Well, at least “shinier.” 🙂
Last year when we waxed the Scamp it looked pretty good, but the shine didn’t last long at all. While we don’t know the full history of our 1995 trailer, we can assume that not much has been done to maintain the exterior over the years; any gloss or gel coat was long, long gone by the time we bought it. The surface turned very “chalky” whenever we washed it, and the water we rinsed it with actually looked “milky.”
We cleaned it up last Spring for a quick camping trip, but by June it looked worse than ever! There were green streaks on it, and an amazing amount of dust and dirt. When we washed it again in early July, it literally took hours to get it clean. WAY too much work…
We kept it covered with a large tarp after that while we tried to figure out what to do. We were disappointed with how quickly the wax coating had faded, and weren’t sure we wanted to go that route again.
I’d read about people using Zep floor polish (!) to make old fiberglass trailers shiny again (and therefore easier to keep clean), and while some people don’t recommend using this because it has no UV protection, we decided to give it a go.
I didn’t take any pictures before using the Zep, but this is what the trailer looked like last April after we’d washed it for our camping outing–clean, but with a dull finish. That’s basically how it looked after our most recent washing and scrubbing session.
So we bought a gallon of Zep and some microfiber towels (use white or light towels–we discovered that a yellow towel started leaving yellow streaks!), and started wiping on the polish on Wednesday, July 12th. We didn’t notice much of an improvement after two coats, so we added a couple more coats. Finally–as we reached 7 or 8 coats over the course of two days–we were able to achieve a nice gloss.
Having the trailer look nicer was certainly one of the goals, but from what we’ve read, it should be much easier to clean in the future. Fingers crossed!
Oh, did you notice the blue painter’s tape along the roof line?
Since we’re still apparently dealing with some tiny, essentially invisible pinholes on the roof that have caused some leaks, our next project will be painting the roof with a sealant. After that, we’ll need to reattach some of the hull liner and insulation that have started sagging inside as a result of the leaks. (!)
Before we fix the ceiling, however, we might try to get in some camping trips because the summer is going way too quickly, as usual. I’ve finally got the Kia set up as a tow vehicle (same tow rating as our 4Runner, 5000 lbs.), but first we need to figure out how to set the new brake controller. (It’s much more complicated to calibrate, but it’s probably a better product than what we have on the 4Runner.)
We do love our little trailer, but it seems we’re still in a pattern of restoration–and then fixing the things we’ve already fixed! Always something. 🙂