I thought I might share my process of decal removal from my coach
My 26 year old coach, as far as I can tell, still has the original decals on it.
They were fading and cracking, and in the front of the coach due to chips and bugs were actually missing chunks of the decals
So.... I decided to clean up the coach a bit and remove some decals, starting with the front lower ones.
I am leaving the mid coach strip and swirls( that are left) as they are I good condition
I did a little research mostly on the forum here and got some good ideas on how to get them off.
In the end, I used a heat gun, a product called Vinyl off and lots of plastic razor blades. To remove the glue after taking off the decals I used rubbing alcohol, goo be gone and fantastic. Basically I was trying everything to get the glue off, which was quite the process
The front lower cap, step, gen side door and small sections in front of the tires took about 5 hours total including set up and take down
Not a speedy process!
This has me thinking if I am going to go further and removal the decals off the bay doors and lower back end of the engine door, which was my original plan. I suspect this process may take about 30 hours....
Anyway , food for thought but I am pleased with the result of the removal and quite like the look of the front end now
Nice clean look. When Sid Andersen repaired all my damage from the deer, there were no decals to be found to put back. We like the uncluttered look better.
We removed all of the decals in 2019 and have maintained the all-white appearance. Everyone seems to love it.
I'd be curious to know from some of you who own all-white coaches, I assume that full body paint goes a long way towards protecting the gel coat and I know that my (un-painted) roof does tend to chalk over time, do you experience this with your sidewalls? David your white coach looks beautiful and shiny!
I have the coach (and roof) pressure washed each year and the gel-coat sealed by a detailer. I haven't noticed any chalking issues.
We are also full white original Gelcoat.
Somewhere on the forum is an annual plan to keep the gelcoat looking great.
After a lot of initial sanding and polishing to remove the ghosting, I now follow that plan, and it works well.
No full body paint required but a once a year cleaning, sealant and polisher.
How did you deal with the ghosting?
I had a detailing crew sand and buff (not certain of the exact grit) and then seal the gelcoat.
My coach had the decals removed by the previous owner and I was going to do something about
the ghosting but my wife said she liked it and I thinks it looks cool so it stays and save me a lot of
work.
So a few coach bucks then.
That's kind of where I'm at. At this point in our old coaches life, it starts to become throwing good money after bad when it comes to things beyond maint. and repairs. I could spend $30K on custom paint and it would still be at best a $30-$40k old coach no matter how much is spent on it.
This sounds bad. But it's not meant to be. We like our coach despite some of the issues we have had with it. But our coach is in the end a tool we use for our retirement travels. It's not a statement of who we are.
A few years back I removed all my decals except the broad stripes running across the bay doors.
I bought a full set of new decals for a 95 coach but after removing the originals, I loved the way the coach looked with no decals.
The new set of decals still remain in my basement at home and will probably never get installed.
After seeing the DJ's coach I now want the broad, bay decals off.
I find that the coaches with all the swirls and ridiculous accent stripes look like something out of a Circus parade vehicle.
I watch Andrew Steele's YouTube channel and scratch my head when he shows the 3 million dollar bus conversions and Newell coaches that have $200,000 paint jobs that include marbling and other STRANGE looking effects.
I could not even imagine a body shop trying to repair some of those paint jobs.
I love the Gel coat finish since I don't have to sweat driving around small branches and bushes that would scratch the paint on a painted coach.
Lon what decals do you have and what color are they? I might be interested in purchasing them !
200 grand paint jobs, months at the shop, life is too short to wait on that- time to hit the road
What gelcoat sealant do u use?
1995 Foretravel U320 40 SE in Nacogdoches, TX (https://www.smartrvguide.com/L52469474)
Not my coach but the same decals.
I will have to think about selling. The decals are old and I'm not sure about the adhesive still being good.
The glue is the big fly in the ointment. I would imagine if they are new old stock. The glue is likely rubbish.
I approached a pro decal installer here in Walla Walla to see if he could simply make new ones that match the old ones. He said if the old decals are cracked on the dark colors then he would NOT install or make new ones. His comment was that the cracks in the dark are cracks in the surface below and would show through new decals in short order.
Now I have no idea whether that is actually true or not for GEL coated fiberglass.
Mine has an aftermarket 3M decal stripe.
Gel Coat Maintenance- Aqua -Buff Compound? (https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?topic=45008.msg457004#msg457004)
I'm glad you brought that up. If these were from Encore RV in Nac (Bob McGrath's place), they were NOS that were stored in outdoor trailers in east Texas with no climate control for years, and the adhesive is definitely suspect. Even years ago, folks had issues with adhesion.
If they weren't from Encore, that's another story.
I've seen Craneman's coach. The gel coat pops like new and the 3M decals look great. We are
considering something like his once all the decals are gone and the gel coat has been sanded and buffed. I believe the compounds he used are also recommended by Xtreme
I've been removing my decals. I have a commercial grade steam cleaner and it works like a champ on most of the decals. A lot easier than the heat gun which I also tried. Some of the thinner pinstripes leave behind some residue with the steamer but the wider, thicker ones peel right off. Then just go back with the steamer and get the remaining residue. There are a few spots I'll have to use some kind of cleaner.
I'll be buffing it out when done and applying a ceramic coat. I use Avalon King on my cars and it lasts a good 3 years.
Here's a video of the steam removal. Proton Drive (https://drive.proton.me/urls/E1FJMXEGQ0#2ce4UfqQtueH)
Kevin
That steam removal is slick. I'll be right over
That's slick!
We used a similar technique (but a B&D wallpaper steamer) to take the 3M Diamond Shield off our coach before the headlight conversion. Plastic razor blades helped with the adhesive residue and any small bits.
Those nozzle-style steamers are supposed to be fantastic for cleaning grout lines between ceramic tile.