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sashee

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I am a potential buyer of a hawk shell model. But the black end panels are so awful looking! I want to.paint them before I even start... any ideas how? I want to.go all light colors inside. Thanks if you have any thoughts!
 
sashee said:
I am a potential buyer of a hawk shell model. But the black end panels are so awful looking! I want to.paint them before I even start... any ideas how? I want to.go all light colors inside. Thanks if you have any thoughts!
Click to expand...
Not a lady, but here goes. Those panels flex when you open and close the roof. They are a composite and I'm not sure how well any paint will adhere to then and what would happen when you open and close over time. Maybe sheet that has an adhesive back. Never read a post concerning this. You are the first. jd
 
Or look for an ATC - I think all of the panels have the wood imprint on them. At least our Ocelot does.
 
Plasti-Dip comes in a lot of colors and is very flexible. You can get basic colors at Home Depot I think, but you would probably have to order a "girly" color. People use it for "dipping" cars/trucks for a relatively cheap paint job that lasts a little while. Its also used for dipping the handles of tools to give them that nice rubbery handle like Channelocks have. Not sure if it would work on the composite panels, but I don't see why it wouldn't.
 
I'm always trying to think of some way to improve the interior aesthetics. Funny, the black panels never bothered me at all. If you have ideas about improving other aspects of the interior, would love to hear/see them.
 
Do we know the new lift panel material? That is critical to knowing what will adhere to them and what won't.

How about curtains in front of the panels?
 
Hi! it is called Thermo-lite 4. Possibly we can just paint it, if the paint will adhere. Not sure if curtains would get caught in the folding mechanism. I could velcro them up and remove them each time I close it, though. Thanks!
 
sashee said:
Hi! it is called Thermo-lite 4. Possibly we can just paint it, if the paint will adhere. Not sure if curtains would get caught in the folding mechanism. I could velcro them up and remove them each time I close it, though. Thanks!
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Gee... that name is very interesting. I can't find Thermo-lite 4 but searching led to "Thermo-Lite Board®" manufactured by SpaceAge Synthetics, Ltd. of Fargo, North Dakota. And that in turn reminds me of seeing this 2013 Truck Camper Magazine article where Tom Hanagan said the new composite lift panels are made in the Dakotas (about two-thirds of the way down the article). Could those be the ones?

There appear to be several variants of those panels but the Safety Data Sheet applies to all of them.

Safety Data Sheet

I then called SpaceAge Synthetics about painting Thermo-Lite Board® panels. Unfortunately, it's not as straightforward as saying yes or no. The guy said the degree of success depends on the finish. The one most likely to be successfully painted would be a sanded finish which he described as a rough, textured finish. Another is E-skin, also known as 'elephant skin' (because it looks like elephant skin) and it would be more difficult to paint. And another is 'fast coat', an epoxy finish which would be very difficult to get paint to stick.

I also asked if Thermo-lite 4 means anything to him. He said that might just be a mis-hearing of "Thermo-Lite Board". But there is a finish code 4 which means smooth one side, sanded the other. And another code 4 which means the 'tough-lite' version of their panel. He gave me a sample code of 2844 and explained the first four would mean 'tough-lite' and the second four would mean 'sanded-one/smooth-other'.

In any case, his advice would be to sand first to rough the surface a bit and then apply a urethane-based paint, not a water-based or an oil-based one. And he said he believes Sherwin-Williams has a urethane-based paint.

(Please note we have not yet confirmed that the composite panels are indeed Thermo-Lite Board® ones, much less what finish they have.)

.
 
I would suggest testing a corner with "Seal coat" wax-less shellac. In restoration work Shellac is used between all subsequent coats so that what you do is always reversible. That and, shellac has a great quality of sticking to things. (for instance if you have a water stain on a roof panel... spray shellac first ...then paint over....the stain is barred from bleeding through again. On the panels, if the shellac sticks (it dries within a minute) ... you can then topcoat the shellack. Paint will stick to it.
 
sashee said:
Hi! it is called Thermo-lite 4. Possibly we can just paint it, if the paint will adhere. Not sure if curtains would get caught in the folding mechanism. I could velcro them up and remove them each time I close it, though. Thanks!
Click to expand...
That's just one more thing to do when opening/closing the camper.
Contact paper might work.
Get some and try.
It doesn't cost that much.
Have fun.
Frank
 
Hello sashes
Just re-read this post and thought of this. Since this is a non issue when campers collapsed and your in travel mode, a curtain in front of the panel could be ideal, and you could pick a fabric that would be an accent to your environment. I came up with this because I have used our little bungee cords across the rear panel to hang stuff some times. My thoughts were make the curtain the size needed thread the bungee thru the top, ( front curtain might have to be two pieces because of the securing device, but that's what Velcro is for).
So when you set up relocating the bungee cords to cover those lift panels, you gots to store them some wheres. Ready to travel relocate the cords back to their intended spot, lower-latch-leave.

Russ
 
This is only a little relevant...

We recently added the thermal lining to our Hawk and I have been surprised how it makes me claustrophobic versus the off white sides themselves.

I will likely get used to it and one can easily remove the lining....stow under bedding when not needed...

Perhaps it underscores for me how small the space inside actually is.

David Graves
 
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