Job done and I'm reasonably satisfied with the result considering what it was like when I started. It's not perfect but it's a vast improvement and I consider it both time and effort well spent. Before replacing the front skirt, I scraped off the slight surface rust from the undersurface of the front frame rail and gave it a coat of smooth black Hammerite. When dry I used a black silicone sealant between the plastic and the metal to minimise future corrosion.

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Learning points:

1. Clear coat is a bugger to remove and sand down with wet and dry paper. If you use, (as I did), a palm sander to speed the job up you run the risk of melting the old lacquer and or the plastic, (as I did), making yourself a whole load more work in the process.

2. On our van the original clearcoat had been applied directly onto grey plastic and over the past 20 years or so it had lost adhesion in places letting in water and allowing algae to grow on the surface of the plastic.

3. The clearcoat had also changed colour in places becoming bronze rather than grey. This seems to have been worse in the areas most exposed to direct sunlight so it was more than likely a reaction to UV light..

4. The job would have been much simpler if there were a safe-to-use paint stripper available that would not damage the plastic in the process. There may well be one but I didn't find it.

5. With the benefit of hindsight I think a better approach would have been to prepare the surfaces and then overspray with a grey paint that matched the original plastic colour before finishing with clearcoat. This would have been more work but I think it would have given a more consistent result.

6 It's easy to be a smartarse after the event.

One of our Facebook members, Keith Allen has just posted this as a solution.

Quote:- White gone...
The only plastic parts on the outside of the van that were white were the Truma vent cover and the Whale pump inlet...
No more.. sprayed with Halfords grey primer and a few coats of clear lacquer .. very pleased, colour is almost a perfect match to the Thetford toilet door and the EHU inlet

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints...jX1U14MXTVgENZw

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/paints...fQm6TGO9A5ieOOg

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Randa