Shorty Gets Her New Paint!

It's mid July, 2011 and the weather pattern has been cooler than normal, so we decided it would be a great time to give Shorty a new "dress."  I had actually taken some time off of work so I could pull windows, scrape off old putty and prep her for primer and paint.  When I took off the old lights, I found a salmon pink color trim.  So, the decision to make "he" a "she" was decided.  We bought a paint sprayer kit from Harbor Freight, which I believe was around $50.  Also a black rubber air hose and some other parts.  The paint we chose is what we used on our past Lil Loafer.  The primer is Sherwin Williams Alkyd (means oil based) metal primer.  The body paint is Sherwin Williams "Stops Rust" oil based paint for metal.  I chose a white shade with a very light gold maize color for trim.  This will match the colors in the awning that I had previously purchased.  Because this trailer doesn't have a ceiling vent, I decided to keep it white, to keep it cooler.  So my hubby and I prepped, sanded, scraped off old putty, and washed the trailer with TSP.  Then came the paper and tape to cover the windows.  It was a beautiful day to paint.  We set it up on our front lawn under a big shade tree.  Luckily, there was nothing falling from it.  Studies the instructions for the sprayer, mixed the primer, and off he went.  Took about 2 hours to primer and it looks great.  We took the door off and the storage door off also and primered those separately.  We need to wait at least a day to let the primer dry before we continue with the regular paint.  Oh yes!  When we pulled the door off, we found some serious dry rot next to the door.  So we had to piece in some replacement wood before we continued with the paint project.  Luckily, the wood around the rest of the door and windows was fine! 

Here's a few photos of the prep and primer project:

This really doesn't show the true color of the light gold/yellow paint...but here's the samples and a swatch of my awning.  I haven't seen a trailer painted in these colors, so I thought I'd give it a try!

Pulling windows!  Wear protective gloves!

Pink!  She's a girl!

The original Lo Liner Decal

The black stripes gotta go!

SURPRIZE!  Dry rot by door and galley

Dry rot replaced

Practicing spraying on piece of wood

Bye bye ugly paint....

Primer looks pretty darn good