Paint or other coating options

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Speaking of, I'm curious, how do you go about doing a proper colour change? ie: truck is currently blue, but I would like to change it, but I want it to look right. I'm not as concerned about down in the engine bay, but at least the hood and door shut lines/jambs. Could these be done with a spray paint, and then the bedliner on the outside only?

You could do that. I know Monstaliner and Raptor Liner (some colors) sells spray cans of liner, so you could spray the jambs with those to match the liner on the outside. That's what I have been looking to do.
 

IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
The "jamb paint" as far as I know is nothing more than a color matched oil based alkyd enamel.
If you use it, make sure you use a proper enamel hardener. It will wear and hold sheen longer.
It also wont be effected if you touch up with monstaliner later on. Without hardener it will, as the solvents will lift it.

Though in my experience, jamb paint it isnt needed, especially with monstaliner that you can mix as much as you need.
Just mix a small batch, or dip into left overs as you finish applying the bulk of the project. Again, better if sprayed.
Spray goes considerably faster, and allows you to use more of that pot life if needed.

All of my jamb areas, sills, vents, door trims, and even touch ups for thin spots was done with actual Monstaliner coating and a foam brush.
Dab-dab dab makes for a decent texture, and will be considerably more robust than the jamb paint.

Examples...

vents....

49871663187_233022f3cb_b.jpg


Door trims came out with plenty of thin spots, especially around the screws.
You cannot even tell the touch ups....

49927687171_7f257ba1af_b.jpg


The vent holes were done with foam brush and monstaliner as well.

49956674923_f07e5675dc_b.jpg
 
Last edited:

Chorky

Observer
The "jamb paint" as far as I know is nothing more than a color matched oil based alkyd enamel.
If you use it, make sure you use a proper enamel hardener. It will wear and hold sheen longer.
It also wont be effected if you touch up with monstaliner later on. Without hardener it will, as the solvents will lift it.

Though in my experience, jamb paint it isnt needed, especially with monstaliner that you can mix as much as you need.
Just mix a small batch, or dip into left overs as you finish applying the bulk of the project. Again, better if sprayed.
Spray goes considerably faster, and allows you to use more of that pot life if needed.

All of my jamb areas, sills, vents, door trims, and even touch ups for thin spots was done with actual Monstaliner coating and a foam brush.
Dab-dab dab makes for a decent texture, and will be considerably more robust than the jamb paint.

Examples...

vents....

49871663187_233022f3cb_b.jpg


Door trims came out with plenty of thin spots, especially around the screws.
You cannot even tell the touch ups....

49927687171_7f257ba1af_b.jpg


The vent holes were done with foam brush and monstaliner as well.

49956674923_f07e5675dc_b.jpg

Having a garage to work in also makes a world of difference. Easier to clean, keep clean, and not in direct sunlight when curing.
 

IdaSHO

IDACAMPER
There are benefits, for certain. Biggest though it keeping the applied coating free of debris or weather as its coating.

Pot life for Monstaliner is very long. As in, 6-8 hours as I recall. Once applied, its ready to re-coat in a few hours, but far from cured.
 
D

Deleted member 9101

Guest
You could do a DIY paint job with single stage paint and then wet sand it and buff/polish it until it glows. You can do it for under 500.00.
 

rruff

Explorer
It just doesn't make sense to me to spend much on paint for vehicles like ours. I'd definitely go the DIY route with something that can take the abuse. I did monsta liner on my NPR cab and will do the same on the camper box. On the roof of the camper I am going with Hy Tech roof guard bus coat or cool coat. Not sure yet.

I've settled on industrial acrylic urethane, 2 part paint. Corotech from Benjamin Moore. $115/gal shipped with custom colors.

This is where I bought it from: https://store.southernpaintandsuppl...rylic-urethane-by-benjamin-moore/#description

Here is the TDS: https://media.benjaminmoore.com/Web...ts/TDS_V515/20180806 Corotech V515 TDS EN.pdf

You may get it locally if there is a BM dealer that has experience with it. Mine did not, and also wanted to send it elsewhere to be tinted plus charge more money. The guys at Southern Paint and Supply are knowledgeable and deal with this paint a lot. Can tint to any BM color and shipped mine very fast. I did a lot of looking for similar paint and had a hard time finding any place that had it in stock. I also have no painting experience so appreciated being able to talk to folks who've used the stuff.

I made some samples using a 1-1/4" nap roller, trying to get some orange peal. Seemed to work pretty well... the texture is small and mild compared to Monstaliner, but I think it will help hide the imperfections in the wet layup a bit. I'd be painting right now if I hadn't jacked my back being stupid... :confused:
 

NOPEC

Well-known member
I've settled on industrial acrylic urethane, 2 part paint. Corotech from Benjamin Moore. $115/gal shipped with custom colors.

This is where I bought it from: https://store.southernpaintandsuppl...rylic-urethane-by-benjamin-moore/#description

Here is the TDS: https://media.benjaminmoore.com/WebServices/prod/assets/stage/datasheets/TDS_V515/20180806 Corotech V515 TDS EN.pdf

You may get it locally if there is a BM dealer that has experience with it. Mine did not, and also wanted to send it elsewhere to be tinted plus charge more money. The guys at Southern Paint and Supply are knowledgeable and deal with this paint a lot. Can tint to any BM color and shipped mine very fast. I did a lot of looking for similar paint and had a hard time finding any place that had it in stock. I also have no painting experience so appreciated being able to talk to folks who've used the stuff.

I made some samples using a 1-1/4" nap roller, trying to get some orange peal. Seemed to work pretty well... the texture is small and mild compared to Monstaliner, but I think it will help hide the imperfections in the wet layup a bit. I'd be painting right now if I hadn't jacked my back being stupid... :confused:

Just before Covid, I was ready to do the finish on the outside of my fiberglass re-build and had my heart set on Monstaliner for the same covering up and durability qualities as you. When the border closed, it became prohibitive to have it shipped up to Canada so I opted for a one part Benjamin Moore Polyurethane product available locally. I had been using colloidal silica as a stiffener during the glassing part of the build so I thought that I might be able to add a little more texture to the paint if I did an initial coat with added colloidal silica. I ran it by our local very knowledgeable BM paint folks and they seemed to think it would not affect the performance of the paint, although they had never heard of it being used before and certainly would not provide any guarantee if things went south. So I did some tests which came out really well so I went for it. I mixed it well with the paint in small batches and applied a thin initial coat with a small coarse roller and was able to get considerable more texture than with just the paint (still nothing like Monstaliner, though). I gave it an extra day to dry and then went ahead with the additional two coats. It worked like a charm and dried very hard and still is as good as when I applied it. Just a thought.
 

rruff

Explorer
Thanks for the tip, sounds interesting! I've used a lot of fumed silica. I wonder how different they are in practice? Seem pretty similar. The silica makes epoxy stronger and harder, so it makes sense that it could enhance the paint. Do you have any photos showing the texture?

I wish I had time to experiment, but I need to get this done before it gets any colder...
 

NOPEC

Well-known member
Thanks for the tip, sounds interesting! I've used a lot of fumed silica. I wonder how different they are in practice? Seem pretty similar. The silica makes epoxy stronger and harder, so it makes sense that it could enhance the paint. Do you have any photos showing the texture?

I wish I had time to experiment, but I need to get this done before it gets any colder...

Here are a couple of pics, obviously one of the finished camper and a close up of the texture of the CS and BM paint mix (with the second and third coat of just the paint applied over the original). I used West System 406 Colloidal Silica for most of the filleting and had some cheaper stuff from Amazon kicking around. I experimented with both and there didn't seem to be a much of a difference in the results, at least to my eye. This coating takes a while to cure but it gets pretty tough after a while.

20210812_181837.jpg20211113_123045.jpg
 

rruff

Explorer
That looks great to me! That's plenty of texture. Is this the paint you used? https://media.benjaminmoore.com/Web...210506_Corotech_COMMAND_V390_GLOSS_TDS_US.pdf

If so, that is a very fast drying paint. But if you put it on thick it can take awhile. My V515 is slower... supposedly 3-5 days at 77F for full cure, but I think that is optimistic.

I put the first coat on the roof yesterday. Not much texture. One thing about using a thick nap roller, it sucks up a lot of paint... and hangs onto it! A good percentage of the ~48oz I mixed was still in the roller when I got done. Almost didn't have enough to cover it (~100 sq ft). Some of the roller hairs came off towards the end as well.

What was your formula for the silica addition?
 

NOPEC

Well-known member
That looks great to me! That's plenty of texture. Is this the paint you used? https://media.benjaminmoore.com/Web...210506_Corotech_COMMAND_V390_GLOSS_TDS_US.pdf

If so, that is a very fast drying paint. But if you put it on thick it can take awhile. My V515 is slower... supposedly 3-5 days at 77F for full cure, but I think that is optimistic.

I put the first coat on the roof yesterday. Not much texture. One thing about using a thick nap roller, it sucks up a lot of paint... and hangs onto it! A good percentage of the ~48oz I mixed was still in the roller when I got done. Almost didn't have enough to cover it (~100 sq ft). Some of the roller hairs came off towards the end as well.

What was your formula for the silica addition?

Sadly, there was no scientific formulation to the mix of paint and CS. I just kept adding until I liked the look and ended up using more CS in the mix than I initially thought I would. I was trying to find a nice compromise between texture vs having too much CS that may have affected the performance of the paint. Good paint adhesion and longevity was more important than texture so I tended to err on the "too little" side. I found also that I could also really influence the texture by not over applying and working the mix and also, playing with pressure on the roller. Sorry, doesn't really answer your question......

As I mentioned, the paint has worked very well so far. The one part BM product was this this stuff; https://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-ca...stains/product-catalog/crs/coronado-rust-scat
 

DMcCollom

New member
Hey Neighbor,
Western Montana here: I did a cheap paint job using Sherwin Williams KEM400, a brush and a roller. The nap of the roller gave it a texture that hides small imperfections and the paint was cheap. I think that I did it all for less than $75 with enough paint left to do another car.

1638732769737.png
 

NOPEC

Well-known member
That looks great to me! That's plenty of texture. Is this the paint you used? https://media.benjaminmoore.com/Web...210506_Corotech_COMMAND_V390_GLOSS_TDS_US.pdf

If so, that is a very fast drying paint. But if you put it on thick it can take awhile. My V515 is slower... supposedly 3-5 days at 77F for full cure, but I think that is optimistic.

I put the first coat on the roof yesterday. Not much texture. One thing about using a thick nap roller, it sucks up a lot of paint... and hangs onto it! A good percentage of the ~48oz I mixed was still in the roller when I got done. Almost didn't have enough to cover it (~100 sq ft). Some of the roller hairs came off towards the end as well.

What was your formula for the silica addition?

Rruff

You mentioned in another thread that you had had problems with your 2P PU exterior paint. When you were considering it, I thought it sounded like the real ticket to me for your DIY project. I would be interested in the good, bad and ugly of your experience with it, if you would share it.
 

rruff

Explorer
Ya, I was waiting to let it dry some more, before I ************** about it. I have near zero experience painting anything, so keep that in mind.

I followed all the directions except one... I used a thick nap roller instead of a thin one to get more orange peal. That part seems to have worked, but...

I guess another issue with thick nap is uneven thickness, which I at first though was what caused splotchy uneven color on the medium grey I used on most of it. After the 1st coat I wasn't too worried, since I figured it would even out on the 2nd coat... but it didn't... just had a different pattern to it. Even though it was cool (~60), the paint dried very fast on the camper. Once applied I had little time to run over it before it was sticky enough to rip fibers out of the roller. Some places are much more uneven than others, but I don't know why.

The paint is certainly thick enough everywhere to be opaque so I'm not sure what the problem is. Google search regarding this issue found an article that said "sometimes this happens to greys and blues and no one seems to know why"... ? I mixed it really well both times (part A thoroughly mixed before adding B), and mixed it for a half hour after mixing the two parts before applying it.

Another thing is... it isn't as hard as I expected. I kept it at 50-90 degrees for >10 days (the electric bill is going to be huge). Humidity was very low most of the time... doubt it ever got over 50% even at night. I waited 2 days between coats. It was supposed to fully cure in 3-5 days at 77 degrees and 50%. Since this is supposed to be good for floors, I figured it should be rock hard. It's shiny and it's pretty hard, but I can scratch it with my fingernail. The TDS states it cures chemically... but it's only 55% solids so it obviously evaporates as well. The left overs from the mixing bucket are still very rubbery. Maybe just more time? I hope so...

I hope it hardens more... and to deal with the uneven color I may just make some templates and paint some designs to make it less noticeable. Or maybe forget about it... it'll be covered with dirt most of the time anyway.
 

NOPEC

Well-known member
Ya, I was waiting to let it dry some more, before I ************** about it. I have near zero experience painting anything, so keep that in mind.

I followed all the directions except one... I used a thick nap roller instead of a thin one to get more orange peal. That part seems to have worked, but...

I guess another issue with thick nap is uneven thickness, which I at first though was what caused splotchy uneven color on the medium grey I used on most of it. After the 1st coat I wasn't too worried, since I figured it would even out on the 2nd coat... but it didn't... just had a different pattern to it. Even though it was cool (~60), the paint dried very fast on the camper. Once applied I had little time to run over it before it was sticky enough to rip fibers out of the roller. Some places are much more uneven than others, but I don't know why.

The paint is certainly thick enough everywhere to be opaque so I'm not sure what the problem is. Google search regarding this issue found an article that said "sometimes this happens to greys and blues and no one seems to know why"... ? I mixed it really well both times (part A thoroughly mixed before adding B), and mixed it for a half hour after mixing the two parts before applying it.

Another thing is... it isn't as hard as I expected. I kept it at 50-90 degrees for >10 days (the electric bill is going to be huge). Humidity was very low most of the time... doubt it ever got over 50% even at night. I waited 2 days between coats. It was supposed to fully cure in 3-5 days at 77 degrees and 50%. Since this is supposed to be good for floors, I figured it should be rock hard. It's shiny and it's pretty hard, but I can scratch it with my fingernail. The TDS states it cures chemically... but it's only 55% solids so it obviously evaporates as well. The left overs from the mixing bucket are still very rubbery. Maybe just more time? I hope so...

I hope it hardens more... and to deal with the uneven color I may just make some templates and paint some designs to make it less noticeable. Or maybe forget about it... it'll be covered with dirt most of the time anyway.

Too bad it didn't work that well for you. With my 1 part PU paint, the folks that sold it to me warned me about putting it on too thick. Better multiple very thin coats which seemed counterintuitive to me. The reason for the thin coats apparently is due to the fact that when a thick layer of this paint starts to dry from the top of the surface down, the underlaying paint gets trapped without any exposure to air and takes forever to cure. That was the reason that I added the colloidal silica to my first coat to try and get the texture I was after without messing with the layer thickness of the paint.

The other thing that the sales folks mentioned was that it takes a long time for PU paint to fully cure. Like you, I was really disappointed with the lack of hardness of it after it had dried (according to the time the manufacturer cited for "full cure"). In my case, it took months of just sitting to get to a point where it was impressively hard. Personally if I was you, I would just leave it to perk away on it's own, forget the heat, I think time is the cure (for the cure....) and as that time goes by, I'll bet you will see it harden up to be really impressive!

As far as the uneven color, there may be merit in having one more go with a very thin layer which may just even things out. Good luck with it.
 

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