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Steverino · 10-03-2013, 07:30 PM

Just wanted to report on a project I just finished on our 2000 Jayco. We bought it used out of Florida, and the exterior vinyl graphics were badly faded and severely cracked.

I tried to get the original Jayco graphics, but they were no longer available from Jayco or Jayco's original supplier. I took the rig to a local truck graphics company, but they wanted $2,000 to reproduce & install the graphics, and that didn't include removal of the old stuff.

So, I did a bunch of Googling & searching. Ended up dealing with a nice guy at Graphics RV - Performance Graphics (no affiliation, BTW). He has lots of vinyl graphics overruns from various manufacturers, and for $75, he has a guy who will use those overruns to design a new scheme for your rig. I received an email with the suggested design (in color) and then ordered the necessary graphics from him. Cost for those was about $500. I probably spent another $100 in various supplies.

Hardest part was removing the old stuff. I used a combination of a hairdryer/heat gun, a sharp chisel, acetone, and a couple of graphics eraser wheels mounted in a drill. Lots of patience, and occasional bouts of colorful language. Once all of the old stuff was off, I went over all of the fiberglass with a cutting pad & polishing compound on a random orbit sander.

Installing the new vinyl was the easy / fun part. The results are below. This weekend I'm going to put a coat of Poli-Glow on the whole thing and call it done. Took most of the summer (I work full time & have kids!) but it was worth it.

CaptBill · 10-03-2013, 07:34 PM

Fantastic! What a nice improvement, and for not a lot of money (but a lot of work, I'm sure

Steverino · 10-03-2013, 07:41 PM

Thanks! Let's just say I'm pleased with the outcome and equally pleased that I'm on the other side of it...

LandKinaMoho · 10-03-2013, 07:52 PM

Great share, I am at sniffing the tone stage...maybe by next summer it will be finished. No big rush.

96 Wideglide · 10-03-2013, 08:00 PM

Nice job

!

Man does that thing have some serious rear overhang

.
I'll bet your carefull pulling away from the pumps

!

SarahW · 10-03-2013, 10:58 PM

Good job; it really looks great.

Doggy Daddy · 10-03-2013, 11:13 PM

New decal look nice.
Photo's reflect the new decals did not cover the location of the original decals. With more than ten years of the sun's rays, I expect you still have visible shadows (ghost images) of where the original decals were located even after using rubbing compound. Am I right or wrong?

Steverino · 10-04-2013, 07:39 AM

@ Wideglide: Yep, the overhang is kinda ridiculous. I do have to be mindful of the tail wag, but (knock on wood) haven't swiped anything yet. Only drug the hitch once - guess if that becomes an issue I'll install casters.

@ Doggy: Yes, I do have some ghosting. Where the old bluish stripes were, the ghosting is minor and only really a slight difference. Where the old maroon stripes & letters were it's worse - evidently the maroon allowed for more severe sun baking to happen and it's almost like the color baked into the 'glass. The worst spot is where the "Designer" lettering is on the front of the cabover. I even tried wet-sanding it with 1000 & 2000 grit but couldnt remove it. I was hesitant to get too aggressive with it, not knowing what the "point of no return" would be. I am hopeful that over time some of the ghosting will fade...

akeyzoo · 10-04-2013, 02:11 PM

Looks great Steve!

On the sanding, there is a point of no return depending on how thick your gelcoat is.

On my old TT I found the rubber wheel would leave a yellowing on the fiberglass if i used the eraser wheel with rotation from "old vinyl to bare". It is like it transferred the vinyl glue to the bare fiberglass. Lesson was make sure the rotation of the wheel relative to your position meant the robber disc went from bare fiberglass TO the old vinyl. Ack.

stink · 10-04-2013, 02:16 PM

Looks great!! I just finished removing all the stripes on my rig and have one more to paint.

Penster · 10-04-2013, 02:17 PM

Wow it looks fantastic!!!!

Steverino · 10-04-2013, 03:55 PM

Thanks everyone!

@ akeyzoo - yes, I noticed the same thing with the erasers. Fortunately, it seems that the eraser yellowing was easily removed with the polishing compound.

Our fiberglass gelcoat isn't the super-smooth boat type. You can see some fiber-like ridges in the surface. So I was concerned that I didn't have too much to work with. As it was, the sanding I did made those areas completely smooth (which was fine).

MSHappyCampers · 10-04-2013, 06:27 PM

Great job!

ScottF · 11-23-2018, 02:27 PM

Outstanding. I removed all vinyl graphics on the 2002 Monaco Diplomat 38’ I bought in Tucson. It took me a month to rubber wheel and then sand the entire rig above the lower belt. Sanded wet, 400 800 1000 1200 1500 2000. Gently all the way. Shines like mad now. Shadows minimal in places and you have to be right next to it find those few.

The maroon vinyl was the worst. Bled. Lots. Thus the sanding. The gray was bad, hard to remove. It seemed thicker.

All of it was cracked badly, unremovable any other way

It needs graphics and I will follow your lead. Plus I will order 2 sets and in 3 years I will pull them and replace. Much better that baked on and cracked again and I am too old to want to do what I did.