Fiberglass roof painting

[deSanford]

A couple of questions..........is the side wall "gel coated" before Monaco paints it? If that is true than why not paint the gel coat on the roof of the RV? I believe that it would be a good idea to paint it to protect the gel coat. What are you views? deSanford or I guess one could polish and wax it.

[Grady Ray]

You can get Rustoleum Topside at Amazon.com
Grady Ray

[sswilson]

Have you searched "Zep" and see what a roof looks like after it's cleaned and done with Zep wet look floor polish?

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j...015_165315.jpg

[wolfer]

3 years ago I put two coats of dicor coating for fiberglass it is an elastomeric product. I took the air conditioners off and the vents. I also purchased a wide tape for the end caps instead of the shiny stuff I have seen this tape has a scrim on top and coated it with the dicor. I cleaned the roof first with THC and it worked great except I did not roughen the surface on the end caps and it peeled right away. It stopped the leaks I had for 3 years then last winter I developed a leak and it was under a solar panel I did not remove on the first coating so I removed it and gave my whole roof another coat and sanded the end caps with 100 grit This time the end caps did not peel. I should be good for another couple years then I will do it again. My coach is 34' long and the first time I used 2 gallons this time I used one gallon and had some left over. It is rather spendy I bought mine at camping world and lassen rv in Albany Oregon. It runs about 85 bucks a gallon but well worth it.

[Spider]

Wolfer thanks for the reply. I do not have any roof leaks but thought about installing the dicor product for the uv and reflective/cooling properties. Does it eliminate the white streak problem at all ? Thanks in advance

[Vanwill]

Somewhat off-topic, but I’ll offer my experience with roof treatments. First, I think the Rustoleum (whether High Performance Oil-Base Enamel or marine deck paint) will do a good job. Just be sure you clean and sand the surface well before painting. I can imagine that peeling enamel paint might present a formidable job to re-do correctly. Rustoleum is a very high-solids paint, and the coating is quite thick.

However, on my roof I used the Zep High Traffic Floor Finish. After VERY thoroughly cleaning, so that the surface was snow white, I applied four coats of Zep. That was six months ago, and it looks great. It is still shiny and smooth, but not slippery, even when wet. I live in an area where there are lots of pine trees, and their needles tend to leave a stain on paint, even clearcoat, if they get wet and sit for a long time. The stains do not stick to the Zep. Additionally, since it is essentially Mop & Glo on steroids, if you decide you do not like it, you can strip it off easily. I was about to paint my roof with Rustoleum, but did this as an interim solution. Now, I think it is the permanent solution I’ll choose from here on.

But what I wanted to tell you about is using Rustoleum for another roof job. Even after thoroughly cleaning my roof, and getting all the gelcoat surface snowy white, I could not scrub the self-leveling sealant with anything that brought it back to bright white, including the “Purple Power”-type products. I tried everything I could think of, including scrubbing with xylol. The xylol worked best, but it still did not make the sealant bright white again. Then I noticed the sealant tube said the sealant could be painted. Bingo! After scrubbing all the sealed areas with xylol and letting them dry thoroughly, I painted all the sealant with white Rustoleum High Performance Enamel. I let that dry for two days before applying the Zep. I now have a roof I’ve not seen on anything but new coaches. It is slick, shiny, and bright white over every square inch, sheds dirt and does not stain. The Rustoleum-coated self-leveling sealant cleans easily.

As for roof cleaning, I’ve tried just about everything, including power scrubbers equipped with Scotch-Brite non-abrasive pads. Nothing I’ve tried works as well as Purple Power-type products and non-abrasive Scotch-Brite. However, I’ll bet there are a lot of users out there who have tried Purple Power-type products and ended up with a big mess—a coach with streaks all down its sides. I had already made that mistake once. So this time, I used a simple procedure to insure not one drop of cleaner went down the sides of the coach. It may sound ridiculous at first, but simply do this—when you start on your roof, do one small section at a time using full-strength Purple Power and when finished scrubbing, WIPE IT UP with paper towels. You’ll go through less than two rolls of towels on a full roof. You just toss them over the side and pick them up when you’re done. As I said, my roof is snow white and shiny, including all the sealant areas.

Perhaps some folks will chime in with grave warnings about Purple Power, but I’ve been doing this for a lot of years, and never encountered any ill effects. I’ve never “neutralized” the surface after cleaning, as I’ve seen suggested. I just scrubbed it with soap and water afterward.

Van W 2000 Dynasty 36 pulling one Harley
Eastern NC

[Steve Ownby]

Originally Posted by Vanwill

Somewhat off-topic, but I’ll offer my experience with roof treatments. First, I think the Rustoleum (whether High Performance Oil-Base Enamel or marine deck paint) will do a good job. Just be sure you clean and sand the surface well before painting. I can imagine that peeling enamel paint might present a formidable job to re-do correctly. Rustoleum is a very high-solids paint, and the coating is quite thick. However, on my roof I used the Zep High Traffic Floor Finish. After VERY thoroughly cleaning, so that the surface was snow white, I applied four coats of Zep. That was six months ago, and it looks great. It is still shiny and smooth, but not slippery, even when wet. I live in an area where there are lots of pine trees, and their needles tend to leave a stain on paint, even clearcoat, if they get wet and sit for a long time. The stains do not stick to the Zep. Additionally, since it is essentially Mop & Glo on steroids, if you decide you do not like it, you can strip it off easily. I was about to paint my roof with Rustoleum, but did this as an interim solution. Now, I think it is the permanent solution I’ll choose from here on. But what I wanted to tell you about is using Rustoleum for another roof job. Even after thoroughly cleaning my roof, and getting all the gelcoat surface snowy white, I could not scrub the self-leveling sealant with anything that brought it back to bright white, including the “Purple Power”-type products. I tried everything I could think of, including scrubbing with xylol. The xylol worked best, but it still did not make the sealant bright white again. Then I noticed the sealant tube said the sealant could be painted. Bingo! After scrubbing all the sealed areas with xylol and letting them dry thoroughly, I painted all the sealant with white Rustoleum High Performance Enamel. I let that dry for two days before applying the Zep. I now have a roof I’ve not seen on anything but new coaches. It is slick, shiny, and bright white over every square inch, sheds dirt and does not stain. The Rustoleum-coated self-leveling sealant cleans easily. As for roof cleaning, I’ve tried just about everything, including power scrubbers equipped with Scotch-Brite non-abrasive pads. Nothing I’ve tried works as well as Purple Power-type products and non-abrasive Scotch-Brite. However, I’ll bet there are a lot of users out there who have tried Purple Power-type products and ended up with a big mess—a coach with streaks all down its sides. I had already made that mistake once. So this time, I used a simple procedure to insure not one drop of cleaner went down the sides of the coach. It may sound ridiculous at first, but simply do this—when you start on your roof, do one small section at a time using full-strength Purple Power and when finished scrubbing, WIPE IT UP with paper towels. You’ll go through less than two rolls of towels on a full roof. You just toss them over the side and pick them up when you’re done. As I said, my roof is snow white and shiny, including all the sealant areas. Perhaps some folks will chime in with grave warnings about Purple Power, but I’ve been doing this for a lot of years, and never encountered any ill effects. I’ve never “neutralized” the surface after cleaning, as I’ve seen suggested. I just scrubbed it with soap and water afterward. Van W 2000 Dynasty 36 pulling one Harley Eastern NC

Thanks for the write up Van. I may try the Zep next time.

I will stick with the Mr Clean Magic Eraser for the cleaning step however. Just wet the roof and use a bucket of plain water to rinse the mop head. Scrub easily with a Magic Eraser sponge mop head and rinse well. This step takes less than 1 hour. I've been following this with M&G but may give your Zep idea a try.

[wolfer]

I never had any chalking on my 94 Safari and owned it since 1991.

[obwahn]

Originally Posted by wolfer

I never had any chalking on my 94 Safari and owned it since 1991.

You must be in a time warp if you can own a 94 since 91. :-)

[Spider]

I have tried the zep but only applied two coats. In the Las Vegas heat it yellowed and pealed off in spots in three months. Looking for something more long term than three months