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Post by bonzaway on Mar 4, 2019 16:57:54 GMT 10
Hi everyone, I’m knew to the world of vintage caravans. Have been admiring them for years. I recently purchased a little 13’ aluminium van. Appears to be home build & assuming it late 50s-60s. She has a light coat of house paint & trying to decide what to do with it & would really love some advice from people on this forum. Option 1: strip or sand the paint off to bare metal & polish her up. Which is what I’d really love to do, however got told by a car painter that the maintenance would be a lot as painted aluminium when stripped back would weather badly & wouldn’t last. I read online about a product called protectacare. Is anyone familiar with this? Would I work? The other thing he mentioned was that it might not be roadworthy because of the glare & i’d Need to use anti-glare stuff on it. Really??? I want the polish look like an airstream. Also the metals quite thin & untextured so he said it would be like working with a Tin can. Anyone I would really love some advice from anyone who’s stripped a van to bare metal & kept it this way successfully. Option 2: painting. He quoted me between $3-5000 to paint the van. Which is a bit out of my budget. What suggestions would you have about painting myself either with a roller or spray painting. What type of paint would I need to use on aluminium? I’ve heard a lot of people using house paint but not so sure this is a good idea & the 2pac option was a bit pricey. Can people suggest some paint options & ideally something I can attempt myself. I’m not after a show room finish but I want something decent.
She needs a few other things done on her for the resto, I’m not the handiest person but willing to learn & put in a bit of effort
Thanks
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Post by bonzaway on Mar 4, 2019 17:26:22 GMT 10
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Post by aussieute on Mar 4, 2019 17:45:53 GMT 10
You might find damage when you strip the paint back that has been bogged up I found a place that sold 2 pack for $550 for 4 litres and it give such a good finish good luck which ever way you go my vans had about 10 layers of paint covering a lot cheers chris
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Post by Don Ricardo on Mar 4, 2019 18:06:34 GMT 10
G'day Bonzaway, Great to hear about your van and your plans for it. I know this isn't answering your questions, but I thought I'd just comment that your van looks quite a lot like the caravans built by C H Gray, that were sold branded as Harris Vans and under his own Grayline name. You can see a couple of examples here, especially the first one. There are some differences. One of those is the shape of the wheel arch on your van that is quite different to that on the Gray vans, and that is actually quite important. But otherwise there are lots of similar features, including the overall shape, the placement of the windows, and the rivet lines on the aluminium panels. Have a look at the inside photos of the Gray vans and see if they look like your van. C H Gray built vans in South Australia, and I note that your van is registered in South Australia, so that might be another pointer. Regarding polishing the cladding, there are quite a few people on the forum who have polished the cladding on their vans. It is much easier on flat cladding like yours than on cladding with ridges or designs pressed into the aluminium. There are a few products around, and people can tell you how much maintenance is involved. My personal thought is that you might not get an 'Airstream' shine on your van because their cladding will be different in quality to yours, but there should be no reason why you can't clean up the cladding on your van and get it looking much brighter. There are lots of fairly shiny vintage aluminium clad vans about - some of them extremely shiny Airstreams and Caraparks - and there hasn't been a problem with them being roadworthy, so I think you can ignore that comment. Don Ricardo
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Post by bonzaway on Mar 4, 2019 21:35:30 GMT 10
Thanks for that info Don Ricardo. I had assumed my van was a home build, but after your link I’m pretty sure now it’s a CH Gray. It was purchased from port Lincoln SA & shipped to me in Melbourne. The pictures of the interior of Chris’ van look identical to mine. Mine has the same painted blue cabinetry, lights & the upholstery on the dining seats are the same. The only difference is mine has the ice chest My Van is pretty original inside, except the rear sofa bed appears to be a new edition & seems rather odd, would be keen if anyone has a Gray van what the original bed was like. I will try & post pictures of interior. Great to have a bit of a history of the van & now it makes me want to keep everything as original.
Also the paint on it is so thin it almost just rubs off, so any info about the best & safest way to get off would be great. I tried a Light Sand which left swirl marks in the aluminium so I stopped as it’s so thin, but I’m assuming this will polish out without thinning it too much. Completely new to this whole thing, so any help & advice much appreciated. Really starting to enjoy collecting these old toys, my other van is an original 50s teardrop.
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Post by Roehm3108 on Mar 5, 2019 7:36:50 GMT 10
Hi OP and welcome to the forum. Asking about how to paint your van is like asking which girl you should marry! In the end, you will marry the girl you like and can afford!!! After restoring 1 aluminium, 1 masonite and 3 plywood vans over the years, I don't sweat the small stuff over what paint to use. I took the advice of a paintshop manager friend who told me that a caravan is a house on wheels, so why not use house paint. I always used house paint Sure, if you've got the dollars, do what some have done and go the two-pac way. Never too sure if you'd get your money back if you ever sold it. Your light covering of paint is best washed with sugar soap solution to get that top chalky layer off and then paint it Hopefully what you have on there is not kalsomine! If it is, you have to go back to bare metal and then seal/prime/undercoat before repainting. As Aussieute said, I don't think you will ever get the Airstream quality finish although some Caraparks have managed it. Shiney surface will show every imperfection and dint, whereas a satin finish paint won't do that as badly. I found that when using a 10mm nape roller, you get a slightly stippled finish on aluminium. I now use a 4mm nape mohair roller which flattens the paint out better. Good luck with your work.
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Post by jp63 on Mar 5, 2019 11:26:24 GMT 10
Oh it's always so nice to see another potential CH gray van turn up! I have such a soft spot for these Vans. As Don Ricardo noted there are a few differences on the exterior but at the same time it looks almost too similar to be anything else. Like the others I too would also like to see some photos of the interior if you get a chance.
I have also PMd you some photos of the original bed set up but please feel free to sing out if you need anything else.
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Post by Mustang on Mar 6, 2019 8:14:05 GMT 10
Here is an image of our Viscount, we prepped in etch coat & top coated in acrylic, a soft shine but not glossy. Acrylic will move where as enamel will crack if there is surface movement. I
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Post by bonzaway on Mar 6, 2019 11:22:07 GMT 10
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Post by bonzaway on Mar 6, 2019 12:40:53 GMT 10
Interior pics. Plus the panel damage that occurred during transport
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Post by Don Ricardo on Mar 6, 2019 17:07:51 GMT 10
Hi Bonzaway, It's great to see some more photos of your van, including some inside shots. The internal layout and fittings do seem to be consistent with what we know of C H Gray's vans, but we can't probably be 100% sure at this point. As a suggestion when you taking the paint off the aluminium, be particularly careful above and below the front and rear windows, because that's where there may be some telltale signs of a brand name that may have been sign written there. As you've read, Gray used to build vans for Harris, and Harris used to have their name painted in those places. With a bit of luck you may find something as you work on the van. Disregard the following paragraph and note Roehm3108’s comments in the next post on this thread. Regarding the paint, rather than scouring the paint off with sandpaper or similar, you might be able to use paint remover. From what you say the paint on the cladding is quite thin, so a bit of paint remover might take off the paint quite easily. The usual technique with paint remover is to apply it, then when the paint starts bubbling, scrape off the layer with a paint scraper. However I definitely wouldn't use a paint scraper because it will almost certainlyl score the aluminium cladding. I'd try wiping the treated paint off with newspaper or paper towel. If I'm telling you the wrong thing about paint remover, someone will tell us! Also in terms of shine, a lot of people on the forum have talked about Purple Polish, and apparently you can get an aluminium de-oxidiser as well, so use the Search tool (see the menu at the top of the forum screen) for those things, and that may help you work out how to proceed. Also, just a little hint about your photos - you can make the photos display in your post by following these steps: 1. Click on a photo in Flickr so that it opens up to a separate window. 2. Click on the 'Share' arrow at the bottom right of the screen. 3. In the box that opens up, choose 'BBCode' and then in the second little rectangular box with the 'down' arrow which comes up, click on 'Medium 800x600. 4. Then highlight the URL code in the top rectangular box, press the right hand button on your mouse and choose copy. 5. Paste the code into your post on the forum, and then when you press 'Create Post' for your post the photo will display in your published post. 6. You can post as many photos as you want in a forum post, just by repeating the cut and paste procedure. If that all sounds like gobbleygook, have a look at Steps 6 to 9 in these Flickr instructions. But anyway that's what I've done to display one of your photos here so that you know what the result is: image by bon kuy, on Flickr Don Ricardo
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Post by Roehm3108 on Mar 7, 2019 7:26:19 GMT 10
Sorry, but I don't agree with DonR about removing powdery paint as OP describes by using paint stripper. Using paint stripper to my mind is always "last resort" stuff, regardless of the job at hand. You need to be especially careful as to the type of stripper you use as some may actually eat aluminium for breakfast! Sometimes we ask the wrong questions on the wrong forum and should really go to other forums that specialise in the area that we are asking about. There are many paint manufacturers who have forums for technical problems and a problem like your would fall under the FAQ's. I do stand by what I have said, but suggest that you also make enquiries at a paint specialist to satisfy your question and get a suitable answer.
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Post by Don Ricardo on Mar 7, 2019 21:56:32 GMT 10
Hi Roehm,
What you’ve said is very sensible, and I think your suggestion is a good way to proceed for Bonzaway.
The cover of paint over the aluminium seems to be very light, and I wonder if it’s even had a full coat of paint over it, or whether it’s something else, but a paint professional should be able to say.
Don Ricardo
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Post by Roehm3108 on Mar 7, 2019 22:32:49 GMT 10
"The cover of paint over the aluminium seems to be very light,"True DonR!! Hopefully is is just some type of acrylic undercoat that the previous owner happened to have around. Sure hope it's not kalsomine!!!
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Post by bonzaway on Apr 3, 2019 17:52:46 GMT 10
Thanks for everyone for all your advice. I have decided to paint after consultation with a few different people who all said it was a lot of work to strip her back down to bare metal & the upkeep would be a lot. I’ve lightly sanded the paint. Its definitely be a very light coat of acrylic house paint so literally took me about 2 hrs to Sand the whole van & she’s now ready & waiting for her makeover. We are working on the front corner damage & then My handyman is going to spray it for me using metal guard.
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Post by Gidget on Apr 3, 2019 18:01:25 GMT 10
Just FYI I'm getting my 11ft van 2-pac sprayed by a car spray painter next week for $1500. Maybe you need to get a few more quotes. Good luck
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Post by aussieute on Apr 3, 2019 18:19:51 GMT 10
The 2 pack paint gives such a good shine and handles the weather better and is easy to clean cheers chris
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