To solve the issue, I stripped off all of the raptor liner with a heat gun and paint scraper. Then I sanded anything that was left back down to bare wood. From there, I reapplied Kilz 2 primer to the wood and then applied .029 painted aluminum 3105. I bought it from Metal West in Ogden Utah, but I know they have branches all over the place. To apply the aluminum, I placed a bead of silicone around the outside. The doors and other hardware, along with the aluminum trim helped to hold the pieces on. I know there are a lot of differing views on how best to apply aluminum to a camper, so I used a little bit from everyone's playbook. I definitely wouldn't apply silicone or other adhesives under the whole sheets of aluminum. On my first weekend out, I could tell how much the metal expanded in the heat. If I glued the whole thing down, I can only imagine the weird ripples and bubbles that I would get. Instead, I just got one barely noticeable bubble. I'm not sure if there would be any bubbling if I did a true "float" of the aluminum. My aluminum trim was screwed through the edge of the aluminum sheets in some places, so it isn't 100% floated.
All of the trim pieces have either silicone or butyl tape on before they were screwed down. I also used a black silicone after everything was done to clean things up and fill in any open gaps between the trim and the aluminum sheets. I could probably throw this thing in the lake and have it float. It should be very sealed up from the elements. Let me know if you have any questions are suggestions for the next time I do it (I am building another one now).
You can see my process in the video below.
- before again.jpeg (127.35 KiB) Viewed 523 times
- During.jpeg (118.8 KiB) Viewed 523 times
- Camper Resurfaced.jpeg (152.89 KiB) Viewed 523 times