Repainting a camper shell?

Well finally got the color and the clear on the cap. Doesn't look that bad from 10 feet away. If you get too close, you can see some striping in the paint on the roof. I'm not too concerned about it since we are going to put a roof rack on this anyway. I'm going to put it all back together and live with it for a while to see how much it bothers me.

 

I've had the shell back on the truck for a few weeks now so I thought I'd post up some pictures of the finished project and wrap this up.

In total it took me about 25 hours of work start to finish to get this done. I spent about $400. Most of the money was spent on paint. I bought color matched aerosols from Touchup direct. I bought their kit with primer, color, and clear together and I bought 4 sets the total cost for the paint was $280. The rest of the money was spent on sanding supplies, masking supplies and new seals for the windows.

The paint does show some orange peal and when you look at it in direct sunlight you can see the difference in reflectivity. You really have to look closely to see it though. I'm pretty sure I could have got a better finish if I'd have waited for a warmer day. I had to spray when it was about 55 outside.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way it came out. I've received several positive comments so I'm going to call it a success.


Overview


The shell


Close up. It looks better with some rain on it.

 

Nice work and great write up. As long as you’re happy with it, it’s money and time well spent!

 

I’m about to do the same, black Raptor liner. I have to do this in the garage and was wondering if there was a lot of overspray?

 

It's pretty thick and heavy stuff so very little of it ends up airborne, it mostly just goes straight where you're spraying. I did mine outside so I couldn't tell you exactly what to expect, but I wouldn't think you'll have much of a mess aside from the immediate area. Between coats you will need to clean the gun out by spraying some solvent/thinner through it so you'll probably want to step outside for that at least. The kit I used came with a siphon-feed gun so I just took the cup off and dipped the feed pipe down into a jar filled with mineral spirits and shot that through until it sprayed clear. I had to take the nozzle apart a couple times to clean that too, it seemed to get gunked up pretty quickly with this stuff.

 

Looks great, nice color match on that green. I just painted a barcelona red metallic leer 180 with rustoleum bedcoating(rattle can) in my driveway... it matches the skid plate and rock sliders now. I plan to keep it heavily waxed for paint longevity haha. For the over spray on the driveway, I sprayed down the driveway a few times with water, which a paint shop recommended and it worked great and reduced the dust and hair floating around.

 

TacoZmtn,
How is the bedcoating on your camper shell holding up? It looks great in the pics... thinking of doing the same.

Thanks!

 

I appreciate that. Like a champ! Sits in the sun most of the year in so. cal... Seems to not have faded at all. I haven't had to retouch it and zero pin stripes from a few trail runs. I thought for sure that I would need to do a touch up sesh once a year... pic taken 2 weeks ago... so it's been almost 1 1/2 years. You can see some imperfections on the sheen around the windoor from when I painted it and it got windy.. Id highly recommend a sawzaw paint can shaker, shake each can like hell, I also warmed up each can a few minutes each in a hot bucket of water... and also a rattle can holster/sprayer

 

spray can trigger

$5 Safeworld Instant Aerosol Trigger Handle Can-Gun, Converts Spray Cans to Spray Guns, Full Hand Grip, Reusable, Easy Clip-On/Off, and Universal Fit for Paint, Adhesives, and Lubricants.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002EQEE82?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

shaker

MixKwik Professional Spray Paint Can Shaker & Mixer, Reciprocating Saw Attachment Fits All Aerosol Sizes, USA Made

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055S7DJS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

Awesome!!! Thank you for the advice, info, and update...happy to hear it is holding up so well. I'm giving it a go!!!

 

May I ask what kind of sanding you did ? Looking to do the same with raptor liner, not sure what grit to sand with. Also do you recommend taking windows out, I was looking to just tape them off. Saw a thread on Reddit and it turned out looking great.

 

I lightly sanded it just to scuff it, nothing to deep.