Have you noticed that trailers age more gracefully than motor homes? It doesn’t make any difference whether you have a 20-foot camping trailer or a 30-foot fifth wheel. For the most part, all come out of the factory white with some vinyl graphics to add color. If you wash and wax them regularly, a 1999 looks pretty much the same as a 2009.
Motor homes, on the other hand, fall victim to annual design changes. Flat-nosed boxes on wheels are becoming more streamlined. Windshields were always two pieces of glass; now one-piece windshields are the designer’s choice. And a single slide-out used to be a big selling point; now, if you don’t have at least three, you are just not with it.
However, the single thing that dates a motor home the most is the paint. When you pull into the RV park for the night, do you think the other coach owners are comparing their coach to yours? Are they counting the number of pop-outs? Wondering how many LCD televisions you have? Nope. The first thing that runs through their minds is “How old do you think that motor home is?” Or, “When did Fleetwood go to full body paint?”
The average RVer can’t afford to buy new every three to four years. And why should they? Most motor homes don’t get driven a ton of miles a year. Most are kept in good condition. And, when you find something that does everything you want, takes you everywhere you want to go, should you care what it looks like?
OK, so you do care. Most factory paint jobs are good for about seven to 10 years depending on how well they are maintained. So it might be about the time when you should be concerned about the finish on your coach. Does it look dull? Can you see paint starting to peel? Are the vinyl graphics fading, cracking or peeling? If you answered yes to any of these questions, and you plan on keeping the coach for another two or three years, then it’s time to repaint.
Painting your coach will add resale value to it, as well as turn heads everywhere you go. The first option we’ll look at is a full-body paint. This means removing any vinyl graphics that are on the coach, as well as removing the clear coat and base coat. The clear coat is a 3-milimeter-thick layer of clear paint with ultraviolet blockers mixed in. The base coat is a 2-milimeter-thick water base paint that contains the toners. Toners are what give the base material color.
Over the next couple of issues, we’ll go through the different processes available to make your motor home a showstopper. We’ll even throw in some before and after pictures. Stay tuned!
Final Touch Coach Works is located at 28532 Livingston Avenue in Valencia. For more information, please call 661-775-8375 and visit www.finaltouch-usa.com .