Stripping the clear coat from an Airstream is one of those things you really don’t want to do, but must do if you want to polish it to a mirror shine. When we stripped the Overlander, we used the Aircraft Stripper you can buy at any auto parts or home improvement store. It works fine, but dries out quickly so you have to work fast and do it in sections. Once the water hits it, it wants to seize up, and whatever you do, don’t get the tiniest speck on you!
We decided this time we would try a different product. As I mentioned in my last post, we chose to use PG Aerospace PR-5044 Peroxide-Activated Stripper from Vintage Trailer Supply. We weren’t certain how long to leave it on so we decided to do a test area first. This is after one hour and rinsed off with a water hose. It was about 90 degrees out and the trailer was parked in the shade. Woohoo! It doesn’t take much to get us excited! We were out the door and headed to Lowe’s to buy some covers for our paint rollers.
The directions say it can be sprayed, brushed or rolled on but, it’s so thick (bananna pudding) I don’t see how you could spray it. We put on some old clothes and chemical resistant gloves and rolled it on. It went fast and only took about 2 1/2 gallons to get a good thick coat on. We even put it on the bumper, step, tongue and wheels that had several coats of paint on them. After about an hour we pulled it out away from the building and used a pressure washer to rinse it off. Stripping a trailer is a messy job but this product made it much easier and no pain!
The new marker lights, window clips, gaskets, and door latch came today. It’s official, the restoration of our 1966 Safari has begun! We should be camping by Spring! 😉 Ha!
