White roofs and number placement

till · 02-05-2004, 08:02 PM

I have been reading "Airstream, the history of the Land yacht" and I noticed in one of the photographs (p. 119) that there are about a dozen trailers with the roofs painted white, and not just the very top panel. It is kind of cool looking. I remember a thread about how new Airstreams are coming with the top panel painted white to keep the inside temperature down. Has anyone thought about doing this or is it not worth the paint and time? Though I have to say it has cool factor in more than one way.

Also, I noticed that the number placement is a little different. Example on p. 114 showing the numbers on the first, second or third section up on the streetside of the endcap along with the "usual " center position. Is it considered "Old school" to put the number in any place other than centered above the window??

**wahoonc** · 02-05-2004, 08:17 PM

Tedd,
I am working on the white roof angle...I know that a lot of the white rubber roofs on SOB's cause black streaks on the sides. I have a piece of mill finish alumiunm at my shop that I have painted part of with an elastomeric roof coating, I have is sitting outside to see what kind of weathering or streaking it causes. If the test proves sucessfull, when I get around to stripping and polishing my unit, I will use it on the top panel. The new ones from Airstream are a painted. Given the hassle of properly preparing alumium for painting it probably isn't worth the effort.

Don't know about the numbers, just wish they would issue them for the trailer for life, so I didn't have so many different ones on mine.

Aaron

smily · 02-05-2004, 08:24 PM

White paint good. Easy to apply and works very well
Numbers good. last long time if you remain member of WBCCI for a long time.

You can see many approaches to numbers if you search "Big Red numbers".

The WBCCI has guidelines for number placement but there are no "Number Cops" patrolling the Airstream nation.

WBCCI purism is slowly but surely evolving to a less formal state of being. It is a comfort zone. Make sure you are comfortable and enjoy being a member of the WBCCI.

"The WBCCI Cheerleading Squad"

till · 02-05-2004, 08:24 PM

I was lucky with my number. The trailer has had two mumbers on it, one being 4029. So 4028 will cover a lot of the markings from the original and other number, which is close, but hard to make out. I'll upload a pic to my gallery soon.

overlander63 · 02-05-2004, 08:34 PM

Ted, I have painted the top of my unit with Kool-Seal, a white elastometric coating. While the top part of my trailer is normally white anyway, I haven't noticed any real streaking from the stuff I put on it. It has been done since last July, and we have some pretty hard rains here.
Terry