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Originally Posted by InsideOut
....I started stripping the cabinet drawers/doors last night - they look like they will come out great, but it's gonna take a bunch of stripper. I'm using CitraStrip. We hope to remove all the interior cabinets this weekend to make this easier and to assess the floor which looks very solid.
Like I said earlier...it needs some work and we aren't planning on take her out much this year...good thing we have Maxwell!
Shari  |
Hi Shari,
This is my first post here. My DH and I just finished with the details of purchasing a Airstream Argosy early 70s 22' ready-to-go.
We didn't buy a project trailer because we live full-time in a project home -- an 1880s Queen Ann Victorian.
Boy, do we know a lot about paint...both putting it on and getting it off!
I'll focus on discussing paint OFF and perhaps I can help you.
We've tried everything from chemical based peel away strippers, citrus stripper, good old fashioned zip strip etc. etc. For our house interior we finally settled on taking down the 6" wide woodwork and sending it to a professional, then putting it back up and fixing the plaster that came down with the trim.
For you trailer, stripping in place is the way to go unless you really want to dismantle the interior.
We couldn't take everything down so some parts of the house have to be stripped in place-- i.e. parts of the staircase. The BEST stripping method by far, is by using a device called
The Silent Paint Remover.
The Silent Paint Remover took the paint (6-8 layers) off our woodwork right down to the finish coat that was original to the wood. Almost looks like we just have to sand the wood and be done. The paint isn't heated very high if I remember correctly, it doesn't vaporize the harmful paint chemicalswhich is great when you are working in a small space like the camper. Also, the heat is lower and you have a reduced risk of burning the wood; if you ever used a heat gun you know what that is like.
The Silent Paint Remover includes a heat source that is a pair of tube style lights similar to flourescent but hotter. If you buy one, make sure you use the spacers that come with it and you will be pretty safe as far as not burning the woodwork.
If you decide to buy one, you can google the name and find it. I didn't buy mine directly from the manufacturer. I bought from a distributor that offered a moneyback return policy so I could try it out. If you need help finding a company, I'm sure I can find the one I bought from.
If you lived close enough to me I would let you try mine, but I'm in New England and I don't think you are close. The price of the remover was around $400 a few years ago and it is worth every penny. With the amount of paint you have to remove from your trailer you will probably spend t least half that amount on the chemical stripper you are using. And, I should mention that the removed paint is not a goopy mess. It cools quickly and becomes dried paint chips. You have to scrape a little to get the released paint off the wood, but not much elbow grease is needed. Kinda just flick it off the wood. Amazing.
About our trailer, my husband and son and I are looking forward to our first trip which we hope will be early in October
once we've picked up the trailer. We're just finishing up all the hitch install on the roadmaster and so next week we'll be picking our new baby up. Sooo excited.
I look forward to getting to meet all of you online and in some of the organizations we plan to join asap. If anyone has newbie suggestions, love to hear them. Not new to camping (tents across the US!) or RVs(parents, grandparents and one bad experience with a '79 class C Box with a rusted frame
). This is the first trailer we've owned. Soo excited to have an airstream!!!
Thanks for listening to me go on and on!
Allie