A different kind of decal question for you

[luvmywestie]

Well, the Mountaineer TT appeared with a delamination issue, much to our dismay. No water leak, it appears it was not enough glue and warm weather, blah, blah, blah. I don't care what the reason is, but am not a happy camper right now about the whole thing.

Anyway, after working intently with the dealer we bought it from last year, we struck a deal and she is in getting fixed. It is out of warranty, and not covered by extended warranty, so they weren't obligated to do anything, but out of good will and that we have bought 2 RV's there, with at least one more purchase in our future, they wanted to make us as happy as they could. They were concerned about getting decals as they haven't had much luck with Keystone and were very impressed that Keystone had sent them to us last year and wanted my contact person. I told them not to do any decals and if we put anything on the front we will take care of it.

So, now I need to think what to put on it, where to get it from, and I need some creative minds to help with ideas. I am not very creative and really prefer not to have Keystone or Montana advertising, SO.....???? What do you think, we will have a clean slate on the front of the trailer. Ideas?

[c214dick]

After removing the front decals I have decided to only replace the mountains w/o Montana. We have a border collie who loves chasing frisbees so I want a border collie jumping over the mountain. I have one quote but am not happy with the design so am still looking. When we had our Cedar Creek, one of the members from California, had "Hotel California" on his front. Take something you like and do it. Prices vary and there are a lot of companies on the internet. I'm going to stay local so I can have that personal touch. Good luck.

[DQDick]

Our plan is to have our's painted when the decals go bad. Just a nice design that will look good.

[jsmitfl]

If you go online there are a ton of places to see what you may like. Some even work off your picture. This link had a mountain scene that cost like 160.00 and it was 60" wide. You can go frameless or with frame. Heres a link. Check them out. http://www.freakdecals.com/

[Steve and Susie]

I would not order on line or mail order decals. Any Sign Shop now a days has a vinyl cutter on their computer which produces or reproduces almost any design you could want. I had a Sign Shop for almost 40 years, however I am a hand painted Sign painter and pin striper, but in the later years a friend and fellow sign shop owner was all computer so in our dealings and working together I learned the new computer age signage also. First, and most important for everyone to remember is there are 3 different grades in vinyl. You want ONLY the "High Performance" vinyl on your rig. My guess is, with all the problems with RV decals, some have bid jobs for manufactures, with high performance vinyl, then down the road replaced it with one of the two lower grades, neither of which will last on the outside of your unit, in any weather. If you go directly to a local sign shop you can specify high performance right from the get go. Although I believe the high performance vinyl to be of good grade, I still outline the decals with clear marine varnish, to eliminate any curling, shrinking, and on to peeling. I replaced the words Montana on the front and back of our 2008, but am in the process of hand painting everything else. Hope this helps--Happy Trails

[c214dick]

Great advice. Thanks

[jrabbit]

"Steve and Susie" - talking of hand painting, what do you paint with? I am often tempted to paint ours, but I need confidence in materials ...

[Steve and Susie]

Hi there Hippie Wife. When I speak of hand painting I refer to the old hand painted signage, where you see the (normally) old man on his knees or on a ladder with a Quill Brush in his hand and hand lettering. As for the stripes I am using "One-shot" lettering enamels, mixed to my colors. One shot lettering enamels are lead based and not readily available everywhere, except actual sign suppliers. When using that paint there right and wrong ways of brushing, if you get to that point I would be glad to give you all the help I can so your finished product ends up looking nice and smooth and even. As for painting the whole thing, most important thing would be to make sure the unit is grounded, like a chain over the axle and on the floor with the floor completely wet down. with out the grounding, the spray gun will cause static on the unit and you will have a real mess, sorta like an orange peel, with the indents bare of the paint your spraying. Let me know if I can help you anymore, always glad to share my 40 something years of painting.

[Ed Benson]

As my 305FKS decals are fading / peeling also, I have been considering options too. Contacted Keystone's recommended replacement decal provider, am having a tough time justifying the cost for something that does nothing to enhance performance.

I have a neighbor with a SOB like sized TT - also all fiberglass exterior. He just completely stripped his exterior, applied wax - very sharp looking. Keeps the chrome wheels polished, all exposed frame / hitch pieces painted and the tires polished also. Much better than the faded / peeled graphics look.

[Captain Joe]

I had a truck camper that was ordered without decals. I liked it.

[luvmywestie]

Thank you all so much for all your thoughts and advice. I do think that painting is the best way to go, but don't want to put too much money into it as we plan to get a new rig in a year or two. Maybe we can find out what a simple design painted on the front would be that would go along with the sides and back. The rest of the decals are still in really good shape on our TT. Maybe leaving it pure white will be fine after we get it back and see it. I guess we will have to wait and see.

Captain Joe & Ed- were the RV's you are both talking about pure white all around? And they looked good? I'd love to see that!

[D and M On The Road]

We removed ALL the decals off our 2001 Montana. It was so butt-ugly all white. We finally installed an entire new set of decals and it looks sooooooo much better. Even just for resale I think you'd do better with decals on it.

Just my opinion.