Metal over Foam ....

[GPW]

A little Rustoleum might be Nice on the rusted bits ...

[ARKPAT]

Thanks GPW for starting the foamy build thread I really like reading the ideas and construction help ideas that are solved and or thought out in the threads
I'm planning the overhaul of this trailer ( that was an experment in scrap part usage on a store bought trailer frame and built late one night after work in 6 hours ---- well 50,000 plus miles ago ) Now take it to the next step and put together something I have learned along the many miles of pulling and camping in the trailer It will look slightly different in front ( round nosed - larger doors / w magnetic seals ), 12" wider and still spartan ... mostly inside with the help of some friends to build it for me =) Hopefully without the rusty spots ( starting to like that rusty spot in the galley =) Yep the others have had the rustolium self etching primer sprayed inside; then white enamel paint over that It will kind of look like a "Boxer Style" shape trailer



Pat

[GPW]

Pat , That’s a lot like my little all steel cargo trailer ... I just need to add the foam inside ... another project .... That is if I don’t sell it first ... it is a lot heavier than my Foamie ... more difficult for the old guy to manage ...
After Katrina we saw an explosion of Cargo trailers in the area , contractors ... Now the more I look , the more I see dented cargo trailers ... they don’t seem to “wear" well ... and once they’re dented are seemingly difficult to fix ... (metalwork) The recent hailstorm did a permanent “number” on a lot of these ... Just an observation...

Ps. My steel trailer didn’t seem to suffer any damage , just some tiny marks on the roof ... not a problem ... but the wifes’ trailblazer had a slight dimpling , if you look it at a certain angle , the Silverado showed no damage at all .... must be thicker steel !!! Steel is pretty TOUGH!!!

[ARKPAT]

Yep ....... on the hailstones and dimples
The key is not to have a slick and shinny trailer to show the dings and dents
Thin set bondo does wonders on slick shinny painted surfaces and or textured colored Truck bed coatings ( and come in any color now days ) to cover the outside
I also notices that hailstones seem to bounce ( small ones ) when striking the steel sides with foam attached underneath as opposed to nothing attached to the steel sides


Pat

[Wobbly Wheels]

Hey Pat, I'm curious to know if the rust on the steel is just surface rust or if it started between the foam and steel and has perforated the metal.

Can you poke through the rust to the foam ?
Maybe some wider shots with the camera ?

[ARKPAT]

Hey Pat, I'm curious to know if the rust on the steel is just surface rust or if it started between the foam and steel and has perforated the metal.

Can you poke through the rust to the foam ?
Maybe some wider shots with the camera ?

To answer your question about the rust .... yes it is only surface rust on the outside of the steel on the panels
The key to the panels not rusting from the inside - out is that the panels where coated inside and outside with etching primer before the foam was injected into the panels during manufacturing process ...... that is why they do not start rusting from the inside and if they do it is surface rust usually on the outside of the panel
The rust shown on the panels in the pictures when I bought them over twelve years ago ..... and some have never been primed by me after putting ther trailer together in about eight hour late one night after work. The rust you see in the panels in the pictures are like that to this very day If the lumber yard had any panels the where badly rusted .... they would cull them of the steel sides and recycle the steel and sell the insulation board between the steel sheets Yep $50 for fifty panels and 5# of self-tapping screws and a 7 1/4" circular saw blade they sell to cut the panels with at the lumber yard. Then I added six hinges from a tractor trailer's back door for ( scrap ) $1.25 for all six hinges and two - 2' x 2" and one 2" x 4" fir lumber for door frame and doors and then two sheets of 1/4" x 48" x 96" luam plywood sheets for the bulkhead in the galley and shelf inside and the trailer topper sheet ( now long rotted away and replaced with paint and Gorollia Tape ) .... less than $100 it was spent ..... oh .... yes the $279 HF trailer frame that was on sale Look at the pictures below

The picture above is a close up of the very nose of the trailer ....... look in the background .... see the rusty panels that are part of the trailer's vertical walls .... yet the same today as then when that picture was taken many years ago


The picture above is a close up of the panels with the same rust that came that way from the lumber yard ..... note the nice looking panel in the middle .... there where several panels like that in the group. Twenty - five panels to make the trailer ... using a screw-gun and power circular saw and a tape measure and a two foot steel square and a sharpie pen with a battery latern
As noted above .... a steel sheets where primed with self-etching primer on both side of the sheet of steel and cured before the foam was added

You can click on the pictures to get a closer look at the rust and any detail in the pictures =)


Like I said in another post ..... I'm planning another build of this trailer using completly welded all steel skin / framing and foam panels construction ..... yep .... I will take pictures and post on my gallery ..... hope to have some friends helping out ..... cannot do it myself any more ( health reasons ). I have been planning this second build for 12 years from what I have learned camping in the trailer and pulling it for over 50,000 miles down the road =)



Pat