Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Make it comfortable inside
Keystone
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Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by Keystone »

When I bought my van back in 2009, I thought the tub was hideous. Till now, I've only used it for transporting stuff--mostly toys. But lately I've been thinking about the possibility of taking an indoor shower in a stealth-y parking spot, so I did some research and pondered the options. I decided to use what was there and just renew it. In brief, I removed the rest of the wallpaper (!), refinished the wood, repaired cracked fiberglass, and painted the fiberglass with rustoleum's 2-part epoxy paint.

Can we agree that this is ugly? The wall paper has been peeling off forever, except for the part that is still there, which would.not.come.off easily. The fiberglass was really discolored, too.
Image

There was a crack in the corner of the shower:
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...which I patched:
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I followed the directions that came with the tub finishing kit, which involves using every cleaning product rustoleum makes. The end result is still ugly:
Image

After I removed the rest of the wallpaper (ugh, don't ask...) I applied 3 coats of marine spar vanish (with sanding in between coats) to the wood (it's an asian hardwood that's been harvested to extinction so I wanted to keep it). The wallpaper left a sticky residue similar to contact cement, but the resulting varnished surface is tack-free. Then I rollered on two coats of epoxy paint on the fiberglass. Here is the result:
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It was a lot of work, and it's not perfect, but I have to say I'm happy with the result. The wood looks terrific, and the paint is a big improvement. Will report back on the longevity as I use it. I would expect to need the odd touch-up, and there's a product for that, too.
FoCoKCCO
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by FoCoKCCO »

Wow! Looks great. I like that natural wood look, matches the rest of the interior better than original.
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Keystone
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by Keystone »

Thanks, Tony. I was definitely inspired by seeing your beautiful and much more comprehensive bath rehab with tub replacement and new shower surround. :)
Keystone
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Kentuckian
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by Kentuckian »

Wow! Great job! Makes it look like fine furniture. <smile>
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by skater »

Looks great!
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VT964x4
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by VT964x4 »

The change in color of the tub area is dazzling! Really great work and thank you for posting the pics. Inspiring! :D
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lido14co
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by lido14co »

Excellent job! We use our shower very occasionally, but it's sure a nice option when nothing else is available, even if it is cramped.


Cliff
Keystone
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by Keystone »

Thanks, everyone, for the supportive comments, and for all the forum intelligence that I've gleaned from all of you that has gotten me to this point. This forum ROCKS!

I'm loading up the van this morning for our Labor Day getaway. I'm *even* putting stuff in the tub--carefully, with blanket under it all :). The epoxy treatment seems pretty well cured, though, despite our 40deg temps. August in Colorado, indeed!

Fingers crossed that it all holds up to our brand of abuse. Happy travels out there!
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by DavidP »

Me and my girl did exactly the same rehab on our 94 thanks to Keystone's post. We went a couple step further and removed the tub to refinish it so we could reseal the inside edge when it was installed. It also gave me a chance to put a couple of 2X4 support legs under the tub support. And we replaced all the luan with new luan. The wall paper just looked horrible. Basically every piece of .196 plywood that had wall paper on it including inside the closet was removed. Mahogany plywood has the best surface and is the most flexible. Home Depot part #833096. We used and the old pieces as patterns to cut new pieces. Sanded and stained with the Valspar as keystone described. Cleaned the plastic edging and painted it with brown plastics paint. Ordered new brown snap caps from Pro-Dec.com. The transformation was amazing. Like keystones it is not perfect but from a few feet away it looks like new. Things to do differently is to use only a foam roller for the epoxy on the tub. The directions say short nap or foam. Some nap came off the rollers so foam is the best. Cutting the luan was tricky but a jigsaw and a fine blade worked. Mahogany is soft so sanding the edges was easy with cores paper to get the dimensions spot on. The whole project probably took me about 30-40 hours of evenings and weekends. Again thanks to Keystone and B190.com for the information for this project and all the other helpful tips and tricks here on the sight.
Keystone
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by Keystone »

Hey, DavidP, thanks for the post and the shout-out. Congrats on your tub redo. Still loving mine. Post some pics!

As always, big thanks to Skater and Alaskan for this great, helpful, and super friendly site.

Keystone, aka Cecile


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okaynagan
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by okaynagan »

Keystone, I know this is an old post but it has given me new inspiration. Thanks for this post. Now I know what to do with my decrepit looking tub.

How is the epoxy holding up over these years?
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by GJCamper »

Keystone, do you have any advice on removing the wallpaper? Your rehab looks so nice I am going to try it on mine. How did you get the wallpaper off? Do you think the spray epoxy paint would be easier than rolling it on?
Last edited by GJCamper on Fri Jun 01, 2018 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Jersey747
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by Jersey747 »

Awesome job ,I have to stop looking at renovations ......I’m falling farther and farther behind you all !!!!
Looks fantastic and for the odd time it sounds like you’ll be using it , it will hold up well
Keystone
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Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by Keystone »

okaynagan wrote:Keystone, I know this is an old post but it has given me new inspiration. Thanks for this post. Now I know what to do with my decrepit looking tub.

How is the epoxy holding up over these years?
Hey, thanks for the kind words. The epoxy is holding up great except for a few small dings from careless ski stowing. Surprisingly, the bright white epoxy has not yellowed.


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Keystone
1994
B190 4x4
Keystone
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Joined: Mon Jan 11, 2010 1:00 am
B190 Year: 1994
Location: Boulder, Colorado

Re: Shower/Tub rehab of Keystone's '94 van

Post by Keystone »

GJCamper wrote:Keystone, do you have any advice on removing the wallpaper? Your rehab looks so nice I am going to try it on mine. How did you get the wallpaper off? Do you think the spray epoxy paint would be easier than rolling it on?
For removing the wallpaper, I used one of those round scoring tools made for wallpaper removal, a spray bottle to soak, and a putty knife. A high volume on the radio and an adult beverage also helped. There was no short cut. But it did eventually all come off.

As to spray epoxy vs roller, I don’t know but if you are a skilled spray painter you’d probably get a smoother finish. After mixing the two components, there is a limited amount of time to get the product down, so be sure everything is all prepped and masked off before you combine the epoxy paint parts. Good luck. Post pics!


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