WHY OH WHY DO MANUFACTURERS STILL PUT VINYL DECALS ON? First OFF they look SO TACKY! I am removing mine on my 2003 Palisades 362
They inherently dry and crack after about 5 years or less. MOST IMPORTANTLY, I have found, under EVERY bit of the vinyl, where the vinyl has shrunk and cracked, there are fine cracks in the gelcoat exactly at the crack in the vinyl. It is as if the vinyl is pulling the gelcoat apart as it shrinks and cracks! The cracks are only under the removed vinyl decals
Anyone seen this problem?
MANUFACTURERS, TAKE A HINT! QUIT PUTTING THAT CRAP ON THE FIBERGLASS!!!!!!!!! If you want to put tacky designs on RVs airbrush them on or something!
iRV2.com RV Community - Are you about to start a new improvement on your RV or need some help with some maintenance? Do you need advice on what products to buy? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that iRV2 is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!
You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other RV owners, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create an RV blog, send private messages and so much, much more!
WHY OH WHY DO MANUFACTURERS STILL PUT VINYL DECALS ON? First OFF they look SO TACKY! I am removing mine on my 2003 Palisades 362
They inherently dry and crack after about 5 years or less. MOST IMPORTANTLY, I have found, under EVERY bit of the vinyl, where the vinyl has shrunk and cracked, there are fine cracks in the gelcoat exactly at the crack in the vinyl. It is as if the vinyl is pulling the gelcoat apart as it shrinks and cracks! The cracks are only under the removed vinyl decals
Anyone seen this problem?
MANUFACTURERS, TAKE A HINT! QUIT PUTTING THAT CRAP ON THE FIBERGLASS!!!!!!!!! If you want to put tacky designs on RVs airbrush them on or something!
No problem when I took mine off. I went back on with the "tacky" graphics.
__________________
2001 National Tradewinds 7370 300 Cat
2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport
Officially fulltiming. The Journey Begins
Okay old brains. How did you get the decals off.
Our coach is old and a lot of the decals are cracked.
Will there be ghosts from the deals.
What I did (mine were cracked and faded too) I used a 1600w hair dryer and a plastic scraper and my finger nails and finger tips. It's work but it was worth it. When all of the old graphics were off I used denatured alcohol to remove the little bit of adheasive that was left in spots. Then I used a 7" buffer and fiberglass buffing compound to bring back the gloss. Yes you will have "ghosts". I didn't worry about them, just went with a partial paint job and new graphics that covered a lot of the ghosts. Others simply go back with the same type of graphic but maybe with a newer color scheme, making the new graphics slightly larger in size than the ghosts so you'll never know.
__________________
2001 National Tradewinds 7370 300 Cat
2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport
Officially fulltiming. The Journey Begins
Removing the decls leaves some "ghosting" but it polishes out for the most part. RV decoration is the only segment of the recreational market (RVs, Yachts, Airplanes) that embellishes the product with tacky decorations. From the swirls and curls on the body to the mirrors, prisms, horrible color schemes, and patterns on the interior. They make RVs look like the stereotypical "trailer" and their owners the stereotypical "trailer trash".
Why? Do they think RV buyers are all cheapo rednecks that think those designs are "SOOO PURRRRTY"! There is probably a large element of that but, mostly likely, I think they are attempting to bamboozle buyers into believing there is more value with all of that crap on. Look at the rapid deceleration in value of RVs as one example. It is a simple false premise that increases the profit margin.
You do not see this kind of foo foo decorations on yachts or airplanes. You see high quality construction of elements that can stand up to the rigors of continual motion.
So what do you get. A very expensive product new, off of the lot but within a few years components are failing and the decorations are falling apart.
I may be getting off topic here, but the graphics are one example of problems in the RV industry. The marine and aircraft industries have very detailed standards of construction and manufacture based on real experience and scientific study of the forces that equipment in constant motion experience. It is my understanding that RV manufacturing standards must only meet the same standards as in the home/mobile home industry.
This includes things like using wire nuts instead of crimped fittings. Solid Romex wire instead stranded wiring, and even pvc glued plumbing. Even the framing for the box itself is based on home building techniques. These standards are fine for a house or trailer house on a stationary lot but not for something bouncing down the road.
I for one would gladly pay more for quality and reliability without all of the foo foo.
Thanks for your opinion of us trailer trash, but the cost of a full body paint job for my rig was quoted at $26K. The alternative is leaving it all white so you look like a bread van coming down the road. I always feel like what people like is their business and taste varies. I doubt if you'll ever find one rig out there whether painted or using applied graphics that would please your taste unless you invest $500K in a custom rig. I also notice you show nothing as to what kind of rig you own, I'd be interested in seeing photos of your Prevost.
__________________
2001 National Tradewinds 7370 300 Cat
2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport
Officially fulltiming. The Journey Begins
I posted this somewhere else but I had great luck with WD-40, a power eraser, and soft plastic scraper. A lot of work because I removed all my decals but didn't have much choice.
By the way......I totally agree! Why do manufacturers continue to put those vinyl decals all over the RV. Surely there is a relatively cost competitive way of painting them on. For my part they can even consider putting much less stripping on the RVs if that helps in cost...now there's a thought.
I agree 100% with Omnicare's point of view regarding tacky RV decor. By the way, it looks like he's got one of those cheesy "National" coaches...
(Caution: The preceding sarcastic remark was intended as a lighthearted joke. It does not necessarily represent the author's opinion or feelings about RV's manufactured by the defunct National RV company)
If you don't mind me asking, what did the new decaling cost? Wonderful job! .....what do you mean by partial painting?
If you notice the before and after, on the original, the graphics where on an all white body. I had the lower 1/3rd painted and then also had the nose painted to match. The paint is a Nissan grey metallic. The graphics were done in a 3 color scheme of metallic black, metallic burgundy and a metallic that perfectly matches the Nissan grey. The graphics installed ran about $2300. With paint I have about $4500 total. As far as the graphic materials go, there have been a lot of improvements in the material itself in the past 10 years as far as UV resistance. I take care of mine by following the installer's advice. I use boat wax on the entire surface twice a year followed by an application of uv protectant. I have also seen coaches without the graphics either in all white or in a solid color, they look, as I said like large bread vans. The surface areas are just so large that something has to be done graphic wise to break up the large flat surfaces. Again, what ever floats your boat.
__________________
2001 National Tradewinds 7370 300 Cat
2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport
Officially fulltiming. The Journey Begins
Linear Mode
