Poor paint job on new trailer

[baldbaby2000]

I'm dissapointed in the paint job on our Mac 26M trailer. We got the boat and trailer in Sep 04. We have less than 1000 miles on it on normal roads and the paint has chipped away in several spots. Places where sand or pebbles from the road might hit are the worst but there are spots that aren't exposed to much of anything that are chipped and rusting. On the tongue where we step to go up the trailer ladder is bad as is the ladder. Anyone else see this? I'm going to check and see if this is covered under warranty. In any case I'll probably have it repainted properly.

BB

[kmclemore]

Yeah, unfortunately that's pretty much par for the course, BB. The coatings they used are basically junk, and the preparation wasn't much better. Good thing the boat is nice. And as far as the warranty goes, I doubt it will cover it and even if it did, they'd only slop on more of the cr*p they put on there in the first place, just to get you through the end of the warranty period.

Best bet is to scrape/chip off any paint that's loose or anywhere you see the slightest hint of rust, and then lock it all down with a brushed-on coat of POR-15 Rust Preventer, followed up with a POR-15 Topcoat (since the trailer will be exposed to sunlight, and the Rust Preventer is light-sensitive). It will probably take you a weekend, but will last for many, many years.

[baldbaby2000]

Thanks kmclemore! I'll look into those products. It's interesting that my 1985 Mac 25 trailer has held up well over the years. They should have stuck with the same paint method.

[Andy26M]

I need to do a thorough job as Kevin mentions above, but in the meantime I have a wire brush and a spray-can of black Rust-Oleum in the toolkit - several times throughout the summer on a dry sunny day I go over the trailer, brush down the rusty spots, and spray paint them. Even that cheap method seems to last better than the original coating.

I am also going to rig some kind of tarp over top of the wheels/axle this summer while my boat is in the slip, to keep the rain off the brakes a bit.

- AndyS