would omitting it be foolhardy? Or is there a less expensive alternative for it? If doing a bedliner finish, would it be wise to use CPES, or in that case could it be omitted?

Just my opinion, but I've always built the surface with epoxy for a sprayed on auto paint. It flattens the wood out and builds thickness much quicker than CPES. Once you put a layer of CPES on, it's done it's thing. It's a penetrating sealant. Subsequent layers won't penetrate any more than the first one did. You want to build thickness to sand down to flatten it. Epoxy does it much quicker. I'm sure others opinions will differ, they always have on this subject. Epoxy also gives you the option of additives for a variety of uses, and is much more viscous than CPE$ making application much more user friendly. Of course if you don't know how to apply it that really doesn't matter. Doug

I used CPES and epoxy before applying aluminum skin - extreme overkill but I was a newbie and it helped me to sleep better at night.

As Doug said, CPES penetrates and does not fill in the pores (unless you use many multiple coats.) It does provide a good base for other finishes including epoxy. If you use CPES, you need to wait 2-3 weeks before adding any different type of finish. CPES takes that long for all of the solvents to out gas. Apply it outdoors and use a respirator.

What kind of coverage (gal/sqft) do you get with CPSE? 300/21?

Just trying to figure out how much I need for my project.

I painted my minit@b all over with hamerite. Under the painting there are one layer of epoxy and one layer of epoxy with glasfiber.