Trailer surface preparation

Hi mate,

I got a very thorough briefing prior to my repaint.

Once you have finished all your prep work you wash it down with water and a cream cleanser.
I bought three bottles of Jiff, in Oz it's called Jiff in Europe its Ciff and it might be called Handy Andy. It basically the cleanser that you use on old baths and hand basins.

What you do is use RUNNING WATER, green pot scourers wearng rubber gloves. It's imperative that you use running water whilst scrubbing otherwise there will be powder left there after it dries.

You must use rubber gloves otherwise you will leave skin oil on the glass.

You keep scrubbing until the water falls without breaking over the clean surface, ie it should just be one nice sheet of falling water with no bubbles or gaps. This means the surface is perfectly clean and ready for paint.

It took me about two hours to do it properly and I then let it air dry. I did it once more in the shed to make sure it was ready before paining.

Justin

Some photos here

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~jjsinclair/gallery.html

Originally Posted by

On Monday, August 8, 2016 at 8:14:12 PM UTC-4, Casey wrote:
On Monday, August 1, 2016 at 4:31:01 PM UTC-4, Colin Roney wrote:
On the advice of a club member I finally chose a solution of ARIEL washing
powder which contains bleach and the use of a stiff brush.

Thats probably fine for the algae and using plenty of water to rinse. I would use a self etching primer prior to painting. Then any automotive paint.

1975 trailer: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9icgfg36j...qIC_8cAVa?dl=0

Self etching primer is used for metal but I doubt it would have any useful benefit on a composite trailer.
UH

On Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at 6:51:31 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Monday, August 8, 2016 at 8:14:12 PM UTC-4, Casey wrote:
On Monday, August 1, 2016 at 4:31:01 PM UTC-4, Colin Roney wrote:
On the advice of a club member I finally chose a solution of ARIEL washing
powder which contains bleach and the use of a stiff brush.

Thats probably fine for the algae and using plenty of water to rinse. I would use a self etching primer prior to painting. Then any automotive paint.

1975 trailer: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9icgfg36j...qIC_8cAVa?dl=0

Self etching primer is used for metal but I doubt it would have any useful benefit on a composite trailer.
UH

I agree that self etching is for metal and I'm not a painter, but the guy that painting my trailer used self etching primer before a primer filler coat. He use to paint $300k Fountain Powerboats. I may have omitting that I pressure washed the previous paint off my trailer with very high water pressure that actually took off some of the thing gelcoat. Therefore, I guess he used a self etching primer to bite the fiberglass and not necessary the gel prior to the primer filler coat. At any rate, I would think a good primer on gel would be nothing but advantageous. The most durable paint that a glider trailer could have would be marine Awlgrip, in my opinion. Auto paint was used on my trailer though.
http://www.awlgrip.com/awlgrip-home.aspx