{"id":23347,"date":"2021-03-26T22:04:06","date_gmt":"2021-03-26T09:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quirkycampers.com\/nz\/?p=23347"},"modified":"2022-07-19T16:21:14","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T04:21:14","slug":"diy-paint-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quirkycampers.com\/nz\/diy-paint-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Giving your campervan a DIY paint job"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Guest blogger Laura Jerome shares how she and partner Lloyd gave the outside of their campervan a DIY paint job for a fraction of the cost of a professional respray!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Coddiwomple” the DIY painted campervan!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When Lloyd and I were looking for a van to convert into our tiny home on wheels, our choices were surprisingly limited. After a few months of searching for the right one within our budget, and coming up with nothing, we put a post on our local Facebook page asking if anybody had one they were selling. Amazingly, within minutes we had a Toll delivery van. It was perfect in every way, except the colour. We weren\u2019t mad on the bright turquoise blue that Toll use. However, it wasn\u2019t a deal breaker, we just thought we’d get it resprayed or wrapped – no problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The original colour<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The decision to do a DIY paint job<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As our campervan conversion went on we realised there wouldn\u2019t be anything like enough left in the budget for a paint job, or to have it wrapped. We did get some quotes, but we simply didn\u2019t have the money. However, we had a vision right of what our van “Coddiwomple” would look like and we didn\u2019t want to give up on that dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I researched painting him ourselves and found loads of information from the UK. Someone had painted their van with paint that the army use and it looked amazing, but I couldn\u2019t get that paint here in New Zealand. I also watched lots of videos on how to respray a vehicle but that was far too advanced for us. So, I decided to change the search parameters and rather than look to see what other people had done, look at the paint available in New Zealand and work from there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding the right paint<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We have a local Resene which I\u2019ve used a lot – I loved repainting our house and old furniture, so I wasn\u2019t a newcomer to painting with brushes and rollers, I\u2019d just never done a vehicle! I looked into what paints they stocked that might work for a van and that could be brushed or rolled on. Neither of us wanted to learn how to use a sprayer. We were already way out of our comfort zone with our build!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found the Uracryl range. It comes in gloss, semi-gloss and low sheen. Now, call us odd, but we wanted the low sheen finish. It\u2019s incredibly durable and keeps it\u2019s colour well. In the real world it can be used to paint bridges – but had anyone ever used it to paint a van? Resene didn\u2019t know! But the tech guys there were
amazing and went into great detail with me on how to use it. We decided to go for it! (I should mention, there are other suitable paints available in NZ, but I personally liked this one). Then we had to decide on a colour. We did a few tests on the inside back door – let all our friends tell us which ones they liked best – and then ignored them and went for Resene Armadillo!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparing for the paint work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are going to paint your van yourself there is a LOT of prep to do. If you have any rust you\u2019ll need to remove it or have it repaired. We were lucky Coddi only had a few teeny specks of rust which were easily sanded out and protected with Hammerite. The paintwork was also in really good condition. Next, it was the mammoth job of sanding the whole van. It just needs a light sand, with fine sandpaper to get a key. This took us a couple of days-ish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After completing the sanding, we jet-washed Coddi to remove all the paint dust. Then we drove him over to friends who have a large shed they\u2019d been kind enough to lend us. Now, I\u2019m sure you could paint outside on a nice, wind free day, but I\u2019d recommend doing it inside if you can. We had to let Coddi\u2019s tyres down to get through the shed door! But even once we were happily inside there was more work before we could start to paint. We degreased the whole exterior with white spirit and then masked everything off. It literally took hours, and it\u2019s really fiddly and boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the painting, you will need…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

…the paint and the hardener, the finest roller sleeves (we went through about 10), small brushes for tiny areas, masking tape, pots to mix up the paint in, white spirit for cleaning. And painkillers for your back, because by the time you finish, you will be exhausted and really sore!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our van is a Mercedes LWB high roof Sprinter. For 2 coats we worked out we\u2019d need 8 litres. We could always buy extra. As it turned out the paint covered amazingly. We used about 5 litres for 2 coats all over except only one coat on the roof. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We used measuring jugs for mixing because they have markings down the side and this made it simpler. And we used a kitchen hand mixer bought especially, that we binned afterwards. The Uracryl range has two components – the paint and the hardener. These are mixed together, as per instructions, and then you only have a certain amount of time to use it before it goes hard. The days we did our painting were really HOT, and really humid so I didn\u2019t just add all the hardener to the whole paint pot. I was worried it would start to harden before we\u2019d finished the pot, hence the measuring jugs to mix smaller quantities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n