Repainting an Argosy

[murphytom]

Hi, my name is Tom. I just signed up as a member. I have the opportunity to RE-purchase the 24- foot '78 Argosy I sold some years back. Yes, I know, it was a dum dum move to sell, but due to buying a house and storage issues at the time, etc. I had to let it go. I sold our family 'twinkie' to a friend of the family... and she painted it white! Ugh!! And with a latex-type paint where you can see roller and brush marks. Double ugh!! So, one of my first chores after doing some routine maintenance is to tackle the whole paint issue. I would like to restore the trailer to it's original paint. Does anyone know of places to buy Argosy color paint? Also, any tips about restoring this unit to it's natural beauty would be great. Thanx for your help.

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by murphytom

Hi, my name is Tom. I just signed up as a member. I have the opportunity to RE-purchase the 24- foot '78 Argosy I sold some years back. Yes, I know, it was a dum dum move to sell, but due to buying a house and storage issues at the time, etc. I had to let it go. I sold our family 'twinkie' to a friend of the family... and she painted it white! Ugh!! And with a latex-type paint where you can see roller and brush marks. Double ugh!! So, one of my first chores after doing some routine maintenance is to tackle the whole paint issue. I would like to restore the trailer to it's original paint. Does anyone know of places to buy Argosy color paint? Also, any tips about restoring this unit to it's natural beauty would be great. Thanx for your help.

DO NOT attempt to use the original paint, which was not a very good grade of material.

Best way to repaint an Argosy trailer, is to strip it and start all over. It is not wise to paint over the original since most of it has turned to chalk.

When the paint is stripped, sand into the metal with 150 to 180 grit sandpaper. Sanding is necessary, not scuffing. Make sure the front and rear segemnt caps are very clean since they have been galvanized.

DO NOT USE ANY ACID.

Use a high quality "epoxy" based primer. Let the primer age for a few days.

Then you can paint over the primer with many different types of paint, from good to better to best.

If you use a cheap kind of paint, don't expect any miracles.

If you use high quality paints, the rewards will out last you.

Waxing once a year, assures a very long paint life.

Andy