Re: bedlined trailer??
I paint cars at times, might be able to help with this one.<br /><br />If you want quality, you gotta look WAY past your local auto parts store and/or hardware store if you want gravel road chip protection. Nothing they can provide will do the trick, short of such a "bedliner" coat job, which in my opinion will end up looking 10 times worse than a chipped up old trailer. And then you'll hate the results, you'll want to remove the stuff and start over, and THAT's when the REAL headaches start.<br /><br />Professional paint venders (Finishmaster, DuPont, Sikkins, Glasurit, etc) all sell their own version of "gravel guard," and this is what you want if you can swallow the cost. Usually involves first sanding/deglossing the original paint and removing all rust. Then a self-etching primer over any bare metal, then a base color coat, then a "gravel guard" type of clearcoat. Some systems put the gravel guard coat under the color coat and then a flex additive is put in the color and clear coats. Either way the end result is basically what you see down on the rocker panels of many new cars today...an orange-peely, glossy, and almost indestructible finish. And decals will stick perfectly.<br /><br />It takes a lot of prep and a lot of money, and can only be laid down with a HVLP sparygun ($150 for a cheap one) pushed by a compresser that puts out some serious CFM at low pressure (220V, 60 gallons plus, big floor-standing type of machine). Prepare yourself for sticker shock if you decide to buy such a paint system, likely will burn up close to $400 in paint materials alone to do a typical boat trailer, but it'll look beautiful and will last forever. You might find a body shop that's hungry for work willing to shoot the trailer for you somewhat reasonably if you strip it down and do all the prep work.<br /><br />For most people with old boats/old trailers who are not independantly wealthy, I agree that a bomb can of Rustoleum regularly applied is by far the most economical and acceptable looking option.
