The Cameo Camper Renovation: Repairing holes in aluminum exterior walls + prepping for paint

So. many. holes. Petty holes, big holes. Skinny holes, fat holes. Round holes, ragged holes, wonky holes. If you tin can think of it, we had it. Some were intentional and functional – used for water and electrical connections, etc. Others were mysterious gashes and tears, no dubiety collected on The Cameo's many adventures. A lot, withal, were made by u.s. from that time nosotros had to triage the camper so information technology wouldn't come crashing down. Regrettable, but most importantly, repairable. All in all they added up to at to the lowest degree 128 holes (yes I counted, and I know I missed some). Instead of replacing the entire camper skin to make it watertight (which would definitely look fabulous, just is expensive and if we did that we figured we should've only built a new camper entirely from scratch), we opted to save the original metal exterior and repair the holes using various methods depending on the size, type and location.

I know she's already all painted, and we kind of touched on this way back in August, but we repaired holes for then long and did so much more hole work since that postal service, that I felt this topic warranted another one with more than details and tips for anyone attempting to do the same thing. Plus, a number of you have asked for details and I'm then happy to oblige!

For starters, do non fearfulness – if we can practise this, you can too! A lot of the holes were very sloppily plugged up with caulk or silicone or hot glue – near unattractive, some working better than others since in that location were still leaks all over this beast. It was a large ol' hot mess that required a lot of caulk remover and scraping. A lot of the holes were incognito and don't really show up in the very outset photos we shared subsequently we picked her up, but trust me they were there laying in wait…

The innies & outies of pigsty prep

After we removed caulk for days, nosotros assessed what each hole needed, mostly based on its size. One thing to keep in mind is if your metal hole is poking "outward" so that you lot accept petty metal burrs, you'll want to advisedly push them so that the edges of the pigsty pull in. In our case, when nosotros removed all of the screws we'd put into the walls, information technology pulled the metallic a petty creating what I'll phone call an "outie" belly button. In the example of patching holes, we found an "innie" works meliorate. Y'all can see what I'k talking well-nigh below.

In the outie photo on the left you can see the metal burrs around the holes, compared to how smooth the edges expect after we made them innies in the photo on the right. (The larger ring yous see around the holes on the left were fabricated past the foam washers on the Teks screws we used. They are slightly indented into the metal.)

We turned our outies into innies by using a combination of a flathead screwdriver and a pair of needle nose pliers. And lots of muscle. And grunting. I'k pretty sure I was grunting. I'1000 not gonna sugarcoat information technology – this role sucks. It takes a off-white amount of hand forcefulness and precision to move the metal without slipping and scratching the metal up or stabbing yourself. (No ane'south perfect – if you lot slip and scratch your aluminum a footling y'all can e'er sand it out with fine sandpaper before painting and no one will be the wiser.) I recommend wearing gloves to assist absorber your hands and protect them against the metal simply in case yous slip. Our technique was to start with the screwdriver to fold over any extra pokey bits as much as possible, and so use the closed tapered needle nose end of the pliers to pull the pigsty inward past sticking information technology in the hole and kind of swirling it around. (Not sure at that place's a ameliorate way to say that, so insert joke here.) Even though it takes a little while and makes the pigsty a trivial bigger, this step gets y'all a smoother finish when yous go to sand later, not to mention is safer when you're applying the putty by hand since you're not poking yourself with metal burrs. Once they're all turned inwards, you're set up to make full.

Small holes (about i/4" in diameter or less)

Small holes in the process of being filled with JB Weld Water Weld

Small holes in the process of beingness filled with JB Weld H2o Weld

Tools for the job:

  • JB Weld Water Weld Epoxy Putty

  • Dispensable gloves

  • Electric sander + varying grits of sandpaper (we used 80 - 240)

I'1000 pretty sure JB Water Weld Epoxy Putty was invented past some kind of wizard. This stuff is amazing. According to their website, "WaterWeld will plug or seal leaks and patch holes and cracks in nearly anything. Ideal for repairing plumbing, fuel tanks, tub and shower, drains, pool and spa, boats and beverage water tanks; setup occurs even under water. Later curing, it can be drilled, tapped, filed, sanded and painted. WaterWeld has a prepare fourth dimension of 15-25 minutes and sets difficult in one hour. WaterWeld cures to an fair color, is rated at a tensile forcefulness of 900 PSI and will withstand temperatures upward to 300ºF." Great for:

  • Plumbing, Tub, Shower & Drains

  • Fuel Tanks

  • Marine & Boats

  • Beverage Water Tanks

  • Vintage aluminum campers! (alright, I added this i, merely it does say "metal")


We went through I'm guessing almost seven sticks of this stuff over the course of this portion of the renovation. What's peachy about JB H2o Weld is information technology's very piece of cake to work with, waterproof, paintable and sets up pretty fast so you tin get it practical pretty speedily. That being said, because information technology starts to harden quickly once mixed, it's best to piece of work with pretty small amounts. Information technology looks like a petty putty log (maybe about 4" long or so) and is made upwardly of 2 parts – a grayness colored inner core and a white outer role. I don't know what exactly it is, but you lot have to mash the two parts together to activate the stuff. You lot'll know you're doing it right because it gets warm (not hot enough to fire you or anything) and the two colors should mix to make a compatible light gray color.

Wearing disposable gloves, I found information technology best to unwrap it from the plastic, and only break off a small amount (maybe near one/2-three/four" or so), making sure to break off the cease in a straight line and so you get the right amounts of the core and outer parts. Squish it with your fingertips (wearing dispensable gloves!) until it's warm and the color is mixed thoroughly. Then chop-chop utilize your glob of putty on top of and across the edges of your hole, which should always be a clean, dry expanse. At beginning I tried to nicely feather the edges off and flatten the pinnacle equally much every bit possible to help with waste matter and minimize sanding later. Doing this sometimes meant I hadn't put plenty JB Weld on and after sanding I had a little dimple where information technology was still low and I had to go back for some other repair. Proficient news is you can layer this stuff if needed to get just the right height and look yous demand.

Later on it set, I sanded the sloppy lumps down getting finer and finer with my grit each time until I was happy with the smoothness and how the edges feathered into the surrounding aluminum. I thought it sanded amend the next solar day or longer out afterward application. In our experience we knew we'd tried to sand it too shortly when the top started turning a weird dingy greyness color, well-nigh like it was merely called-for/melting a little or something. Occasionally I would sand the stuff also thin (for the size of the hole I guess), and the vibration from the sander would rattle the JB Weld correct out of the screw hole I'd merely patched. A total bummer, but I'd just layer on elevation. Sometimes with more JB Weld, and sometimes I'd try something else…

Large holes (i" or so in bore & up)

Large holes – the one on the right is shown with the Bondo self adhesive patch in place behind it.

Large holes – the 1 on the right is shown with the Bondo self adhesive patch in place backside it.

Tools for the chore:

  • Bondo – we used both stranded and not-stranded

  • Bondo self-adhesive patch (or canvas metal) so the Bondo has something to grip to

  • Duct tape (mayhap)

  • Plastic spreader(s)

  • Disposable gloves

  • Non-porous surface for mixing Bondo

  • Electric sander + varying grits of sandpaper (we used lxxx - 240)


Bondo. This stuff is kind of a mess. Okay, really a mess, but it does brand for such a nice stop it makes the scent, look and mess worth it. Not knowing which would exist amend for us, we bought and tried both the stranded fiberglass and non stranded metal-infused types. They both worked well, but I'd recommend the non-stranded. Information technology was less messy, stunk way less and was easier to employ overall. Follow the instructions on the containers for your hardener ratios and mixing techniques – they're strange but they're important. The stranded seemed to harden up quicker, and (wearing disposable gloves) I mixed and practical information technology by mitt smearing it effectually as needed. Like the JB Water Weld, this gets warm to the bear upon as the hardener is activated.

The non-stranded Bondo was mixed and applied with a plastic spreader which made information technology easier to smooth equally I went. This one also sets upwardly very quickly so resist the urge to shine it too much because it will only make information technology uglier and more textured. Trust me. Because it goes on with a spreader, I was able to more than easily mimic the striped texture of our camper by kind of scoring/waving the plastic spreader every bit I was applying it.

Once cured, I sanded these patches down using finer and finer grits equally I went.

For the patch above nosotros added and sanded a layer of non-stranded Bondo in between photos three and four.

For very large holes that need some kind of backing, use the Bondo metal self-agglutinative patch (or a scrap of sheet metal glued to the backside of your hole, like we did for the front of our camper). The patch is meant to be cut to size, if needed, and is supposed to stick to the surface yous're patching. For some reason ours didn't. Thankfully we applied ours on the inside of the camper for a smoother end, so we used duct record from the back to help keep the patch in place. Fume and mirrors, y'all.

Tiny holes (pinholes much smaller than 1/four" in bore) & fine tears

Lone Oak Design Co. – Cameo Camper Renovation

Tools for the job:

  • JB Weld Water Weld Epoxy Putty

  • Bondo – we used both stranded and non-stranded

  • Plastic spreader(s)

  • Not-porous surface for mixing Bondo

  • Disposable gloves

  • Electric sander + varying grits of sandpaper (we used 80 - 240)


They may be small and unassuming, just nosotros've found the smaller the pigsty, the harder it is to patch. These are the ones when every bit you're sanding, the filler is about likely to jiggle and wiggle and somehow autumn out. In many of our "problem areas" where the metal was riddled with tears, baby holes and those weird fuzzy looking worn holes all right next to each other we used a multi-faceted approach, combining all the techniques used in the sections above. When in doubt, fill it, sand it, then fill and sand it once more a few more times. There may be a better way to do this, only we just had to layer and layer and layer filler in these areas since nosotros had but about everything happening in the bridge of a pes or and so.


An added layer of waterproofing, simply in case

We retrieve these areas are all watertight, but as an extra mensurate nosotros will be rounding back to all of our previously leaky areas with a bottle (or two) of Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure. We don't want all of this hard work to be for nothing, so if a tiny bottle of miracle sealant is plenty to push the states over the waterproof border, we are all in!

It "finds and fixes mystery leaks without having to have everything apart. It is a one-part water-based acrylic co-polymer penetrating sealant. The Creeping Scissure Cure is and so sparse that using capillary action it can discover its fashion right inside fine seams and joints to ready to a clear flexible seal. It is a totally different approach than most sealants. Beingness thinner than h2o, information technology goes where the water goes. It tin can find its way right into hairline cracks and hair-sparse seams where other sealants cannot reach. It traces mystery leaks. The rapid absorption of the sealant into the seam indicates the potential leak. Even excellent conventional sealants cannot do that. It'south quick and easy to employ, also. There's no need to remove old sealants. You simply employ the sealant along the line of a crevice or joint until no more is captivated. As an added benefit, it's water-based and non-toxic. The sealant is safe to utilise and, unlike other products, it can be applied to cracks even when they are slightly damp. When dry the sealant is transparent only it can be painted over successfully as so little of the sealant is exposed to the surface."

Afterward Captain Tolley's, nosotros'll be adding a thin bead of silicone to the seams every bit well. This may all be overkill, but and so over again if it keeps us from having whatsoever more water damage, it will accept all been worth it.

Removing paint + sanding imperfections

Lone Oak Design Co. – Cameo Camper Renovation

Tools for the job:

  • Electric sander + varying grits of sandpaper (we used 80 - 240)


This step was the easiest for us paint prep-wise. The Cameo was by and large blank and really only had the aureate stripe on it. The gold paint was in pretty skillful shape in that it wasn't chipping, but when I started running our electric sander over information technology, it did outset to kind of flake off a lilliputian. I probably didn't have to sand off quite every bit much equally I did, only my inner OCD monster got a tiny flake carried away. That being said, you tin can see from the photograph above we didn't get every speck of gold off. Instead, nosotros just fabricated sure the loose bits came off and everything that was left was smooth and primer-prepare.

If y'all have a few holes to patch, don't worry. You lot can fix it. Just look at how many patches nosotros had just a couple weeks ago (at to the lowest degree 128), compared to at present. What holes?

She's not perfect, but this old gal has seen some things in the final half a century.

Make that 129 holes…

Since I started writing this/afterwards nosotros painted the exterior, I accidentally screwed a Kreg screw through the outside of the camper skin when trying to add together a piece of wood to the inside of the left rear area.

::: facepalm :::

So, for now I have at least i more hole to patch. Everything'south fine; zilch is ruined. Nosotros'll just add it to the list.

What practice you remember? Any questions for us? Suggestions on what you'd like to see?

For the latest on The Cameo – plus pictures of our pups and some other shenanigans – don't forget to follow us on Instagram. Nosotros're getting so close to moving to the within I can almost sense of taste it!!

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Kristen

the cameo, vintage camper renovation, 1969 cameo camper, earlier, waterproofing, during, after, vintage travel trailer, paint prep, outside, bondo, exterior pigment, off white, navy, jb weld, patching aluminum, filling holes in aluminum, camper outside

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