I was having a discussion with friends, and the question came up as to why are nearly all caravans are white. Various theories were put forward, like to reflect the sun heats, better visibility but we still do not know.
From a production point of view, it is far more cost effective to produce all mouldings the same colour. This avoids paying additional costs for smaller quantities of pigment or prepigmented gel coat, it avoids the cost of holding various colours of raw materials in stock, and greatly reduces the chances of colour cross contamination during manufacture.
Having a standard colour also enables the manufacturer to hold a stock of spare panels for immediate delivery, rather than have to specially manufacture them to a particular colour at greater cost.
White is also a bright and attractive colour for display in a showroom, a coloured van in a dim showroom or on a dull day would have very little sales appeal.
------------- Bernie
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they are not ALL white now,there were some nice colours at the show.and some had gray sides.looking at the large decals it will not be long before red and blue and green sides are in.personally i do like the gray sides very much. how about black?
------------- Think this year is to follow old meet friends for 2014.
If you cant do someone a good turn,don`t do them a bad one,its nice to be nice you know,and little things mean much more later in life.
Pete.
White keeps the caravan cooler but more importantly saves costs on paint at time of manufacture and in the event that some damage needs to be covered up. Also white is easier to blend into the surrounding paintwork than perhaps grey if doing a respray..
many firms experimented with colour units and panels in the 50s & 60s and by early 70s sales had shown that there was little demand.
even the Airstream was unloved in the UK and Europe because of the Natural finish. its only a new love affair that we have with them. Plus any thing Shiny or Crome was looked on with caution, and that overflowed to colour.
many sites called the police (and still do ) if a chimney is shown same for vans pulling. I used to have a purpose made van with seats etc inside. but still had to park it outside in carpark as its "comercial" its all starting to change now but its been a long road.
yes I know travellers are a problem but there are so many who just wish to live their lifestyle their way and are tarred by the brush of a few. same way all caravanners are the brunt of jokes and moans. the TV is starting to change it but I think its a trend driven by money from the Leisure industry. to squeeze the extra bit of spends available. look at the shops selling "get out there" goods. far many more now than ever before.
I used travel to contracts at times and although my work is accepted as of craftsmanship standard I am still met at first with caution. untill they are informed and become aware I am not going to steal their Lead, Horse, or Dog. many still ask can I take their wife away though. Ha Ha
As far as I know manufactures do not paint the aluminium used on caravan panels and I guess the same applies to other panelling. The aluminium comes in pre painted and is cut to fit, at least it was when I last looked at a production line. From what I remember the paint is applied in high temp ovens and effectively baked on. I seem to remember Euromax were the big suppliers of coated aluminium but I dont know about fibreglass etc.
------------- 'A sure cure for sea-sickness is to sit under a tree'
I think it's to do with what is most attractive to most people, coupled with cost. I'm sure there are folk who would like a 'quirky' colour, but those who fall into this category would have different 'likes'. Then there's the problem of selling on a brightly coloured van. A look at one of the many 'house' programmes on TV might convince folk. A neutral colour looks cleaner and more attractive to most. If you want to sell a house, go for neutral coulours. Ditto caravans??