Every RV comes from the factory with graphic decorations. Typically these are taped stripes or a painted finish. Greetings, I’m Jeff Johnston for “Rollin’ on TV.”

One fun alternative to the usual is a partial or full-body graphics wrap. They’re popular on commercial vehicles and can also be used to dress up a private RV. We decided on a body wrap for our Palomino Truck Camper Project. We started with a painting that matched the camper body profile. Then Graphix Unlimited in Bremen, Indiana took it from there. The company normally does large commercial projects, but took on this job as a favor for our show. Graphix Unlimited did the body wraps on our charity Raffle Care Camp No Boundaries Trailers, so we knew they’d do a good job on our Palomino. Preparation and surface cleaning are keys to a successful wrap installation.

Juan Flores: Hi, we’re at Graphix Unlimited today, and what we’re doing today is we’re doing custom vehicle wrap. What that’s going to entail is a self-adhesive, and it’s a special material that we’re using today designed to give you longevity. One of the biggest things that we offer is a custom artwork. So what doing this versus a paint job, we’re able to do a lot of different things. We’re able to do pictures. We can do lettering. We can do images. Today is actually a painting that was provided to us by the customer. Jeff at “Rollin’ on TV” painted this actually. And we took it, we digitally enhanced it, and we custom-printed this on one of our newest machines. So what they’re doing here. And this is going to go on in pieces, but what that does is that allows us to put those on. There’s going to be a lot of registration points because we’re trying to cover a large area. So this can be done on any unit with any design. Like I said, you could do pictures, you could do any kind of graphic. And it’s just really one way to single yourself out, to change up your unit so it looks different from everybody else’s; and overall you’re going to get a custom piece of artwork that’s going to last you quite a while.

So we do all of our own ink matching here. We make all of our own formulas and that, special to us for our printing process. If we get customers requesting a specific color, we’re able to form–to make a formula that will match perfectly to what they’re asking for.

Jeff: It takes experience, practice, and a skilled hand to get all the image pieces together, lined up, and smoothed in place. Your graphic needs to be properly positioned on the surface and the individual image pieces must be closely matched. Coordination between the crew members is critical to success. The final step was trimming around the surface features and working the image down flat and in firm contact with the surface. This is the meticulous work best done by the pros. Before hitting the road, the edges are sealed to avoid leaks or loosening due to the wind blowing by. We’re totally pleased with the new look of our Palomino Camper. Graphix Unlimited did a terrific job as usual. We think it’s eye catching and may turn a few heads along the way. A graphic body wrap may be just the thing to spruce up your RV.