Ceramic Painting the RV Roof

I have a bit of catching up to do, especially after being so sick with the flu for 3 weeks and not really keeping you up to date with the bus conversion. Things seem to be coming together nicely at the moment. The bus is really moving along.

Preparing the roof for painting

Rob has been busy painting the roof. He has decided to paint a white reflective Barrier Paint on the roof. This ceramic paint is not only to protect the roof but it has properties that help with heat insulation and sound deadening. The main idea behind it, is to enable us to stay cooler in summer and warmer in the winter.

Preparing the roof.

It is an old bus and he needs to scrape off any loose, peeling, blistering, chipping, cracking or flaking paint. Mostly he has done this by power sanding though obviously some parts have had to be done be tedious but necessary hand work. It took him many hours over 3 or 4 days. Thankfully there was no issue with mould.

Priming the roof

Next he applied the primer coats and then the multiple layers of the ceramic paint.

On his knees painting

Painting the roof

He applied 4 coats of the ceramic barrier paint using a roller. Applying the paint on generously, ensuring that the paint is worked into any pores and cracks. Rob tried to apply the paint as smoothly as possible. Each layer of paint has to have a 24 hour curing time and no moisture is to be present, so we had to hope for the best as far as rain goes. We had the protection of the tarp if the rain were to occur, which it did after we had finished for the day on about day 3. We do not have an issue with frost in our area, but being a mild winter, we were encountering heavy dew condensation almost every morning.

The beautiful paint job

Sealing

After the final curing, then Rob started on the sealing coats which not only helps seal the paint but also acts as a waterproof coating. Since he had some of this paint left in the tin after the 2 recommended coats and the paint will only keep for 12 month before going 'off', he decided to keep painting until all the paint was used up. This ended up being 4 layers of the Top Coat. The general theory is that the more layers, the better the insulating capacity.

Hard Graft

This work is not for the weak kneed (literally), those with Acrophobia or those that like a firm solid flat surface under their feet. Climbing up and down the ladder several times a day really got the leg muscles & heart working. Painting at a moderate height was bad enough but add to that the slight slope at the edge of the roof with no scaffolding or protection was a bit unnerving. Being constantly down on your knees is tough on any body, let alone one in his early 60's. Oh... Rob's poor knees! I think being 6'4 doesn't help, he has a longer way to get down and more legs to bend and fold underneath him!

A handy tip.

Rob found it hard to determine where he was upto after the first couple of layers and so he added a touch of blue acrylic paint to the barrier paint so that the difference in shades though very slight was enough for him to see where had been and where he still needed to paint.

It's is finished

Oh well, that's the painting  part done, next is the installation of
32 solar panels!!!

So while we say Happy Travels to many friends who are hitting the road,

we can only dream of our next trip whilst we keep on with the bus conversion.