Re: [A/S] Argosy Motorhome questions

["Tom Patterson" <tommyjoe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Charles,

Its not an Argosy, but I went through the paint removal problem with my '65
Streamline Motorhome.  When I got the coach in January 2001, it had been
painted up to look like an Amtrack train.  You can see some of what it
looked like at that time from the pictures at
http://www.tompatterson.com/Streamline/TravelHomes/Tom/Brumback.html.
Towards the bottom of the page there is one picture of the rear where I have
stripped off the paint.  Compare it to another picture of the rear towards
the top center of the page.  What I used was a product called BIX, a paint
remover, to take off the paint.  I did not have it done professionally.  It
took off whatever clearcoat may have been under the paint too, and left the
surface very shiny, almost to the point where it didn't need polishing at
that time anyway.  I did not remove the paint from the very top of the
coach, because it doesn't show from the ground and I felt that if I did, I
would have to treat any seams up there too.  Finally, at the very bottom is
a picture showing a side view after the paint was gone.

I had been told that likely the people who did the painting had used acid,
or something to rough up the surface, but found out that this was not the
case.  The painters had been some aircraft painting company in Arizona.
What they did however, was to use bondo in several places, and to sand it
down, so I did end up with several unsightly spots.  Polishing has helped
cover up some of the sanding, and I am living with the spots for now.  Maybe
later, I will think about replacing panels, but for now the spots are there.
The coach still looks good, even with them.  Look closely at the bottom
picture and you will see the spots.

Batteries were a problem with me at first, and I did have problems running
them down.  I partly got around this by a) Carrying a battery charger with
me, and b) Installing blade type switches on each battery so I could easily
disconnect them.  Eventually, I went to an electrical outfit here in
Houston, and had the wiring set up so that both the house batterry, and the
motohome battery charge from the converter while in use, and from the
generator while the motorhome is running.  I do carry cable to connect the
two batteries if necessary.  I don't know about your unit, but in the case
of mine, the batteries are under the floor in front of the passenger seat,
so are easily accessible.  Another problem I ran into was running down the
coach battery from playing the CD player, at the first before I had this
battery set up to recharge from the converter.  I had a  lighted switch
installed, so I could move the player from battery to battery, and so that
the light would tell me what battery was being used.

-Tom