Defend your tourer against grime, black streaks and even damage! John Sootheran explores the use of protective films and finishes

IF POSH PAINT maker Farrow & Ball – famed for the creative names it gives its hues – were to describe the colour of a brand new, blindingly white caravan, it would probably be called ‘Squint’.

After two or three years, though, things inevitably change and that same tourer might by then be described as ‘Overcast’, ‘Dreary’, or in a really bad case, ‘Streaky’.

JOHN SOOTHERAN is Practical Caravan’s Consulting Editor and an experienced caravanner

Lost sparkle

Gleaming caravans are an impressive sight, but as they get older, the sparkle is usually replaced by a light-grey tinge with vertical ‘tiger stripes’.

Maintaining the pristine whiteness of your beloved tourer can seem an impossible challenge, especially when it’s parked up over a long winter.

Regular cleaning helps, but while it can add a superficial shine, at a microscopic level, daily dust and grime, sap and bird droppings get into the paint surface’s micropores, and they’re a devil to shift.

Over time, both painted aluminium and GRP panels succumb to middle-aged greying.

Abrasive cleaners will add a temporary shine, but they work by removing a thin layer of paint with each application, so might not serve you well in the longer term.

However, there is a solution. Modern nanoceramic and Teflon finishes ‘glaze’ the surface of the panels with a tough, long-lasting coating, which resists the obvious effects of bird droppings (did you know the white part is uric acid?) and damaging sap, and the less obvious effects of UV radiation (aka sunlight).