My dad just finished up building our new 5x14 trailer to haul a UTV, 4 wheeler and gear. Everything but the tongue and axle has been replaced with new railing with diamond plate sidewalls and bed. It is ready for paint right now and he was going to buy about 20 cans of rustoleum to paint it.. but I dont think it will turn out that good and be a lot of work. Especially since the whole underside needs done as well. Should I buy a truck liner kit and do it that way? The bed will need some sort of traction anyway. Just not sure how well it will hold up. As far as spray options, the only spray gun we have is a simple connect and go gravity fed gun ran off a compressor, no water separator or anything..just a gun, hose and compressor. Don't want to go too over budget on the cost, but have seen some of those liner kits with a gun around $150. Any recommendations? Anyone ever done their trailer/hauler and how well has it held up.

The trailer is stored outside all year round and would see a lot of abuse from loading/unloading, rough roads etc..

I wouldnt mind doing rustoleum on everything but the bed. Maybe doing the bed in the liner? Can you buy rustoleum in quarts to spay with a gun? If so, given the fact we arent set up to spray and would only be using a gun connected to a tank... that would be an issue I would imagine. Any suggestions other than spray cans.

 

The cheapest route would be an all in one unit. No water vapor to worry about and they work VERY well. But they're about $500, -someone may rent them, you'll have to call around.

Other than that, - yep, a bunch of rattle cans. That would suck, but you may get it to come out okay, if you know how to shoot it.

Compressor and gun need to be set up for it. The more it runs, the more water vapor. A Water separator won't help one bit for water vapor, unless you have a high end stage set up and/or a after cooler or enough rigid pipe to cool the vapor before it hits the separator. Once cooled, vapor becomes water. -So that's the problem there. Pricey to set up, - I just did one.

I don't know a way to cheat and get one to come out good. I have tried in the past. It may depend upon what you call good as well.

 

Gotcha. Yea, I saw your new setup... jealous. Cost wise it will probably come down to spray cans all around and some sort of roll on liner for the bed. But I will call around to see if anyone would rent out a kit like that. Thanks for the info.

 

Talking about an airless sprayer as used for house painting ??

Don't know if one of those would shoot automotive paint without thinning it down ( some shoot latex without thinning ). Some of the less than professional ones are in the <= 200.00 range, and get good reviews. Don't think a HVLP sprayer would shoot auto paint too well ( majority of them require latex to be thinned down )

Before I went rattle can I would go hurculiner roll on. But this will not be a smooth as glass type finish.

I did my basement stair treads 13 year ago, and it is still holding up.
The roughness of it has been knocked down, but this is 13 years on, and a major remodel went on ~ 3 years after doing it ( a lot of up and down trips with material for the mechanical work ).

If you are not looking for smooth as glass, something like Hurculiner would be a good option. At the very least use this on the deck and the underside of the trailer to save on some rattle can costs.

 

Nah, well not exactly anyway, -not that far off really. I was referring to a HVLP turbine paint spray system. That can be used w/automotive paint very successfully, -some beautiful jobs have been done with them.. I haven't tried or seen one in action yet. You Tube would probably have a few action vids I expect. But yea, not a Wagner kit, -if that's what you were thinking lol.

They don't require a compressor to use, but you can use one, with some. I believe the norm is 60 cfm at 5 psi. - Crazy ehh..

They're out there , -so far so good from what I can tell. TP tools had one on eBay , no reserve auction and it was getting pummeled with bids. Not sure what it topped out at, -was in the 400's when I last looked. I was just surprised at all the action.

BTW, -Toyz, - that's what they're called - "HVLP turbine paint spray system". They might rent them out. Call Sherwin Williams or any auto paint supplier. They may rent them or know someone who does.. If you want to lol.

 

If you want something strong but not necessarily photo perfect, I would suggest a gallon of rustoleum paint.

Here is a link to the paint at home depot:
http://www.homedepot.com/buy/paint-s...el-153556.html

They make it in a few different colors but I have always used the gloss black. I reprinted my car trailer with this and have painted a few car frames with it. It holds up really well, and only costs about $40. For the smoothest job use the foam brushes, otherwise you can get brushstrokes.

 

I recommend Bar-Rust for trailers. Bit pricey but well worth it. Sold by ICI Paints/Glidden. Apply 2 coats with brush and roller and you wont have to worry about it again for a long time. Just prep the metal properly.
Can be sprayed but has to be a Airless. I don't see it being worthwhile to even prep a Airless for a small job, such as your trailer and get it all cleaned out when you're done.


Once mixed, 4 hour window.
http://www.superfpaint.com/products/...y-Coating.html

 

Go look on Youtube, there is a guy who ROLLED black rustoleum on his old F-350. His rust repair is laughable, but the paint actually looks good. I'm pretty sure he used a foam roller. Or, you could look into Plasti-dip out of the spray cans. That stuff lays down awesome, and touching it up is very easy.

 

Here's a guy who's painted several cars w/ a roller using tremclad paint, which apparently is the Canadian version of Rustoleum ... (starts about the 10th post down)

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/...0&fpart=1&vc=1

 

I did my John Deere with nothing but rattle cans last summer and it turned out really well but with any good paint job the key is in surface prep.





Before





After









I sprayed the underside of the fender deck and foot pads with Duplicolor Bed Liner and I'm very happy with the results.

 

^^^^^^looks good. I like that attachment, didnt know they existed. save the fingers from cramping as much. Would it work on the newer style spray heads?
I don't mind the roll/brush on idea. Other than it being a turd to get it in all the inside corners and still look good. But still might be better than having to spray 20 cans.
The trailer is pretty big. The box is 5x14 with 2' side rails all the way around. 4" tube framed with 3" c channel added supports on about 16" center running the length of the trailer to support the diamond plate deck. Plus the tongue is about 5' long and part of it is decked with diamond plate as well. The inside of the box alone has 136sf. Doing both sides would be 272sf. I'm going to say there is another 80sf in the frame rails. Thats just over 350

 

Thank's, my next one is getting sprayed with a gun now that I have my 60gal vertical compressor hooked up and running. They do save on the fingers and I have one that will work with the old style cans and another one that will work with the new style. You may want to up the can count because it took me 3-4 cans of primer and probably 4-5 cans of paint to get a good base and layer of paint on the fender deck.

The other option is to go rent one of the turbine spray units rather than buy one. I rented one many years ago to spray latex paint in a furnace room at work and I needed to get it done quickly after hours. It took me less time to spray the paint than it did to clean the gun, hose, and over spray off somethings I could not mask very well.