One of the things that so distinguishes an RV is its appearance and especially, the beauty of its paint job. All the manufacturers are working very hard to make their units stand out. To see what goes into painting an RV, we visited the Kitchener, Ontario, Canada factory of Roadtrek Motorhomes, the largest and best-sellingType B motothome manufacturer in North America. There, we are able to follow a unit through the painting process and video it all.
It begins as the van is bought into the sanding booth right after the roof goes on. There, the seams are all bonded and any imperfections in the fiberglass body are sanded and puttied and meticulously corrected. This preparation work takes two workers up to 16 hours… such is the insistence on quality
Next, the van is primed and masked. This is a two hour process, making sure only what should be painted is painted and providing a dust and dirt-free surface to paint.
Then it's time for the paint booth- ergonomically designed and employing the latest wet-on-wet painting technology to provide a baked-on finish just like your car. There are no hurried body-shop finishes here. Three different coats are applied… a sealer… the base coat and then the clear coat which makes the Roadtrek so beautiful. The painting stage takes another three hours.
Finally, paint dried, it’s a rub down… The van is cleaned and buffed for an automotive factory quality finish.
All told, nearly 24 hours have gone into just the painting process of this Roadtrek. It’s that attention to detail that many say makes the Roadtreks…. Traveling works of art.
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