painting my caravan

Have you tried to cut or polish the old stuff first. Damn good chance a cut and polish will bring it up as new.

Rub it down with steelwool NOT A FUN JOB dont over rub if the paint is still adhering leave it . Spray an etch on then use an Epoxy Enamel. As I said not much fun but it comes up a treat will last for years.

Yea..as said above..Epoxy Enamel or 2-pak Polyurethane
(before Peter Garrett bans it !!)

The original paint was quite possibly acrylic house paint; a lot of them were done with that.
If so, just wash down with clean water to remove the bloom and paint straight over the top of it, bare aluminium and all. No need to 'etch' with acrylic.

This may sound really stupid but I was in the same predicament when replacing the front of our 70's van. I was going to paint it because of the chalky stuff coming off when you lent on it. I noticed where I had put my grubby work hands was all nice and shiny when wiped off. I had been using some inox on a tight bolt and had lent on the van with my hands.

So two or three cans of Inox sprayed on sparingly and then wiped off left the van looking almost new and took the chalky stuff with it. Just keep using fresh rags.

Our van is in the weather every day and this was done nearly two years ago and still looks fine. Worth trying test strip and a whole lot cheaper than a respray.

Hi fridgeneck,

I used to be around aircraft a lot many years ago and the best people I know who new how to prepare and paint were the light aircraft engineers. Any small airfields near you ?

KK