Trailer Trash

[mwarjone]

Has anyone ever tried to powder coat a trailer? I have a painted channel trailer that will see a lot of salt. Price to galvanize is .35/lb. I am wondering if powdercoating will hold up to rock chips, road stuff?

The galvinized trailer under the Hydrostream has seen ten years of saltwater with no ill effects. Could I expect the same out of a powdercoated setup?

thanx
mike

[Arizona Hotboater]

Mike,
Powder coating is hard as nails, the problem is, how will you get a trailer in the oven? Powdercoat must be baked on at 500 degrees. Also, its quite expensive and would be cheaper to buy a new trailer. If it were me, I would galvanize it or have maaco spray it with polyurethane.
AZH

[KaptainKirk]

Can be done by hand with right tools,check out EASTWOOD CO.

[WillyT]

I looked into having my patio furniture powder coated, but I could have bought two or three new sets of furniture for the same price! Not aware of the method that can be done at home (see other post).

[Raceman]

I've had the chassis' on several Corvettes I'm presently restoring powder coated in Atlanta. They sand blast and powder coat with a mat black that's real close to the factory chassis black paint. It's hard as nails. They do it for 400 bucks which is less than I was spending doing it myself with my own blaster and semi gloss paint with catalist. They've got tons of color options. It's an industrial facility and I'd guess most larger cities have at least one. Eastwood does have a system for small parts that's bakeable in the oven. I've got one of them too and it works fine. They also offer a heatlamp system for the purpose of doing larger parts a foot or so at the time. I'd think it would be slow, but possible to do a trailer frame that way. Beauty of powder coating is that when you melt it, then move over with the heat, you can't see the blend line like with paint. Other nice thing is it's tougher than I could believe and with the price of today's paints, catalysts, primers, etc. (1200. in materials alone on my 427 Biscayne last month) the power coating is real economical.

[Intercoastallady]

What's the name of the company in Atlanta and phone number if you have it. Thanks.

[Raceman]

It's called PERFORMANCE COATINGS and it's actually in Jonesboro Ga, just south of Atlanta. They do primarily industrial stuff and work automotive in the meantime. Their ovens are probably at least 50' long. Guy's name that runs the place is Terry, brother is Jerry. Woman who answers the phone is unhelpful to put it kindly. Try to get one of the guys. (difficult to get past her) It's been taking about 3 weeks to get a chassis back. Their fixed price to blast and paint a car chassis is 400. They'll quote that on the phone, but I doubt they'd quote a trailer without looking. Phone # is 770 478-2775.

[Way2Fast]

I think you will be very disappointed if you powder coat steel and expect it to hold up in a salt water environment. I had a Gill battery box (alum) that was powder coated and the finish peeled off in less than a year. I live next to the ocean here in Florida and I have several bird cages that have a powder coated finish. The stuff just peels off and the steel underneath is all rusty. The ones that have galvanized wire hold up great. Galvanizing is the only way to go for using a trailer in salt water, unless you buy an all aluminum trailer. The salt will always find a way to get under the plastic coating and cause it to peel off. Also the plastic becomes brittle when exposed to sunlight over a period of time. This causes it to chip easily and get hairline cracks allowing moisture to attack the bare steel under the coating.

[mwarjone]

Thanks Guys
I can probably sell the painted trailer and buy a galvanized and spend $600 on the spread. I would only powdercoat/galvanize the old trailer if I could beat that price. It doesn't look like it's worth the trouble. The only problem is finding someone in the pacific northwest to purchase a non galvanized trailer!

[HowieDean]

Alot of the guys around here are spraying theirs with bed linner stuff.. looks real good... holds up well... we have alot of salt and or brackish water around here and they seem to hold up well.... If you don't have a tube trailer you might consider it.... We all know nothing you do to a tube trailer will work as water will always find a way inside where it ain't painted.....