Re-Coating a Fiberglass Roof ?

[eddie.leblanc@yahoo.com]

I've got a '92 Beaver Marquis that needs attention on the roof. The roof's gelcoat is breaking down and getting quite chalky. It has no major problems but needs constant cleaning and has lost all the shine. I was told by Monoco Service it is probably too costly to remove all the roof attachments and Re-Gelcoat the entire roof. And that the best bet would be a paintable product like Kool Seal.

I've recently had the entire roof resealed. And assume I could wet sand to remove the loose particles. Then apply a paintable coating. Probably masking all the side edges and using a roller or etc. to apply.

I've also had a few boating friends that suggested a good Marine paint like Awl-Grip (Polyester based) that is used on Fiberglass boats. Some of those can be rolled or brush painted with the correct additives. But that material is also quite costly.

I've also seen a paintable product by Di-Cor that is an elastomeric to be used on metal or fiberglass roofs.

I'd like to keep the nice slick appearance of the white gel coat, but don't need an expensive spray paint job costing thousands of dollars.

I may be steering more to the Di-Cor product: Dicor-elastomeric-rv-roof-coating/7731, but there are also the Kool Seal or the Dy-Co 890 products. I'd like to put on a smooth, nice appearing coat, and of course white to match the existing paint scheme. And to also help in the reflection of the heat, here in our hot Texas summers.

Anyone have any experiences with using these products and thier appearance and longevity?

Thanks,

Eddie LeBlanc

'92 Beaver Grand Marquis

'98 Honda Accord V6 EX Toad

[jjgnn@yahoo.com]

This discussion went on at length at the Country Coach forum, and the short version:

To eliminate chalking, making streaks down the side, an easy-cheap way to stop it, use Mop and Glow on top. Mine has been streak free for nearly a year. I applied it with a sponge. Use rubber gloves.

A more permanent solution (sounds like your situation) Bus Coat (Kote?) was the major choice.

[pnixon235]

Eddie

One more suggestion that has worked well for me and lots of fellow Rexhall coach owners. One of our members found a gelcoat re-newer type product and it looks really good. It came from some marine re-finishers in Florida who developed it. The product is called newglass2. It comes as a kit with a cleaner & a coating that gets wiped on with a chamois applicator. Its not hard work but does take some time to thoroughly clean everything and apply several coats. I have absolutely no interest in the company or anything it sells, in fact you'll need to google the company as I don't remember their name. It has made a huge difference in the look of our coach after trying all sorts of things to bring back the shine. Its around $40 for a complete kit along with application tools needed. We did a 35 foot coach. Hope this helps. We did a volume buy with our club members and they gave us a good break on the price per kit. I just looked them up and the website is www.newglass2.com (makes sense!). Good luck with your restoration.

[eddie.leblanc@yahoo.com]

Eddie

One more suggestion that has worked well for me and lots of fellow Rexhall coach owners. One of our members found a gelcoat re-newer type product and it looks really good. It came from some marine re-finishers in Florida who developed it. The product is called newglass2. It comes as a kit with a cleaner & a coating that gets wiped on with a chamois applicator. Its not hard work but does take some time to thoroughly clean everything and apply several coats. I have absolutely no interest in the company or anything it sells, in fact you'll need to google the company as I don't remember their name. It has made a huge difference in the look of our coach after trying all sorts of things to bring back the shine. Its around $40 for a complete kit along with application tools needed. We did a 35 foot coach. Hope this helps. We did a volume buy with our club members and they gave us a good break on the price per kit. I just looked them up and the website is www.newglass2.com (makes sense!). Good luck with your restoration.

I looked it up, and the product looks like a possibility. Does anyone have any experience with the product over time?

It'd be nice to know how long the product lasted and what was done if it started needing reapplication.

[jobert]

A writer on another forum experimented with clearcoat and a roller. It seems to me he used 1 qt of clear w/catalyst and used a paint roller on the roof, and it turned out looking pretty good on the roof. it dried slow enough to flow out pretty smooth and shiny. After application, one could lightly sand and buff if desired or leave as is. He seemed pretty satisfied with the results. Just another direction to look.

Happy Trails Bert

[woodlodge]

I read a post on another forum about a product called Poly Glow and it had a lot of great reviews (as always there was a couple of bad reviews also). It is similar to Newglass2 but had better results according to a comparison test. Don't know who conducted the test (may have been the Poly Glow company). It is a little more expensive ($60). I am planning on trying it on my 2003 WB this spring and will let y'all know how it turns out. You can find it on Google by searching "Poly Glow". If you use it or the Newglass2 I would be interested in how you think it worked. The post did say that it would have to be redone every couple of years but it is a coating product as opposed to the mop glo solution.

[tzimmermn]

The Polyglow and Newglass2 are probably a thined down version of clear coat that takes the place of a wax. They come highly recommended in improving the shine based on the literature out there. They will not correct a painted surface that is severely oxidized where a new coating is needed.

The bus kote is very interesting as it is toted as a "cool" roof coating that has a higher reflective index which may be a desirable feature if spending time in a sunny desert environment. May be something to consider when looking at the various products out there. I would definitly stay with an "enamel paint/gelcoat" like product for the fiberglass roof. The elastomer coatings are more for the rubber roofs membranes based on my limited understanding.

Lots of good advise by others on the thread.

Terry, Amarillo, TX

2007 Winnebago 40FD

[Koliver]

As a boater, I have seen this same debate rage on in the boating forums for years. The consensus is: It doesn't really matter what you use, either a gelcoat, a two part poyurethane paint, an epoxy paint, a one part poly, or a marine enamel. The results will be determined by the amount of effort that goes into the preparation. On my boat, I have sanded the dull parts with 2000 grit wet/dry paper, then polished with a compound, then waxed, and the results are good, but not spectacular. Those who have painted, using the roll and tip method, have a shine that is indistinguishable from a spray job costing thousands more.

You may want to consider adding a non-skid, walnut shells or coarse sand, so that you can still walk on it after a rain. That would go into a second coat, and you can tape off lanes to make it look better.

For lots more information on this topic see www.trawlerforum.com and search.

[OkieDave]

When I bought my 2001 WB, it had spent most of its life outside. I used PolyGlow because it just would not shine using any kind of polish. I was very pleased with the results. Shines a lot better than it did. It has been on there for 2 years now and I gave it a touch-up coat after a year.

The kit comes with a cleaner that removes any kind of chalking or wax that is on it. The cleaner is very easy to use and you just wash it off. Problem is that if you are not going to be doing anything except the roof, you have to be careful when you rinse it off not to get it on the sidewall as it will remove any wax you have there. It takes about 6 coats to get a good shine. Very easy to apply and there is really no rubbing or polishing.

You just keep applying coats until it shines. I did the my whole coach (33 feet) in 2 kind of short days. A kit is enough for the sides of a 33 but you need an extra quart of coating to also do the top. One kit is $63.00. Extra coating would be another $40. There is enough cleaner in the kit for the whole coach. Whole thing would cost about $100.

I tried it because of an ad in FMCA Magazine. Glad I did. Go to their website and watch the video.

[LeeNorman1]

Eddie - Did you ever live in Houston? Around 1968?

[lwasouth]

Our 2005 Itasca Horizon had similar sun damage to the fiberglass roof. I cleaned with TSP and then coated it with White Petit "EASYPOXY". I taped off the perimeter. cut it in with a brush and finished with a roller. This was all done 1 year ago and the roof still looks like new. The reason for the TSP was in the event the previous owner had used a wax type product, it had to all be removed prior to recoating. It will take about 2/3 of a gallon and can be purchased from a marine supplier

[yellowboat]

I too used Polyglow on my 1973 boat about 5 years ago. The sides of the boat still looks good but the top needs to be done again. Instructions said that I should put on one new coat every year. I didn't follow their instructions.

I was getting ready to do my RV and I posted about using Polyglow and someone told me about a thread that discussed Red Max Pro #3. It is very much like Polyglow except it costs a lot less. I coated my RV roof and the front of my RV with RMP #3 about two months ago. So far it is looking great. Both Polyglow and RMP #3 takes about 4 or 5 coats to look good. After that, one coat each year should keep your rig looking great.

Many RV'ers are using RMP #3 to remove oxidation and make their RV's show room fresh. The front of my RV looks better today with RMP #3 than it did when I purchased it new, and bugs are much easier to remove.

Below is a link to people who have used RMP #3 on another RV web site with lots of before and after pictures.

http://www.rv.net/fo...ng/1/page/1.cfm

You can purchase RMP #3 at Lowes for about $17.00 per gallon. Home Depot has a similar product made by the same company but it is named Zep Wet Gloss Finish, and costs slightly more.

Good luck.

JD

[lwasouth]

Petit easypoxy, used the same product and proceedure a year ago - still looks like new. The previous post looks like mine from RV-net

lwasouth

[ElginDeighton]

In my search for a solution to exactly the same streaking problem I found a post on SailboatOwners.com titled Tips For A Great Buff Wax. Take a look at http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=117266. I think it will also be a good solution to another problem asked about in "How do you stop white streaks" farther down the page.

One other thing that may be worth considering would be, to be sure that it is a gelcoat and not paint. I understand that a gelcoat finish is what you may find on older "Classic" coaches and that newer coaches often have clear coat over paint.

I agree that you should use caution when working on a roof, it may be a good idea to find a young person who has faster reflexes and better balance, that's my plan.

Elgin

[dogpatch]

I used Mop n Glo. It worked great. Been over a year.

[tzimmermn]

For what it is worth, Camping World appears to be carrying a fiberglass white paint. I had called manufacture to find out what the cool roof spec qualities were regarding reflectivity and emisitivity value over the visible and ir light spectrum. I did not get much info on the paint. However, it appears to be a white white pigmented paint. Cool roof properties are unknown. Bus kote may still be best bet.

[wheels]

Try the RV roofing people . I did and it worked very well. You just paint it on with a roller. Very easy to apply.

You can call them at 877 387 6511 or go to http://www.rvroof.com/

Gary Holden

FMCA Ff380725