clear coat or frame undercoating available?

[burrab2002]

Living in michigan, we use salt in the winter to deice our roads. Has anyone heard if the trailer frame can be undercoated before joining the body? Trailers in our area are also clearcoated to make cleaning the body easy. Any idea if escape has done this before? Pete

[cpaharley2008]

If you get the spray foam option, all but maybe the tongue and rear spare tire mount is protected from road grime. The frame is sealed in side the foam.

[PGDriver]

Hi Pete

Reace paints the frames (black) before assembly and it seems to stand up pretty good.
As for the clearcoating I wish it was an option.

[robertg]

I discussed additional undercoating with Reace during our building process. He does
not want to use any spray on materials in the shop, which I understand. I ordered the spray foam and will add undercoating to the exposed areas when the trailer arrives.
Our build was just completed on Dec.10... anxiously awaiting for spring to arrive.

[Donna D.]

Didn't we already just discuss clear coat? It's crap on gelcoat. It's nothing more than paint. Lots of folks think clear coat is the end all for stopping the caulk on gelcoat. It does that because now the clear coat caulks! The best solution is using a very good quality wax. Not some clear paint.

I wish I could talk Reace into using POR15 on the frames. It isn't sprayed, it's brushed or foam rolled on and would last longer than the body of the trailer. It would also add a couple hundred dollars to the build, but it's truly a one and done solution.

[robertg]

I can foresee a rolled on coating becoming part of the build process eventually
as this becomes a more common request.

[Burloak]

I also discussed having the steel frame hot dipped galvanized rather then painted after it was welded. That was turned down. At the time their frame supplier worried that could introduce frame dimensional problems at assembly.

[burrab2002]

thanks everyone, i didn't realize the foam covered the steel also. one product that we use on our cars here is a grease produced by shell oil. there are a few undercoating companies using it. I have a 2000 jeep without any rust.

[elongest]

Pete
I agree with Donna on the POR15. I recently purchased a 2 YO 16 ft. trailer which was pulled cross country when salt was on the road and the frame was not washed off by the PO. Even though it was only surface rust it could have taken a toll after time. A three step quart kit of POR-15 cost about $80 but sanding, buffing, treating and painting the frame and washing the frame between the steps is quite a job working from a creeper.The POR 15 rolls and brushes on and it levels out like a spray paint job. The tongue and rear bumper (sun exposed areas) do require a extra topcoat of POR-15 topcoat paint, about $25 for a rattle can.
If buying a new trailer I would gladly pay extra for it if it were an option. The treatment has a very hard surface and is easy to clean up and will outlast most any other surface prep. I had no problem since I removed all the old paint but it works best if applied to raw metal so it would really be a great new trailer option.
Eddie