Roof material

[pjcd]

I was thinking of putting it on the front portion of the aluminum roof, you know where the transition from the curved roof to the front cap is . Mine is really rough, with dents large enough for water to pool. Couldn't hurt and I would think a gallon would be more then enough.

[montedtrotter1]

Absolutely, and you could give us good data regarding coated and uncoated aluminum heat buildup and transfer!

[oleo]

I would add, a good coat of wax makes washing any streaks sooooo easy to get rid of.  Over a 3 year period, we waxed our QBB 3 times per year.  Most everything cleaned off so easily. Used our QBB a lot, washed after each trip, easy to clean.

[pjcd]

I use to use "Simple Green" to clean the siding on my old Nash, worked pretty good. Now I just use car wash soap from Pep Boys and a car brush with a extendable pole.

[daplumbr]

I just used a quart of the Interlux Interdeck bright white anti-skid boat paint on the aluminum areas of my 16TBS roof. It is really high quality paint that took only 1 coat to cover well with a foam roller and I think it will last many years. A quart was just barely enough and I left a small corner bare for test measurements. Anyway, the camper is in the sun right now and with an ambient temperature of 77F, the white painted area of the roof is 102F and the bare aluminum area of the roof is 138F (as measured with my Nubee infared thermometer). I would say the 25% reduction in surface temperature was definitely worth $50 in paint and an hour for prep and painting. 

 An added bonus is that it has fine sand in it which makes the roof much safer to be on.

https://www.amazon.com/Interlux-Interdeck-Quart-INTYJB000Q--%C2%A0White/dp/B001HX9528/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466182173&sr=8-1&keywords=interdeck

[gbpack]

Merlin - thanks for your info above. Seems like it is a good quality product. We are looking to paint the roof of our trailer as well in order to help with temperature, streaking down the sides of the trailer, and to hopefully deaden the sound of rain drops to some degree. Someone else on the forum mentioned that they used Kool Seal white paint and applied 3 coats (I assume they bought a gallon). Since we would really like to deaden some of the noise from rain, do you think that 3 coats of Kool Seal would provide more of a sound barrier than just one coat of what you used? I think they bought the Kool Seal at Walmart and, if so, I'm guessing that we could probably get a gallon of that for around the same price as the quart of paint/sealant that you purchased. If 3 coats of material will provide more sound deadening, then we may opt to go that route. Any thoughts will be appreciated!

[daplumbr]

The single coat of paint I used has no noticeable sound-deadening quality. Three coats might, but at too high a cost. I used a single coat of Kool Seal on a flat roof shed a few years ago and it was thicker (and messier) than paint. It didn't last in that situation (bad surface to begin with) and I ended up covering the whole shed roof with a rubber membrane. It's a WAG, but I bet 3 coats of Kool Seal would help quiet the interior from rain without adding too much weight. Anything pure white will cool the roof and prevent the black streaks. 

[gbpack]

Thanks. I think I'm going to give it a try (3 coats of Kool Seal). I see that a gallon costs about $40 (Walmart or Amazon), so I'll let you know how it goes!

[otisw]

I just posted a temporary method to cool the skin of my 16DBS with mylar space blankets in case anybody is interested. Dropped the temperature from 145 to 105 degrees in the sun for $2.00 worth of stuff and 5 minutes work. Also posted links to a cheaper place to buy white deck paint for the aluminum roof. Here's the post:

http://livinlite-owners.com/post/22838