I'm about to strip the faded and cracked decals and sand and repaint the top and bottom. Anyone with experience have suggestions on stripper, sanding, patching, kind of paint, new decals, etc?
Coach m

It's gel coat - like a boat... not a car. Different beast.

Decals can be replaced with vinyl decals, that's all they are anyway. A decal shop should be able to duplicate them... check with an RV place that does repairs (body) and they should be able to point you to someone that makes them.

I assume that your HiLo skin is aluminum. Are you going to strip all the old paint off or just paint over the old paint? I have stripped and prepared quite a few airplanes for painting so here goes with some advice. Never sand aluminum with any type of metallic sand paper. You will get small particles of the grit embedded in the skin and will get dissimilar metal corrosion. Best not sand thin aluminum at all but if you do use a paper with aluminum or glass grit. We always stripped with a good liquid stripper, and final cleaning with MEK. If you are just stripping a small area, a rag with MEK will do a great job. Get MEK in the paint dept at your building supply store. I have never removed decals so not sure of the best way. Not sure if MEK will go thru the decal or maybe a heat gun and scrape. If you are going to paint over the old paint you may rough up the old paint with 400 to 600 grit paper, and clean with MEK. Must not be any old wax left. Best advice here is to go to a good automotive paint store and get their advice. Have read here on the forum that J&R has some decals. On aircraft we did not use decals but taped off and painted all striping and lettering. As for the paint again advice from a good paint store. Depending on the type of paint you may paint over and what you want to spend will determine this. Not sure what type of patching you are talking about so you will need to let us know more on this area. If you have an aluminum roof check closely for small pin holes as some owners have found these caused by dissimilar metal corrosion/electrolysis and causing their roofs to rot out. It would help if you told us if you are restoring to a like new condition or just protecting at the lowest cost. Has a lot to do with how you approach this and the paint you will use. Hope this helps.

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Jim L & Faye
2805C
2003 Silvarado diesel crew cab
2017 Silvarado, crew cab 1500 6.2L gas w/ 8 speed tranny
central VA

Decals can be removed using heat gun or a hair dryer and some sharp razor blades, when I painted mine I cleaned the surface with mineral spirit and clean the surface of oil, dirt and as for paint, a single stage paint (paint, thinner, hardener) all mixed with correct ratios for each, 3 coats should be plenty to cover over the old paint.

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2181 Classic
97 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.2L V8
4x4

Great advice, Jim and david. This is an aluminum shell. I dont want to spend a lot of money but i don't want to be embarrassed ether. Jim, i had small holes like you described opposite the shower wall. I patched these from the inside with fiberglass. Seemed to work good. I have noticed paint bubbling up and suspect these are the same holes in the making. I don't want to do patching from inside anymore. Can I just use bondo or is aluminum too thin?
David, great if my dryer can get hot enough .

I haven't painted our exterior fiberglass or removed decals. However,I have been studying this issue for some time. Do a search on the internet. The website irv2,vintage has some people that have removed decals and done some painting. If you have a specialty paint shop that supplied the local auto body shops you can get advice. Maybe,this sumer we will paint ours?

Coach M,
I have not tried a project quite as large as you will be undertaking but I have just tackled a problem with my 2000 F250 tow vehicle. The sun has taken its toll on the 'clear coat' finish on all four fender flares as well as my Raider Camper. The top of the camper shell has had the clearcoat completely burned off and the same around the sides. The flares were scroungie looking from the flaking of the clearcoat. I got an estimate and they wanted $450 for the four fender flares and $1250 for the Camper shell. I decided to tackle the project myself.

First I bought a dual-action sander and 800-grit 6" sanding discs. I found that the correct color of paint was available in 6 oz 'rattle cans' at the local Auto Zone and after sanding, priming, painting and applying new clearcoat, I finished the flares. I have never tried this before and the first flare took me all day and of course I messed it up and had to do over a paint run. As I did the next three, it became easier after I finally got the hang of it.

The camper shell is a different matter as it is a custom job with a two-way back door [2-doors, one lifts up for loading full width items and the 2nd door opens out with a smaller opening]. I am going to remove all [5] windows plus rear door and replace all the window caulking as it has also deteriorated and lets water leak in. So now, I am looking for an airless painter before I tackle the camper shell.

I believe, after gaining experience with a spray painter, that I could tackle painting the Hi Lo if that ever becomes necessary. The biggest problem might be an inside place where painting wouldn't be a problem.

If your 'skin' is aluminum, this may not work for you with consideration of the information given to you by Jim L. You would have to be sure and get a non-metallic sandpaper as I can vouch for the dissimilar metals reacting chemically causing erosin. I just went through that with my roof having a total of [45] holes of varying sizes caused by metal rot [electrolysis].

Good Luck.

Jerry Curtis 2406 T

I remember reading an article about a guy who painted his winnebago. He purchased his High velosity low pressure spray gun that attached to a large air compressor. DeVilbiss was the make. Then he sold it on ebay and got 2/3rd of his money back. Corection-sold it on craigs list. Even though he was a retired architest he had some help from someone with bodyshop experience. The article is improving the view in July 2011 Motorhome. I agree with Jerry that is is really hard to do and you would have to have a dust free indoor place to work on it. We'llget an estimate on our HiLo painting and it will probably exceed the value of the trailer. Materials are just expensive.

I was thinking naptha would remove the decals and glue residue.

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"Ruben"
2404T, 2003 2500HD 4X4 GMC Sierra SLT Crew Cab w/Astro camper shell and 2003 Chevy Tahoe LE 4X2
Far West Texas

We have an 83 HI-Lo that we repainted a little while ago. We knew better than to get to crazy on that old of a trailer. We had some pinholes on one side that we filled with bondo, besides that we scuffed the whole trailer with mild 320 sand paper. We removed the old decals with a heat gun and razor blades, be careful I had some experience before this project. Then we spot primered over any areas we had repaired and laid down about three coats of Omni single stage white over that. It has only been a little while but it is holding up great. The nice thing about single stage is that it is easy, and if you mess up you can sand a run or blemish out quickly. Here is a link to the finished product Face lift - Page 2 - Hi-Lo camper travel trailer forum
Good luck and if we can be of more help let us know.