I considered using a silver elastomeric coating on the roof of mine, but never white (didn't match the color scheme in my head...silver, grey, and black), and I had problems with re-touching the white elastomeric coating on a neighbor's travel trailer, so I chose a silver/aluminum reflective paint, instead. Originally, I had thought of using "Aluthane", but it was mail-order only, so I shopped locally, and bought Valspar Heavy-Duty Aluminum Paint, at Tractor Supply in 2012.
- heavy-duty aluminum paint, oil-based for silos & outbuildings.jpg (66.14 KiB) Viewed 1078 times
It was easy to apply over the wood trailer, previously coated with the "mix" of polyurethane paint + paint thinner (mixed in three different ratios), followed by two coats of straight polurethane. I applied two coats of the silver/aluminum paint at first, then reapplied another coat the next year (mainly to touch-up places where there was marring. After that, I've not needed to touch it up for the past ten years.
Camping in N.Texas and S.Oklahoma, it's usually sunny and warm/hot, in between the Thunderstorms that
ALWAYS happen when I camp (a tradidition that goes back to my Boy Scout days in the early '60s), so I expected that the silver reflective paint on the roof (and hatch, and sloping front)
might help keep the interior cooler, but to what "degree", I had no idea. I chose not to insulate my all-wood trailer cabin, so it did get a little warm inside after a long sunny day, but my A/C cooled the cabin OK, anyway. But I wanted more protection overhead.
I had bought a pop-up canopy to use besides/away from the trailer as a sitting and cooking area (my "galley" has no room for cooking). But, I instead, chose to put the 8'x8' pop-up canopy directly over the 4'x8' trailer itself (4' over the trailer roof, and 4' over the curbside door, which I use as entry/exit, sitting area, cooking area, and it makes the entry into my pop-up potty tent semi-waterproof, during the inevitable T-sorms at night.
With the canopy atop the trailer roof, it acts as a shade to keep the sun off, and cools the trailer a lot. I use a light bvlue canopy, but perhaps a white canopy would've been better (is there a silver canopy?). Anyway, it works for me.
by onehoser » Mon Jul 29, 2024 2:14 pm 
