Rusting on Trailer Paint Inquire

[Fish Mode]

Hi all, I am looking around to repaint my semi-surface rust on my boat trailer. For how old the trailer is (~30 yrs) there isn't as much rusting as I would have thought. The Trailer overall is very heavy duty and I am seriously thinking of busting out the sand-grinder and grinding out most of the rust and repainting the trailer.

You know, keeping with the 'classic' look of both trailer and boat.

There are two products that I know of that will continue to protect the trailer's steel from further rusting underneath the paint = eventual chipping of paint

- Rustoleam paint, (which one?)
- POR-15 Marine paint

I don't have any experience from any of these paint companies and how well their paints stand their messages...does anyone here have any remarks on these types of paint, of any sort, that will help me in the process?

Thanks.

Fish Mode

[Quiet Riot]

Funny you should ask. I just got through coating my buddies flatbed trailer this weekend with por15. You are supposed to use 2 coats of the primer stuff and then 1 coat of the top coat which is uv resistant unlike the primer. No long term report obviously, but I can tell you it will be weeks/months before I can get it off of my skin. That stuff doesn't come off skin just like it claims :bigshock:. If its half as tuff as it is on my skin then it should be hold up for a few hundred years.

Its kind of a pain to use if you follow the whole process. (not to mention in brushes on kinda like tarring a roof.)
Marine clean and wash.
Acid etch and wash.
1st coat of por rust paint.
wait to semi-dry as there was no humidity which is what cures this stuff.
2nd coat
wait a bunch more
topcoat.

We didn't get the topcoat on so we'll have to scuff it topcoat this weekend, as we ran out of time.

Its been a few days, maybe I'll go hit it with a hammer and give you a chip resistance report, think my buddy will mind? :passout:

He just had the thing sandblasted after we got done welding/fabbing the trailer like he wanted. Then we went to town cleaning and painting it. Makes for a very long day........

jd

[Fish Mode]

Cool!

Yeah, looking at what the company is proposing, the por-15 sounds like it will last for a long time...but cost wise?

How much, do you bargain, it took - financially, and timely - to apply the recommended amount on your friend's trailer?

Thanks again, it is looking hopeful!

[KChookem]

"Naval Jelly" does a good job of removing rust. Just brush it on, let it set a few minutes, hose it off, let the trailer dry, and paint.

"Hammerite" is a product I've used a number of times (I have no knowledge of POR-15 Marine paint, but it sounds interesting.) Hammerite can be applied directly on rust if you prefer. Hammerite is readily available, and is easy to use, but in hot weather it has a tendancy to run if you apply it too heavily. Good ventilation is important, so inside a closed garage is not a good idea.

I do not know of a feasible way to get to the hidden rust and corrision inside a painted trailers tubes, nooks and crannies. I agree with those who say, "trailers rust from the inside out".

[Quiet Riot]

I think my buddy paid $70 a quart, took 2 1/2 qts for 2 coats of primer, have 2 qrts of topcoat, only supposed to need 1 coat for topcoat. I don't know what the marine wash or acid etch costs, but it seemed to realy take some gunk off that we didn't even see. I usually just wipe it down with thinner of the same type as the paint (laquer thinner for laquer based paint, etc.) on steel, but this is my first time with por and he just bought all the stuff the paint place in hillsboro told him to.

Timewise, too long... 1st coat was about 4 hours with 2 of us brushing, second was about 3 hours. And with the dry air we've been having we still had to wait an hour or so between coats to get it to tack up enough to start the next coat. And now we'll have to scuff it this weekend before topcoating to make sure we get a good bond since we didn't do it all in one day. I think it would have been alot faster if I'd just masked off the shop and used thinner and sprayed it on. Probably could have used a small roller to speed it up a lot also.

I'm guessing he's into it about $300 bucks for paint prep and materials. This is an 18ft, mostly angle iron flatbed toy hauler dble axle trailer that we extended to 8ft wide and added a ramp gate and other stuff. A boat trailer would have significantly less area and would probably use 2 qts primer and 1 qt topcoat, and measureably less time with less surface area and nooks/crannies.

Stuff doesn't seem to come off anything once dried though, especially not me. You end up with a little surface rust after rinsing the acid etch off, but its made to go over rust anyways.

I used never-rust primer and pettit epoxy paint on the last steel boat trailer I built and its held up fine with no rust for years. I don't think it was any cheaper though, and this stuff appears to be more durable.

I cut and narrowed another steel trailer and just used rustoleum rattle can primer and black topcoat to patch it up to match the black trailer and thats held up pretty good also, but it doesn't get the abuse that my buddy's quad/bike trailer will. I put some of the por15 on a couple bike ramps I use all the time so we'll see how it holds up to tire traffic and such in a year or two.

jd

[rum runner]

I recently used Hammerite "hammered finish" on my older boat trailer and it looks great. No sanding, grinding, long prep work required. I used a full gallon (around $56) for two coats. If you use it, don't put it on too heavy or it definatly runs. The trailer looks like new and has a very neat looking finish.

They also have spray can you can use instead of brushing or using a big sprayer. If I had to do it over again I would have purchased a bunch of spray cans and did it that way to eliminate the mess I made in the driveway.