Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Has anybody painted the exterior of their trailer with Rustoleum? I'm not talking about rattle can but the stuff you can buy in the can and either roll or spray on. I have been reading a lot on this on-line and it looks like a great option but thinning it down to the recommended ratio seems like it would run pretty bad on the vertical surfaces of a CT. Any ideas? I'm trying to do this on the cheap, a gallon of RustO is about $30 (for whatever color they have on the shelf) and cheap automotive paint is about $180 for white (not yellow like I want - the store said yellow and cheap do not belong in the same sentence).

I would have preferred not to have to paint the trailer but removing the decal adhesive from the prior owner stripped the paint off right down to bare metal and it almost looks worse now than it did with the adhesive.

Years ago I painted the box of a 14' box truck with Rustolium. I used a real short napped roller and did not thin it. I did good prep work, but do to it's size had to paint outside. Look for a calm day that is overcast. To much sun warms the surface up to much and makes it hard to keep a wet edge. It came out real well for what it was. This will not measure up to a spray job, but from 20 feet it looked great.
I have also done the cab of an old construction truck the same way. But used a small foam roller because of all the contours. Expect some grit in the paint, a few bugs and a slight texture, but it dries hard a rock and held up well for years.

I make a steal canope for my truck and rolled it on as well. As stated use a short nap roller and don't do it in the sun. Do not use a foam roller as it will disolve in a few rolls. I also did not thin. However I used a "Hammer Tone" finsh which is a little more forgiving when looking at the final product. Hard to explain what hammer tone is but comes in a few colours and produces a smooth but bumpy two tone finish. Great for hiding any glue/dust/rust/etc and rock chips in the future. Check out a sample in your hardware store. Also try to roll in one direction like up and down...in strips. You can use a foam brush to dab around the screws if you form drips, just have a bunch of the dollar store ones available. I would dab and cover all the screws first, then if you use hammer tone you will require two light coats on the sides. Practice on the first coat and by the time you are ready to apply the second which will cover all your mistakes, you will be an expert. Two coats are required because the product does a fish eye type thing that makes the paint thick in some areas and thin in the other...again hard to explain. Good luck

A Plus MM wrote:Has anybody painted the exterior of their trailer with Rustoleum?

I just put on my third coat of glossy white on mine yesterday with a 3/8" nap roller. I'm absolutely thrilled how it is turning out. (Ask me in a few years...)

The roof is polyester resin/glass over 1/8 luan. I used regular latex house primer over everything. I'm so impressed with the quality of the rustoleum product; I'm from the days when rustoleum was only for metal and only came in that rusty color.

I noticed the 1 gallon oil based product was available at my local lowes. I was shocked since CA has almost a complete ban on oil based paint. The sales person said they won't be getting any more in once their stock is gone.

I threw the roller away after each coat since the amount of paint thinner required to clean it right was more expensive than the roller it self.

I was going to use the interlux marine paint, but the cost and availability kept me from doing it. Also, I kept reminding myself that this will be stored in my garage and this is 'CAMPING' so it doesn't need to be perfect. If the camper was going to be submerged, I probably would have gone with the marine paint.

I've sprayed many things with red and blue Rustoleum and have been very pleased with how fast and glossy it dried. Overspray isn't that big of an issue and if you choose a nice still reasonably warm (not hot) day the paint flows out really nicely. The paint is too thick, IMHO, to spray right out of the can so a bit of thinning is required.

Compared to automotive paint it's far easier to work with.

I'd use it in a heartbeat. In fact, I'm planning to paint the hulls of a Hobie Cat with it.

Cheers,

Gus

Hi, my trailer is done with Rustoleum (but its the "hammered finish" variety). My son sprayed it on using an HVLP sprayer and the manufacturer's recommended thinner (I don't remember what that product was, but we picked it up at a Shirwin-Williams place I think). He also sprayed my aluminum trim and door trim with a contrasting Rustoleum color. We did have the advantage of being able to apply it inside his shop. That was about 3 years ago & it still looks good. I don't think you'll be disappointed in the process if you want to avoid the high cost of automotive paint.

Good Luck,

Mike


Here you can see some of the texture of the "hammered finish":

Applying the finish:

Ya...thats the stuff...makes anything look smooth and hides any bits.

Painted both of my teardrops with Rustoleum. Love the stuff! I didn't spray it on, so I didn't thin it. I used a roller and did multple coats.

I had a lot better luck with Benjamin Moore's oil based enamel.

I built a camper conversion on my old pickup, the first paint I used was Rustoleum, and I ended up having to redo it a year later. The Ben Moore went on better with less sags and runs, and had better adhesion. Later on it also released stains better..bugs stuck to the Rustoleum and I had to scrub with a scotchbrite to get them off.

A Plus MM wrote:Has anybody painted the exterior of their trailer with Rustoleum? I'm not talking about rattle can but the stuff you can buy in the can and either roll or spray on. I have been reading a lot on this on-line and it looks like a great option but thinning it down to the recommended ratio seems like it would run pretty bad on the vertical surfaces of a CT. Any ideas? I'm trying to do this on the cheap, a gallon of RustO is about $30 (for whatever color they have on the shelf) and cheap automotive paint is about $180 for white (not yellow like I want - the store said yellow and cheap do not belong in the same sentence).

I would have preferred not to have to paint the trailer but removing the decal adhesive from the prior owner stripped the paint off right down to bare metal and it almost looks worse now than it did with the adhesive.

It may lay down better for you if you thin it some.
That slows the drying time down and it can smoothout better for ya.
Also ask the paint store for a cloth strainer. It gets all the lumps out of the paint.
Good Luck
Rando

Oh yeah...And don't forget the Japan Drier. Due to VOC restrictions, the paint co's have taken out most of the quick-drying solvents. Just a tiny bit of Japan Dry will help oil-based paint flash off faster so you get less sags and dust in the finish. It will also harden faster so you can sand for the second coat sooner (i.e. overnight instead of a week).

Well, I'm about 3/4 done with painting. The front and both sides have been painted and the scoop (is that what you call the cap on the top-front of the box?) is painted but has not been re-installed yet. The back doors still need paint and the fenders need modified, painted and mounted and I should be done. In the first picture I had painted the front and part of one side with one coat - sprayed on with a Harbor Freight $15 sprayer, thinned about 3/2 with mineral spirits and no sanding between coats. It's not a high gloss paint like I'm sure it would be if I put some elbow grease into it but hey, it looks a LOT better than it did. So far I have used one quart of paint and one quart of mineral spirits for the yellow. I used a full rattle can of white on the scoop and I am going to use rattle can primer and spray bedliner on the fenders. I'll also buy another quart of the yellow for the doors and maybe another coat on the rest of the trailer. I didn't count the coats going on as it went on much faster than I expected and I was able to apply more coats quickly as it dried fast.

A Plus MM wrote:Has anybody painted the exterior of their trailer with Rustoleum? I'm not talking about rattle can but the stuff you can buy in the can and either roll or spray on. I have been reading a lot on this on-line and it looks like a great option but thinning it down to the recommended ratio seems like it would run pretty bad on the vertical surfaces of a CT. Any ideas? I'm trying to do this on the cheap, a gallon of RustO is about $30 (for whatever color they have on the shelf) and cheap automotive paint is about $180 for white (not yellow like I want - the store said yellow and cheap do not belong in the same sentence).

I would have preferred not to have to paint the trailer but removing the decal adhesive from the prior owner stripped the paint off right down to bare metal and it almost looks worse now than it did with the adhesive.

I have some experience with rustoleum on a vehicle. Three years ago I painted the hood of a pickup with black rustoleum using the thin the heck out of it and use a HD foam roller method. It was a lot of work, but it actually turned out pretty good! I recenty sold it and the buyer, amused at the story of how I did it commented that it was the best paint on the truck! Here is a fairly incredible link to a site that when coo-coo on the subject. http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/sho ... er=2338616

I would however stay away from black as it did tend to oxidize and I had to buff it a couple of times. I understand that the lighter colors are much less prone to oxidize.
Good luck!

By the way I like the yellow you are using.

Me standing by my freshly painted CT at the St Louis RV park. The front running lights still need re-installed and decals on the sides but done other than that.

Turned out really nice! \

I'm filing your experiences away for later use.