Refinishing Corian in the Coach

[encantotom]

Hi all,

Since my coach is 17 years old and the Corian is origninal I thought i would take a stab at freshining it up. I am in the process of doing it now, but the results so far are very very good. My corian is white and had some regular use scratches and dings in it. I called www.specialtytools.com and talked to their tech support guy and he was great. all you do is get the right special sanding disks for a random orbital sander and start at 100 grit and work your way up to whatever grit gives the sheen that you want and then use a special scotchbrite pad that uses hook and loop for the sander to buff and you are done!. i took the dinette top off and did it and it is very nice now. it took me about 30 minutes and some of that because i was experimenting. it took the scratches out and made it look like new! i did the bottom too because it was dirty from knees etc. very easy. Tom

[Richard and Rhonda]

Are you wet sanding or dry sanding?

This is one of the projects on my list. I have done this in my house and you can make the Corian look brand new and shiny.

This is a good post. Thanks for putting in the link.

Before and after pictures?

[encantotom]

i bought both wet and dry sanding disks. i tried and did the table with the dry ones. they only go to 400 grit and the wet go to 1000. i like the matt finish so didnt go to the fine grit wet ones. next piece i will try wet to see if it keeps the dust down.

i should have taken pictures before and will on the next piece i do.

my problem now is i would like to take some of the other pieces of corian off, like on the ends of the couches, but they appear to be glued down and i dont want to break them. so it will be slower with them since it will be harder to get the sander close to the edge. maybe i will tape some thin protective coating to the wall to protect it from the sander. i will do the sink counter last because i will need to take the faucets, blender, instahot and range off to do it. .....send me a private message and i will send pictures of the newly done piece and a different counter i have not done yet. Tom

[Richard and Rhonda]

On the smaller pieces with close proximity to stuff you don't want to sand, you're on the right track by putting a couple layers of masking tape to protect the surrounding surfaces.

Also don't try to run your orbital too close to the edges. Get some of the same grit paper and use a hand sanding block. Also wrap the paper on the block so that you don't have a sanding edge up against the whatever you don't want to sand. When hand sanding don't go too heavy with the coarse grits or you'll put deep scratches in the surface.

If you want super shiny surfaces, you can buy all the way up to 2000 grit paper for wet sanding at any auto paint supply place. Follow that up with buffing compound and the countertop shine like a new penny.

[encantotom]

today i did the 5 counters and did it up to 1000 grit. it shines, but yet has a matte finish and looks and feels great. makes a bit of a dust mess, but i have to clean anyway. all i have left is the kitchen counter and that is for another day since i have to take everything out.

also took the toilet out and put a new valve in it and totally cleaned it. not my favorite job, but i had help so not that bad.

i also painted the lexan piece for the camera covering to match the coach today. next is to mount the new color rear camera and get the side cameras mounted as well.

tom

[fulltiming]

I'm impressed Tom. You are really making progress. As always, the devil is in the details.

[ikcandco]

> Tom,
> Seems your work is paying off pretty fast, having good results and pleasure all together. :roll:

> In regards to your 'Side Cameras' I'll be posting in a couple of days a 'New System for side
Cameras.' They say it should be out pretty soon ! ?

> It's something you just might want to read and perhaps purchase . . .
For now, I'm calling-it, 'The Guardian Angel !'
------------------
May God Bless
KC ~ 89a What's this?

[encantotom]

i look forward to seeing the new camera system. i bought color side cameras from tim at www.rvcams.com. i have come to the conclusion that at least for me, they are a necessary item to have. i just cant see good enough on the sides.

i am going to put the 7" monitor where the rear view mirror is now....not sure why i need a rear view mirror anyway. a question i am asking myself is since the monitor can handle 4 cameras, is there anywhere else i want to put a camera to monitor things? like in the engine compartment or on the roof to see clearance...

tom

[fulltiming]

I have always thought that a motorized on the roof would be extremely helpful in avoiding low hanging branches when maneuvering through wooded RV Parks and down tree lined streets. That scraping sound on the roof gives me the jitters, leaving me wondering if I will have something on the roof removed for me.

[encantotom]

i might take the old sony B/W i am replacing and place it on the roof. probably on the front in front of the roof A/C. that way i could see clearance related obstacles. i have to find out how waterproof it is...right now it is weatherized inside that cutout with the plastic over it in the back.

tom

[encantotom]

i finished the corian refinishing today. i did the hardest ones last, the kitchen counter and bathroom counter. the hardest part was the sinks. i had to do them by hand since i didnt have a sander that would do the corners. but they still turned out great. i took the cooktop out and the garbage disposal (i got a new one since we burned the last one out), but i left the faucets in and taped them off and did around them by hand. that seemed to be less work than taking them out (though i did look) and you cant tell i didnt take them out.

now to clean all the dust out and put everything back together.

i just found and negotiated enough white and grey specked 12" granite flooring that i am going to put in the coach. considering doing from the cockpit side of the couches all the way back, then just redoing the carpet in the cockpit.

i did a rough calculation on weight and i think it will only add 2-300 pounds over what is in there. even if it is 500 pounds, that shouldnt be a big deal.