Painting entire unit with bedliner

[norfla71]

Its used on roofs, so why not the sides? I'm talking about thinning it enough to have a smoother texture, not super thick like in a truck bed. Like the roof, it would add sealing properties, as well as insulation and sound deadening. I've seen some really good bedliner paint jobs done with close, smooth passes, and painted with a good quality automotive color and 2k or Euro clear; I would use parts store paint and clear to save cash and make repairs easier.

Thoughts? I searched but found nada. Anyone done this already? Main reason I'm asking is we're looking at inexpensive bunkhouses to make our year long tour in. Like the Burb, it will be a cash deal, which is the only possible way we can afford to take a year off and travel. What we've seen are pretty ugly, mostly cosmetic though. In keeping with the budget theme, we need a tough but easily repairable finish, and this one sounds as if it may be worth a go.

Like everything else with my hair brained ides, trial and error usually gets me sent in the right direction.

[Community Alumni]

Typical spray liners add weight. On my previous long box truck, Linex added just over 80-lbs. Depending upon how much area you want go spray, a unit could gain several hundred pounds.

[Trackrig]

Here are pictures of my enclosed snowmachine trailer. The previous owner had parts of it sprayed with bedliner. I've owned it for 10 years, I'd estimate the bed liner on it is 11 years old when the trailer was almost new. It probably only took 4 - 5 years before it started pealing. Yes, there's rust underneath the bedliner now, but it wasn't there when applied.









Bill

[wecamp04]

My neighbor painted his car with it mixed it with white paint looks OK he did it about a year ago no problems I know of, he does have to use a power washer to clean it

[LarryJM]

93Cobra2771 wrote:
The plastidip is pretty remarkable. It is basically aerosol rubber. Fairly durable, and when applied properly can actually be peeled right off. No surface prep other than clean. It will actually age like untreated bedliner unless you use the "glossifier" to make it keep it's color.

They make bigger kits at "dipyourcar.com".

Pretty popular to do accent stripes, wheels, grills, emblems, etc.

About 2 or 3 years ago I sprayed my ABS LP cover, the aluminum bottom skirts along both sides, the ABS fender skirts, and the ABS bottom skirtinging on the front and it has held up much better than I thought it would. I did spray on 3 to 5 coats on like the LP cover. I did not use any of the topcoat glossifier.

Larry

[93Cobra2771]

The plastidip is pretty remarkable. It is basically aerosol rubber. Fairly durable, and when applied properly can actually be peeled right off. No surface prep other than clean. It will actually age like untreated bedliner unless you use the "glossifier" to make it keep it's color.

They make bigger kits at "dipyourcar.com".

Pretty popular to do accent stripes, wheels, grills, emblems, etc.

[gmw_photos]

There is a class A motorhome here at the resort right now that has the front cap done with what looks like bedliner. It seems to be working ok on it. A bit of a mad max look, if that's what you like.

[Chris_Bryant]

Here's a VW camper that the guy painted with Montaliner (it's a pretty nice solo rig he built).
There are also a lot of people who use Plastidip on their whole car- the advantage being it is removable.

[RVcircus]

We're considering building a scratch built small TT and I'm considering a bed liner exterior. It's still up in the air right now, but I need to decide what we're doing by April (my self imposed start date). We still haven't decided on a vintage restoration or a scratch build.

[93Cobra2771]

Would it work? I think with proper surface prep, it would work. But not as thinned paint. It would need to be the real stuff. Instead of clearcoating, they make a UV top coat that is keeps the bedliner material from greying out. It's supposed to be flexible enough to handle a beating in the bed of a truck.

I would contact the RV armor people and see what they say. I'd be willing to bet they have done something similar.

I think you will find it's going to be VERY expensive to do. Might be a bit less expensive if you do the surface prep. And you can have it sprayed with the smooth texture material instead of the textured.

If it were done in sections (for example, flat sides first, then nose, then roof) with plenty of overlap to allow for cracking at the joints, it might work pretty decent.

[westend]

FwIW, I painted my old Starcraft (aluminum roof and siding), top sides--acrylic roof paint, siding---Acrylic latex exterior house paint. It is all easily repairable but I only have one small scratch in three years that I haven't touched up. I do have spray bedliner in a steel wheel well and that is holding up well too.

I wouldn't spray bedliner over the whole rig. It's costly and technologically challenging. Besides, there is little reason to do the siding like that. If you do the roof, the EPDM has to be removed and the wood prepped. If you do the sides, the best is to remove all paint. You then need to etch and prime the metal or spray on bare metal, depending on product. Paint, even bedliner, makes a poor sealer. The insulation value is nearly nil. It will offer some mass and that will help with sound deadening but I'm guessing your windows will still carry ambient noise.

If you want the bedliner for just the cosmetic appeal, using a dead flat paint will accomplish the same look. Leave the bed liner for West Coast Customs that can charge thousands for the application.

Here's how my DIY paint job turned out: (Edit--tried posting images again, today but no workee with RVnet.)

[jbarkley]

I don't believe it will help with resale.

[rav]

I watched an episode of West Coast Customs (aired in 2013)WCC

they used Line-X on a Camaro and their trailer. I didn't care for it on the car - but the trailer looked ok. JMHO

[WVbassmistress]

We did the top of our pop-up truck camper and were really pleased with the results - I make no judgement on doing the whole thing

Here is what we used Grizzly.
They have a finer grit formula and comes in a bunch of colors. It has very specific application instructions, so you might want to really do your research and call them.

We sold the camper not too long after the rebuild, but it held up very well for the season we used it before selling.

Good luck

[Jebby14]

^ this.