Last week on the CDI Blog, we showed you the first step in Pat & Sue’s color adventure: The Design Process. This week we’ll be taking a look at the Production Phase and how your RV’s transformation will take place.

The Production Phase

When you arrive at our facilities in Forest City, IA, you’ll understand the meaning of “Iowa Nice.” We’ll make you feel at home during your visit while you finish up your decisions on design and preparation for production begins. Our team will do a thorough walk around in your unit with you so that we can ask questions of you about your coach, and you can also ask questions of us.

For instance, Pat & Sue arrived fully prepared for their walk-through, armed with a list of scratches and dents they had noticed on their van. They also shared any additional concerns they had. The end goal of this process is to make sure all ambiguity is removed. After all, we are going to transform one of your most prized assets, so when you get it back, we want to exceed your expectations.

During this inspection, you’ll be able to discuss the production timeline with our customer care consultant. We aim for the 4-week mark when it comes to a full repaint. That timeline can be affected by factors such as the age and condition of the coach. Our philosophy is quality over corner-cutting. If that means an extra day or two to get your RV to showroom quality, then we’ll take that time to do the job right.

The first phase will be to return your coach’s exterior back to its original state as closely as possible. We will remove the old caulk, sealants, decals and film. Awnings and toppers will be detached. Our prep team then gets down to the nitty gritty and begins sanding. There will be a lot of sanding. This “prep” or “pre-production” stage can take up to a week. It may seem a lot, but this part is critical to achieve the standard of quality we require for our final product.

After prep, your coach will go through the following steps. Each takes around a day to complete.

Day 1: Final Prep Inspection
Day 2: Main Base – The first color that is added to your RV.
Day 3: Layout – Think of this phase as the “paint by numbers” step in the process. Layout creates the diagram for our painters to follow.
Day 4: Secondary Colors – Aside from the main base color, this stage applies the rest of the colors. The swoops, swirls, splashes, the blues, the reds or metallics all get applied here. Your design will start to come to life.
Day 5: Clear Coat – The “shiny stuff.” This phase brings the shine back to your unit, while also protecting it from the sun and other natural elements.
Day 6: Parts and Awnings – During this phase we start to put your coach back together. Awnings, mirrors, lights and ladders all find their way back on your coach. At this point in the process, your coach is starting to look like its old self, just now with a fantastic new paint job that you helped design.
Day 7: Detailing – Your coach goes through a series of sanding and polishing steps to get it looking its best. We have a pretty clean shop, but that doesn’t mean we are impervious to slight imperfections. Small chunks of dirt will easily sand out, and a thorough set of buffing and polishing will get that clear coat shining its brightest.
Day 8: Final Finish – We painstakingly review every inch of your coach to make sure it’s ready for pick up. And if it’s not, the final finish will fix it.

Were you intrigued watching Pat & Sue through the Design phase? If you want to follow along with Pat & Sue’s Color Adventure, subscribe to the CDI blog! We will let you know when the next phase of the story is posted.