paint on bed liner

[rgranger]

Does anyone have experience using the paint-on bed liner one finds for pick-up trucks on a boat? I pulled up the carpet in the V222 I'm restoring and I'm thinking that the paint on bed-liner stuff might make a nice flooring. I'd rather not use carpet again. It is so hard to clean and it traps mold etc.

Advice?

[THE CUSCUS]

It might be very slippery when wet?? Any color other than black?

[Paul S]

It might be very slippery when wet?? Any color other than black?

It is generally not a smooth product, keeping cargo from slipping and sliding is one of the main pluses of the bedliner. If you roll it , you should be able to get a good non-skid texture. Many of the higher line products allow it to be tinted.

If it is put on thick enough, maybe use antiskid patterns to put some tooth in the product to add traction. Test it out before actually doing it!

What I would do, a lot more expensive though, is use the new fake teak products like Flexiteak. Looks great, easy to maintain http://www.flexiteak.com/

[Scott]

Most Manufacturers offer their liner in about any color you want. Over paint a very good scuffing is required. I put mine on raw steel with an etching primer and you cant chip it off with a screwdriver. A friend of mine put his on over shiny paint with nothing other than a good cleaning. Its peeling off in sheets.

[Billy]

When I built my prototype a/c box out of wood, I covered it with white truck bed liner from these guys:
http://durabakcompany.com/
Got it with the rubber granules. Without is more expensive. This stuff is definitely non-skid. I stand on it all of the time while sailing and jump on it from from the upper part of the deck without worrying about sliding. With what I had left, I painted the rungs of the ladder and the top of my fenders. After 3 years, none of it has released.

I would use this product again. It's not cheap, but it is advertised for marine use and works for me.

[waternwaves]

A good polyurethane paint is easier and will be a little more useful.

that uneven surface of the bedliner traps moisture, is hard to dry, and is a great place for mold to develop with the uneven surface.

Paint it smooth and add elevated shelves to keep material off the interior.

[ROAD Soldier]

Durabak is the way to go. I painted my Jeep with it inside and out with yellow and black. Looking at the pictures below this Jeep sits outside all the time and that paint has been on there since July 2006 when I lived in Colorado. It has ticked off tree-huggers when it would come back with green streaks from spruce trees in the Rocky Mountains scraping it. It has taken a beating scraping rocks while ticking off PETA chasing down Bighorn Sheep. Meanwhile all discoloration would just power wash off with my Honda 2600PSI power washer with no soap needed. Speaking about washing, since I have moved to Virginia in November 2007 the outside of this Jeep has only been washed once, and that was over a year ago because that's the way John Wayne would have done it. I have driven through saltwater during several Nor' Easter storms several times now with no rust to be found. If you know anything about Jeeps you know they usually rust like mad. The only damage you can find in the picture below is where I get in and out of the driver's side and scrape the edge with my feet. This has also scraped off the factory paint and primer below and is so frequent it keeps the bare metal from rusting too. So consider Durabak tester ion compatible, no 49% estrogen here.
Now when I bought my boat I called Durabak right away to see if I could once again use it to paint my whole boat yellow and black minus the bottom they said at the time it doesn't stick to gel coat that good. However at the time they didn't advertise marine use so maybe they have change their formula or their mind. So give it a try on your nonskid areas and if it works great and lasts I will use it on my whole boat next year. Then my boat can have the characteristics of my Jeep and will not have to wax and wash it like all you other sissy boys do.
A couple of notes when applying Durabak:
1. Where ever you don't want it mask it off.
2. If you do get it on somewhere you don't want it get it off right away or it will be permanent.
3. If using a light color like yellow make sure the paint or primer underneath is light color, my hood was new with black primer and I had to apply 6 coats of yellow to it to make the black disappear completely.

The whole Jeep inside and out and 50% underneath was done with 2 gallons of Yellow and 1 gallon of Black. That's $370.00, how much you think that would cost in Gel Coat?

[40Toes]

while ticking off PETA

There are actually two PETA groups, the other is:

People
Eating
Tasty
Animals

[rgranger]

Okay then....


.... looks like Durabak is the way to go.

Thanks guys!