How shiny was it in 1980?

[Disneysue925]

So, while I love the look of the polished trailers I'm not sure if that's the way we should go. I read of folks polishing 31 footers in a weekend--and others spending weeks, months years.

We have found that we actually really like the original look of the interior of our trailer. We have changed/updated the textiles and flooring, but otherwise it's in pretty much original condition. The previous owners updated the plumbing, sealed the floor and fixed the rear end sag. I'm thinking we might like to keep the exterior original, too.

How shiny was our trailer when new? We have some areas where the clear coat is gone. How do we handle that? I'm guessing we need to strip it all, but then how do we apply new? What product? How do we apply it? Is this a job we can do ourselves or does it need to be done professionally?

I know we're not the first ones with this dilemma. Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks for your input and help,
Sue

[overlander63]

It wasn't THAT shiny when new. If you really want it to look like it did when new, you can strip it, polish it, then re-clearcoat it. That will give the closest approximation to what it looked like back then. The biggest reason for you to polish it at all would be to get rid of the oxidation where the clear coat has peeled away, leaving the raw aluminum exposed to the elements.

[Disneysue925]

Originally Posted by overlander63

It wasn't THAT shiny when new. If you really want it to look like it did when new, you can strip it, polish it, then re-clearcoat it. That will give the closest approximation to what it looked like back then. The biggest reason for you to polish it at all would be to get rid of the oxidation where the clear coat has peeled away, leaving the raw aluminum exposed to the elements.

Thanks Terry,

So, how do we reapply the clear coat? Spray, brush? Is it something two amateurs could do?

Sue

[perryg114]

You have to strip the clear coat with paint stripper. Then you need to rough polish or sand to get all the oxide staining off. I would use 400 grit emory paper. Then you need to clean it real well and apply Alodine to create an oxide layer that the paint can adhere to. It is expensive to do this right. Then you have to apply the clear coat after water rinsing the Alodine off. They say it is a special clear coat but I expect any acrylic clear coat will work once you have done the Alodine. I am also having second thoughts about polishing. So for all you OCD folks, it is not historically correct to polish your trailer but it may be the easiest and cheapest way to get a uniform finish.

Perry

[HiHoAgRV]

It's been a while, but i'm pretty sure you don't want to use alodine,

"This is a visible coating which leaves the surface with a golden coloration."

ALODINE 1201 from Aircraft Spruce

And the 400 grit will have you sanding thru several more grits of paper, all the way to 1000 to get rid of gouges...

On my '91 I stripped then used a deoxidizer and the associated polish from California Custom 'purple polish', not a perfect solution but much less work than the full polish on my '63...

[c_lewis77]

I have had a product called sharkhide recommended to me.
http://www.sharkhide.com/
It looks interesting

[Disneysue925]

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

It's been a while, but i'm pretty sure you don't want to use alodine,

"This is a visible coating which leaves the surface with a golden coloration."

ALODINE 1201 from Aircraft Spruce

And the 400 grit will have you sanding thru several more grits of paper, all the way to 1000 to get rid of gouges...

On my '91 I stripped then used a deoxidizer and the associated polish from California Custom 'purple polish', not a perfect solution but much less work than the full polish on my '63...

So I'm beginning to realize just how much we don't know. Aldodine, deoxidizer--where to begin? I did search the forums before I asked the question, but am becoming more confused. Do we need to strip the entire trailer--or is there a way to just strip the areas where the clear coat is gone?

Is there a way to do this ourselves or would it be better left to professionals? In one of the threads Andy said you need to apply the new clear coat within hours of stripping the old! There's no way we can do that.

My husband votes to just leave things as they are. It's a 32 year old trailer and has earned its "character" finish. Can't convince him to go for a full polish, but the splotchy look bothers me. It's really just the front end. At least we don't have Filoform or do we?

Is there somewhere? Jackson Center? That does clear coating? Can't believe we are the only ones with this problem. There must be someone else out there who just wants their old trailer to look like it did when it was new.

Sue

[c_lewis77]

My finish was really splotchy...I opted to polish. Much better now!

[dwightdi]

P&S in Ohio is the most widely used outside Airstream reconditioner. They remove the defective clear coat chemically and polish with large orbital polishers to achieve a bright but not shinny surface. They then clear coat with the Plasticoat originally supplied by Airstream. The results pretty well duplicate the appearance the trailers had in the 70's and 80's.

[Stefrobrts]

Mine was polished ten years ago, but not to a mirror shine. It has aged gracefully ever since. No clearcoat or anything. I think it looks perfect, just a nice semi-shiny silver.

[perryg114]

There is a clear conversion coating for aluminum that is not the yellow color. There are different types of Alodine. You have to treat the skin before coating with clear or paint. There may be a self etching clear coat that I am not aware of. I have done my research here and I not talking out of my butt. I don't know about the Shark hide but I don't think it is considered a permanant coating.

http://www.chemical-supermarket.com/...?productid=398

And a whole array of Alodine products.

http://www.chemical-supermarket.com/...hp?mode=search

Perry

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

It's been a while, but i'm pretty sure you don't want to use alodine,

"This is a visible coating which leaves the surface with a golden coloration."

ALODINE 1201 from Aircraft Spruce

And the 400 grit will have you sanding thru several more grits of paper, all the way to 1000 to get rid of gouges...

On my '91 I stripped then used a deoxidizer and the associated polish from California Custom 'purple polish', not a perfect solution but much less work than the full polish on my '63...

[mimiandrews]

Check Olivebranch's thread "Is this old clear coat?" in the Polishing section of the Exterior forum.

What we did is strip the old clear coat and polish the aluminum with a Cyclo. May have to touch up the polish again in a year or so, but the trailer looks good and we've avoided the expense and labor of re-clearcoating.

Doing and maintaining an "original finish" level of polish is much less work than the mirror finish.

How long a polish will last varies with climate.

[perryg114]

The higher the degree of polish the easier it is to maintain. The smoother the surface the more uniform the oxide layer. Telescope mirrors are often made from uncoated aluminum and they will last for years left uncoated but they are very smooth. They are also keep clean and dry. If I ever polish mine I will be putting it inside.

You might very well be better off leaving it alone. I would not take on clear coating a trailer. I may try to polish mine at some point.

Perry

[Frank's Trailer Works]

You realize none of them were originally polished, right? The clear coat has to be a self etching type or it will fail(sooner). I do not think you anodize it as suggested.
Whatever you put on will fail sooner than later. Aluminum is a weird metal because of the atomic structure. It is always trying to bond with a very common thing in the air, water. Once it has a little water it can start forming aluminum oxide to protect itself from making more oxide. It is a vicious little cycle that just keep going and going and going. Clear coats, slow this down, but eventually a molecule of water gets under the clear and a beautiful crystal forms. Another molecule hits the oxide and a second one forms followed by another. Soon you have something looking like this.


If you do not clear coat it, you can just allow it to fade into a wonderful pewter patina. You can also polish it back up if you choose that direction.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

[Riverrat6270]

Hello fello 1980 Excella owner!!!!!!!!!! I was thinking that I was the only one on here. How about some pictures? I would like to compare mine to yours. Be glad to send you some pictures of my exterior and interior. Love my unit and wouldn't trade it for a new one, seriously. Getting ready to haul my unit to the lake for the summer. The knucklehead(otherwise known as my dog, Jake) and I go every weekend that we can. Two years ago we missed 4 weekends in 7 months, hoping to top this year.

[ROBERT CROSS]

"My husband votes to just leave things as they are. It's a 32 year old trailer and has earned its "character" finish. Can't convince him to go for a full polish, but the splotchy look bothers me. It's really just the front end. At least we don't have Filoform or do we?"

I voted the same way after a rigorous cleaning of our 63, had planned to polish but was convinced otherwise by SWMBO in favor of "patina".

Here it is after 15 years and still look'n pretty good..

As Stephanie said aging gracefully looks just fine.

Bob

[Disneysue925]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

"My husband votes to just leave things as they are. It's a 32 year old trailer and has earned its "character" finish. Can't convince him to go for a full polish, but the splotchy look bothers me. It's really just the front end. At least we don't have Filoform or do we?"

I voted the same way after a rigorous cleaning of our 63, had planned to polish but was convinced otherwise by SWMBO in favor of "patina".

Here it is after 15 years and still look'n pretty good..

As Stephanie said aging gracefully looks just fine.

Bob

As always, you have all come thru for us! What an amazing group of friends I've never met!

It seems that stripping and re applying clear coat is waaay beyond anything we want to try ourselves. I think we will go with the "aging gracefully" plan. I'm sure I will still feel some degree of envy when I see the alluring gleam of a beautifully polished trailer, but no longer feel that we need to be ashamed of our less than perfect finish. Heck, I was sleek and shiny 32 years ago. Not so much anymore I just wish that most of my moving parts worked as well as those on our trailer!

Thank you ALL for your input. My awesome husband is breathing a huge sigh of relief!

Sue

PS- what does SWMBO translate to??

[perryg114]

Originally they were clear coated mill finish 2024-T3 Alclad Aluminum at least prior to 1982 or so. Alodine is not the same as anodize. Alodine is not a thick coating like anodize. Avion trailers were true anodized aluminum which should be a superior finish unlike the clear coat that comes off. My 81 trailer has no clear coat on top but the sides are in fair shape. The newer trailers use an a different alloy that does not have the pure aluminum layer on top. As a result, they tend to have more corrosion issues as moisture gets under the clear coat starting from the edges or from a scratch in the clear coat.

Perry

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Clear coat became an option in 1961, it was not after 1964, it was standard.