Has anyone here had any experience with the Duratain Protective RV coating. Seems a little on the expensive side, but supposed to last for 5 years.
I'm thinking exterior only and how it is supposed to help with removing bugs, preventing fading etc.....

I've been researching on the RV forums from TCM to Lance Owners of America. I've seen the reviews from one end of the spectrum to the other.

Thought I would throw it out here and see if anyone has had any experience with it.

 

You're kill'n me .. I don't need any more help spending money .. !!

 

I'm interested in this, as well.

 

Duratain is a fantastic product! The exterior coating really helps prevent fading and makes your RV very low maintenance, you don't even have to wax for around 5 years! As for bugs and stuff, it is really easy to clean and Beastwash works great with it and is not too harsh. I'd also recommend doing the interior, it prevents fading and really lengthens the life. Overall, getting Duratain for your RV will help it last longer

 

BS, just another "lifetime" wax treatment. I stopped buying those about 40 years ago. If its like most it will work as good as the "toilet paper oil filters", Magnetic gasoline molecule polishers", would you like for me to go on? All have promised magic and none of them deliver anything but false expectations and a LIGHTER wallet!

I have smeared more stuff on my cars over the past almost 60 years and none of them last much more than about 6 mo unless you keep your car garaged, then maybe 9 mo's at a cost of $$$$.

If you REALLY want something to last and protect your rig...LINE-X it.

 

Not looking for an argument or being talked down to like I was born yesterday. Sounds like I have just a little more experience with waxes and stuff. The wax I was using 60 years ago, I quit using 57 years ago because someone did in fact come up with something a little newer and a little better. Since Duratain has nothing to do with wax, toilet paper oil filters, magnetic molecule polishers or photon plasma drives, the opinion is of no help.

Duratain has been around for quite a few years so there is either something to their product or they are a pretty good con outfit. I am simply looking for someone (other than salesmen) that may have used it and had some first hand experience with it so I can get an honest opinion from other boaters and RV'rs and not supposition. Due diligence is necessary as you can't just walk into Wally World and put $10 out on a bottle of it to experiment with.

And, unless I lost something in the translation, I'm not really sure how Line-X bed liner is going to help out the cosmetic appearance of the gel coat, color or decals on the front or sides of the slide in camper.

But their salesman, Stenmark, is probably a little over zealous as well in promoting his product as well.

 

Line Xing the car is far from rare, in fact far more common than one may think. Granted Line Xing the outside of your RV was more tongue in cheek than anything else, not sure it would be a good idea.

Duratain is a crosslinked polymer, nothing rare or unusual. Mostly like its a commercial grade, prob like used on airplanes, so the cost is high, albeit I doubt seriously if you are getting aircraft grade. Does it do a good job, sure, but figure on about $2000 and only they can install it...yes you still have to maintain your rig. Key is the hardness of the molecules and the installation, which can be done chemically or irradiated. Depending upon the quality, hardness and installation will significantly affect the life of the application.

If you are willing to drop that kind of coin, take a look at the ceramics that are out there. Key on them is the hardness of the ceramic, you want to find one that has a ceramic hardness about that of # 9 graphite. That said even those are only good for a about a year before you begin to see degradation, again you have to maintain it to get it to last.

If you are willing to spend the time and money to maintain then you can expect maybe 5 years and at that point, you most likely will need to have it redone.

There is no free lunch.

 

We've been quoted $1100 and perhaps a little lower since all I was talking about is the Gel Coat on a slide in camper and the price quoted was a per foot price and included undercoating the bottom of a TT, which I don't need.. Still researching the stuff and so far, I've found about 50 / 50. Since it is proprietary, finding any type of formulation or percentages is, of course impossible. I was a Navy aircraft metal and hydraulics OMA technician as well as a Flight Engineer in a combat aircrew earlier in life. Anti corrosive treatments - corrosion control, bare metal preservation, fiber glass preservation, radome treatments were all in my world for some time. I've had glass gel coat boats since the 70's. I've tried all sorts of stuff to keep the gel coat up. Some pretty good, some not worth even admitting I had even tried it.

I used a polymer coating on the Police Motorcycle that I got from aviation suppliers in the 80's and 90's which was a little better than wax and cut the maintenance time at home (& off duty) way down and did make weekly inspections a snap to pass, but not nearly $1100 on a 19' roof line camper better. 303 Aerospace Protectant has been pretty successful for me, which I can easily obtain and apply myself.

I've seen a number of reviews that were a couple of years old that talked about having problems getting LED stick on lights or other stick on items to adhere to a surface treated with the Duratain from 2 to 4 years earlier. Yes, it does have an advertised 5 year life. And yes they have to apply it themselves. I don't suspect they "have" too, but it's a way to keep a proprietary formula somewhat private and be able to charge more. It does appear to be a chemical application and does have a 5 year (I suspect pro rated) warranty. There are three dealers in the state and they are all RV dealers. If the stuff works that well, and is simple to wash with a Dawn / water mix, then it might be worth it. But it isn't going to happen until I can find some people )who are not salesmen or bought and paid for company 5 star testimonial raters), who have had some hands on experience with it and tell me how well it is working for them.

We spend a lot of time in the mountains with lots of dirt, volcanic ash, evergreen tree pitch, birds from sparrows to eagles bombing it, squirrels bombing the camper with pitchy pine and fir cones and many other mountain creatures and no-see-ums that go bump and poop in the night.

Then there is salt spray from the ocean as we spend time there as well, we live 35 miles off the beach. Seagulls at the beach are so friendly!
I've also had a number of surgeries in the last couple of years that have slowed me down a little. While I hope that part is over, it has taught me to start thinking ahead and being a little more prepared than I was at 40, 50 and 60.

 

There has been magic car coatings going back to the days of the model T and every one of them comes with a plethora of assorted claims all of which worked to some degree or not depending on if you see the glass as half full or half empty. Everyone also came with an overhead maintenance requirement aka Elbow Grease! I have been down every road you can think of. I bought my first Corvette in Dec of '64 and owned one for the next 30 plus years. In the Dallas Corvette Club we would have Sunshine Sundays over at various parks across DFW and spend the day waxing our Corvettes, each of us with a different formulation and I can tell you they all worked more or less equally at doing what they were meant to do...yet we had to do it often in spite of all the claims.

The products that stand out, one of which was 303 and a few of the others that were called spray on detailers. Pick your fav coating and have it applied or do it yourself, then maintain it with the spray on detailers of your choice. If you do that on a regular basis as in OFTEN you can get a LOT of mileage from that base application.

The problem we face in the world of RV's is their short-sighted view of what the RV looks like a couple of years down the road. Fiberglass, paint and clear coat are alien terms in the world of RV's! Until the RV industry loses the 1950's sales model RV's will be the junk they are. Some RV mfgs do a really good job, Arctic Fox in the Slide in camper line, Host Industries and their slide in campers, Forrest River has stood behind their 2-year warranty on my Cedar Creek Silverback without question Vs Jayco and my Eagle HT that they refused to warranty on anything. I traded it in a few months later taking a $10k loss after I decided to not haul around a 5th wheel full of rainwater in the walls.

Seabiscuit, what brand of slide in do you have?

 

Several lines of the smaller Forrest River's are made about 1/2 a mile from me. Been hearing a lot of good things about them, which is good as next to the #1 Federal Prison employer, they are the #2 employer in our little farming and ranching community.
AF is 300 miles away over in La Grande and Host is 200 miles in Bend. I have a cousin that lives close to the Host plant. Spent time visiting with them last summer. They'll be here in May and we will be over at their place in June.

Host is going through a test at the moment. We'll see what their customer service does and how good Host really is on trouble shooting and customer service.

A friend took delivery on his Host Rainier three days ago. It was a custom order that was not made as ordered. Several quality control and other problems. The major problem is that it does not fit his F350 SD King Ranch DRW. This is the Long Box version, but hits the tail lights before it is full forward in the box and the gray water drain is right over the rear bumper and not useable while sitting on the truck. He spent a good portion of yesterday on the phone and had a conference call with the Host Owner, Engineer, Dealership Owner, Salesman and others. This was their very first brand new camper, custom order to boot, and the experience has been quite a bummer for he and his wife. Zapped all the excitement right out of it as he put it.

On the other hand another friend just took delivery of a Custom Ordered Artic Fox and we just took delivery of a Custom Ordered Lance on 04-18. (This is our first Brand New Camper too. Always had used before) We'll all compare notes when we get together in a month, but so far the Fox and the Lance have been flawless. Both of us had flawless "maiden" voyages last week.
We picked up our first Lance truck camper (metal side) quite a few years ago. Very nice and reliable unit. We never had a failure, structural or equipment. Before that we had a Totem, Caveman and King of the Road. Those were of course metal sided. Totem and Caveman were pieces of junk, King of the Road served us well for about 12 years.

So time will tell. We did have an Alpenlite Camper that filled in a very short time and served as a trade in, after our last Lance was burned up in an Arson Fire. (Long Story, short version = scum bag under water on his newer Dodge Pickup parked (hidden) in storage next to our camper. He decided to burn it (insurance fraud) instead of letting the bank repo it or instead of just declaring bankruptcy.) He's been arrested, sentenced to jail and ordered to pay restitution. The court forfeited his bail money to us and we got that check a week after the dealership told us our new Lance had arrived. The moon will probably turn green and moldy before we see any more out of him or his two co conspirators, but I could just be too negative on that as restitution is a part of probation. We were supposed to have a court hearing on one of his cohorts the 1st of May. (Been set over 3 times so far). In fact, I need to call the D.A.'s office and check on that today. The 3rd fellow is in jail in another county and that county isn't ready to let us have him yet.

That Alpenlite Santa Fe 1150 Limited. was supposed to be one of the best builds around. Not true. (Probably why they are out of business now). Right after the fire, we picked it up to fill in the gap. Continuous slider problems (supposedly fixed), pretty flimsy veneer paneling, started getting delam after we had it few months, plex fitting not holding...we took a big loss on it, but are glad it is gone. Problem with the slider related to the side wall and framing not being made strong enough to support the stress of the slider operation. We were really glad to get rid of it while we could still get some value out of it. We took a 50% hit on it in roughly 18 months.

 

Jim, good looking Lance. We are looking at Host Mammoth for our next one. Is your Lance a double slide?

 

Yes, our Lance is a double slide, but not full length as you can see in the pics. The dining room slide is a deep slide (green pool noodle head knocker) and the kitchen slides a shorter distance (orange pool noodle). The Lance factory rep told us the dining room slide was kept at a partial length slide because of weight an the refrigerator being put on the slide. Apparently with the refer on the slide, it has to be side vented that requires a fan. One of the complaints they get is the noise and battery drain from the fan required for a side vented refer. Dry bath is on the other side precluding that.
For a slide in camper, it allows for pretty good open floor on the inside. So far we like it. Common complaint, and there is no exception to ours, you can't get into the bathroom without running the dining room slide out a few inches. I suppose a very skinny person could, but I don't fit that description.


The Host Mammoth is, well, Mammoth. No Pun intended. My wife loved the lay out and the fireplace. A 5th wheel loaded in the back of the pickup. It's made in Oregon so I would love to support the business, but in addition to weight, right now I think they have some production problems. (My cousin lives just a few miles from them.) I told her that we could get the Mammoth if she let me get an F450 DRW pickup. We never did find any display models / lot models of the Cascade or the Rainier. We moved on to comparing Artic Fox and Lance and I still don't have my F450 DRW pickup.
I'm waiting to hear from our friend if the problems with his Host Rainier is a problem with the dealership or the factory. One thing for sure is that the Rainier Long Box version not fitting the box on his F350 King Ranch DRW. We obviously aren't looking for a new camper now, but it causes me concern how Host, an Oregon Industry that I would fiercely defend, could make such an engineering / mfg blunder on an established model of camper with a very popular pickup. I only mention this so people are aware that some things need to be very closely examined before taking / accepting delivery.

Here are some shots of the interior of the Lance. No recliners, fireplaces or sofa's. Just the basics, but there is a lot of room and we've always been satisfied with the Lance Construction...

Slides both in. Difficult, but possible to get in. Bathroom door effectively blocked.


Kitchen Slide in. Dining room slide out.


Both slides out.


Both Slides Out.


Both slides out.

 

We love our fireplace. It was a great help last winter when we were in Angel Fire NM and the temp dropped to 2 F at night. Really helped on propane use. In the day with the sun out it would keep it in the low 60's and then we would turn on the propane for night sleeping. Our Cedar Creek Silverback is not a 4 searson unit, but the FP made a big difference...

I know several folks who have a Host Mammoth and one lives in Alaska and they camp all year, they really love it. I like the TC life and with our dogs it worked great for us. Far better than the 5th wheel.

 

We have two problems. We pull a boat quite often. Used to pull a horse trailer the rest of the time. Not so much on that anymore.
I can count the number of times we have gone someplace not towing something in the last several years on one hand. The place we call our "home away from home" is Diamond Lake (Sig Pic). We never go without the boat. We'll be there 6 to 8 weeks every summer. The campground doesn't even open (because of snow and winter storm clean up) until Mid June. Last year it opened 2 weeks late because of high snow. The campground we stay in at Diamond Lake is on the West Side of the Lake on the slopes of Mt. Bailey at the waters edge and there is no water/sewer/electrical hookups. Generators are allowed from 0800 to 2200.

Essentially dry camping in an organized campground. There are some centrally located spigots for water and pit toilets in each loop. It's a campground I / we have been staying at since I was a young kid too young to remember but for pictures that mom and dad took. The only changes I've seen in all that time is the dirt driveway and parking pads have been paved, and several ADA disabled sites have been converted out of standard sites.

So, the sites themselves, while shoddily paved in the parking pads, still have pretty short "antique" sites of yesteryear when the big stuff really wasn't around. Not an awful lot of them will support or take a bigger TT / 5th wheel and I don't think any of them do over 35' without facing a real prospect of damage to RV without a really expert driver. None of them really support a Class A and when you see one of those in the camp ground, you usually see fresh gouges, scratches and a collection of tree bark.

I know a couple of people here in Oregon with the Mammoth and one of them is a skier who spends half the winter on the side of Mount Hood. I know one of our members here (from Alaska) has one.
We were running the furnace quite a bit last week. This camper has twin 20# bottles. (Last camper had twin 30's) No way we can get 30's in this camper. So I was pleasantly pleased when over 5 days, we were still on the first bottle. Problem is I forgot to take into account that the water heater was on electric and not gas. So, we get into a dry camp / wild camp situation that will change a little. This camper is 4 seasons.

At Diamond Lake in June-July we will see upper 60's to low 70's during the day. It will drop to an average of 32-35 at night. In our September trials and tribulations at Diamond Lake we usually get snowed on.

 

Diamond Lake, WOW I have that lake from the Air...we were ahead of schedule on my SEATAC to MTRY Ca run and being a LIGHT flight he asked if any of us would like a bit of sightseeing. Not having any meeting when I arrived I chimed in and said let's do it along with the few others on that Sun afternoon flight. We banked and did a figure 8 over Diamond Lake and Crater Lake, Mt Bailey, Scott, Theisen. Alaska Air was prone to do that if they were running ahead of schedule.

Always said someday I would love to put feet on the ground up at crater lake. Been up to Mt St Helen's a LOT of times.

Just wondering if the water temp there is ok for swimming and other in the water fun.

Yes, that RV park does look like a tight squeeze for modern day RV's.

Based upon where you live I would suspect that and exterior coating, be it wax, cross polymers or the newer ceramics should do a far better job of protection and offering longevity vs the blistering sun of the Southwest.

That said I have found that 303 Aerospace cleaner and protectant to be the most useful product. Its uber UV protection (98%), great cleaner and offers antistatic and repels dust, dirt etc. WORKS GREAT down here in Texas and our place in Az...were the sun will fry eggs.