1973 270 for $4500 in Austin, Texas

[77Travco]

I met this guy last summer at a motorcycle rally and I have personally seen the inside of this coach. This is a good deal for anyone looking to get a Travco that they can drive and use right away.\n\nhttp://austin.craigslist.org/rvs/4753726114.html

[padave29]

Yes, it was a pretty good deal. We picked her up Wednesday before Thanksgiving, took her out to Bastrop for a couple days, then down to Corpus, and settled down in San Antonio, where she'll stay for an extended stay. Now I'm looking for someone in San Antonio to sand blast her, do some epoxy work, gel coat and a gorgeous new paint job. Anyone have suggestions?

[77Travco]

There's a guy out in Hondo (next to Herman Son's steakhouse) that paints large trucks. I was going to inquire from him what it would cost but got side tracked. I wouldn't sand blast it though...

[padave29]

I know a pro boat guy (he's doing my boat), who specializes in fiberglass hulls. He recommends sand blasting (not literally sand - actually walnut shells) down to the glass, re-gel coat and paint as desired, with clear coat - if I want to do it right.

[Acesneights]

Since this was bought by a member, I moved it out of the classifieds to it's own thread so you guys can continue on.

[Acesneights]

I looked into the walnut blasting too. I had a guy come over from a blasting company. He wasn't sure it it would work being the fiberglass and gelcoat is a little different on these but was willing to try. I ended up doing it the hard way...an 8inch mudhog and 36grit. What a horrible job to do. I looked into a gelcoat planer too but the Travcos again are too flexible and wavy.\nI would not reapply gelcoat. I would use a 2k primer and a few coats of G2 featherfil after the old gelcoat is removed and just paint over that. Two things destroyed the gelcoat on these...Flexing and more so UV. If you look on most cracked Travcos, they never cracked under the stripe...Now...\nIs that because the paint saved it from UV or is it because that is kind of the "equator" of the coach and didn't flex much there ??\nI know my 75 was painted to look like an Airstream many years ago and never cracked anywhere, but it also spent 20 yrs parked in an autobody shop.

[77Travco]

It won't be cheap labor wise but it sure would be cool to have a glossy new paint job on a Travco.

[padave29]

Thanks for the input on 2k and featherfil. I'll check into that. So far as the blasting - how much did they want to do it? I would do the sanding myself, but these days I have less TIME than I have MONEY (a situation I never expected to find myself in). But I'll DEFINITELY be getting her a new dress (paint job). My wife loves the paint job on the coach that this site uses as its "mascot" picture, as well as the one done with the same design in light blue. I think we might do it in RED. \n\nSo far as gel coats - I can't imagine that the sun did in the gel coats, unless the paint was of poor quality. Gel coats on boats last for decades - I have a '64 sail boat whose gel coat is still intact. She needs new paint, but it's pretty rare to need a new gel coat if it's done well (and the paint is kept up). And they have CONSTANT salt water, wind and brighter sun (with the mirror effect off the water) - more element damage than ANY land vehicle, I would think. Maybe they do boat gel coats thicker(?) Likewise, I'd think that boats (especially sail boats) come under much greater hull strain that land vehicles - and that strain is also constant. Even when the sails are down, the boat is being rocked by the force of the wind on the mast. So, to me this begs the question: what is different? Is the hull thinner? Are the materials built for less stress/durability? If the gel coats are thinner or of lesser quality than boats, I can fix that - just paint her like a boat. But if it's an issue with a thinner hull, that makes it less stable - and thus more flexible - I don't know if that's fixable(?) Thoughts?