Gutter Painting

Ah! This the time of year when a young man's fancy turns to you know what and an older man's thoughts turn to his Campervan Maintenance!!

Started thinking about doing my gutters and would appreciate some advice. In all honesty they're not too bad and it's mostly surface rust with some pitting but no holes that I've come across so far.

My idea was to rub down to bare metal then, prime and paint. Sounds easy but then I thought what do I use to give the best repair? How would the 'people in the know' tackle the job and would they use Jenolite, standard aerosol primer or etch primer. Never used etch primer before so is there anything I should be aware of, is it still necessary to use Jenolite with it and should this be two-pack etch primer or is single pack aerosol OK?

Any thought greatly appreciated

 

I use something similar to krust, I've never got on well with jenolite... but yes, an etch, then prime, then topcoat!!

But ideally what you really want to do, is cavity wax round the inside edges of the roof... as with the multi layers that make up the edge of the frame round the roof, this is where the rust really starts and comes from!!

 

Thanks Paul. I guess by talking of 'inside edges' you mean undoing the roof lining and waxing from underneath? Don't really want to do this unless really necessary as I had roof lining replaced last year and don't want to disturb it. Just wondering how the moisture gets up inside there to start the rust?

I could be wrong but I think my rust may be on the top side only and perhaps caused by the poptop trim chafing at the paint in the gutter. Is this likely??

 

it is possible dude!! Poptops are a proper wear point on the paint!!

As for moisture getting in, there's one that you'll never stop, and that's condensation... plus sleeping in the van creates moisture from breathing

My van was outside winter before last, and just from the snow sitting on the roof, the inside was dripping wet

 

I told my wife not to sleep at night!! Point taken - thanks.

 

Sleeping's ok, you need to ask her not to breath.

 

Great bit of advice zed. Would you like to tell her - I'm too scared!!

 

While I've got my headlining out I guess I should stick some cavity wax up there too. My gutters have some surface rust too but the inside looks spotless. What cavity wax would you recommend for interior use?

 

I use dinitrol, or noxudol if I can get it, but most cavity waxes will do the job as long as they don't dry out!!