Painting Plywood to Automotive Grade Finish

General Discussion. Make yourself at home...read, ask and answer!



Non-Lurker
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue May 03, 2022 11:06 pm

Country:
USA
PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2022 11:14 pm
Hi all,

I recently welded a custom toy hauler trailer frame, epoxy primed it, and painted it single stage black. 6x10' box on a 14' trailer frame.

I will be skinning it with 1/4" plywood, fiberglassing all the corners and seams, and then fiberglassing the exterior shell entirely. I have some fiberglass experience from boats, but never painted them automotive grade at all.

However, I would like the INTERIOR of the trailer to also be 1/4" plywood, however I would like to paint it single stage white.

The current plan to prep the plywood on the interior is epoxy primer to seal it from accidental moisture, and then high build primer, and then single stage white.

If I lay on a good amount of high build primer, and then sand smooth, will it be a nice smooth surface for the SS white? Will the high build primer have any negative tradeoffs, like grabbing moisture or making the surface less resilient (lets say I hit the wall with a tow strap)?

If I painted epoxy primer and then straight Single Stage white, without the high build primer, would that be a stronger more resilient surface, even if a bit rougher looking?

Basically, I am willing to exchange a little bit of surface quality if that means it sticks better and chips less from things bumping into it (lets say a mountain bike comes lose and tips onto the wall during transport).

Any ideas on how to make the interior plywood of a cargo trailer very nice to look at and easy to clean? That is basically the point of me painting it in single stage white.

Thank you for the help!

User avatar

Board Moderator
Posts: 6672
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2004 7:00 pm
Location: central Ohio
Country:
USA
PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2022 8:52 am
Okay, so this is just what I would do.....if you are just stuck on white (remember, it's going to get scuffy looking pretty fast) I'd do do a white epoxy with the first coat reduced a little bit more than normal so you get some penetration. Then do a wet on wet full strength second coat. I would not even consider using a single stage on plywood as it's just too soft of a surface. You should at least consider using Upol Raptor bedliner. Now hear me out on this. If you use their optional Vari Nozzle gun you can adjust the texture enough that you could do a rougher first coat and then a finer coat over that. Take a look at my Grandson's Jeep here.... viewtopic.php?f=12&t=28871&start=60 Huge advantage to bedliner..... it takes an incredible amount of damage before it even begins to deform and best of all.... touch-up is simple....by gun, brush, or roller. With that gun you can get the feel as fine as the vinyl on the dashboard of a car..... Oh, and in our furniture cargo trailer/hauler we use a dark gray bedliner with added rubber crumb for a non slip grip for our feet.
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



Non-Lurker
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue May 03, 2022 11:06 pm

Country:
USA
PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2022 1:30 pm
That's a really good point, and for some reason I hadn't thought of raptor lining the interior. I even plan to buy some tintable raptor liner to do the front part of the trailer where stone chips might happen.

I just have this weird obsession with making the interior of the trailer very bright and clean, and pleasant. Basically like spending the night in a weird Ikea shinny kitchen. I have this feeling white raptor liner will get dusty and dirty and be hard to clean?

I have a feeling I might be too stuck on this gloss white to give up. I can always sand it down in a few years and raptor liner it white then.

From your signature it seems like you have a lot of experience in wood + fiberglass + paint. If someone was stuck on making the interior plywood walls of their cargo trailer gloss white using single stage they already own... any other tips you could give?

User avatar

Board Moderator
Posts: 6672
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2004 7:00 pm
Location: central Ohio
Country:
USA
PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2022 3:31 pm
If it was a customer of mine? I'd look em' square in the eye and tell them to get white melamine and glue it up with epoxy resin or panel bond for the sides and still do the floor in Raptor. You have to remember what you are trying to do here. You will be putting a white SSU that is harder than that soft plywood that you are applying it to. Just an opinion but it's going to look like crap pretty soon. At least the Raptor is going move/deform with the wood. And if the Raptor needs cleaned you can just do a light power wash on it. Raptor also cleans easily with any of the Dr. Beasly or Chemical Guys matte finish cleaners.
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



Fully Engaged
Posts: 113
Joined: Thu Feb 28, 2019 2:58 pm

Country:
New Zealand
PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2022 4:35 pm
Or you could look at paints for boats. They allow for expansion and contraction ie being painted onto wood, and can take a fair bit of abuse - like a trailer.



Non-Lurker
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue May 03, 2022 11:06 pm

Country:
USA
PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2022 5:43 pm
Funny thing is I've painted a sailboat and several standup jetskiis with automotive single stage and they've looked spectacular and held up pretty well. So I don't think I could go back to regular boat paints.

Maybe I'll lose my mind and fiberglass epoxy the inside wall too and then smooth and paint.



Non-Lurker
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue May 03, 2022 11:06 pm

Country:
USA
PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2022 5:45 pm
Darrel you just made a great point that I somehow missed over. My father is in the commercial cabinet business. I can probably get him to glue to some thick resistant white plastic laminate. Interesting.

User avatar

Board Moderator
Posts: 6672
Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2004 7:00 pm
Location: central Ohio
Country:
USA
PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2022 11:06 pm
Well, yeah, and just so others understand this here.... I am not saying that SSU is not great over most anything....it is the PLYWOOD I'm picking on. The more evenly surface coatings are matched to the hardness of what they are going over the better the "package" is and will be less chip and peel resistant.
I kind of learned that lesson the hard way on one paticular kit car build that I did.... I was searching over the years for what I thought would be the ultimate "hard" clear coat. I used a "new for then" nano ceramic clear. I thought that clear was pretty close to the hardness of the fiberglass sandable gel surface that was on the kit car. Gee, was I wrong.... the clear was much harder so when I got stone chips they "bullet holed" like a breaking pane of glass. It was the fiberglass surface underneath the clear giving way and shattering.
I am sure your father has sources for what we call "blank phenolic" sheetsin white. They are used a lot in building all kinds of surfaces for kitchen cabinets, pianos, etc. Again, even after using for awhile you can still single stage or bedliner over it.
Metal, wood, fiberglass, we work it all... www.furniturephysicians.com We can restore the irreplaceable!



Top Contributor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Thu Jan 27, 2011 2:16 pm
PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2022 4:23 am
1/4" ply skin is gonna be pretty flimsy.
nice to look at and easy to clean. HDPE.

User avatar

No Turning Back
Posts: 774
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2017 10:06 pm
Location: I live in a house
Country:
USA
PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2022 3:25 pm
I built this router table a few years back with the idea of being quick and cheap. I then proceeded to "Zipper Effect" it and over did it.

It was a free cabinet, that I skinned the sides and back, built new smooth doors, and built a new top.

I ended up poly priming, sanding, using white epoxy then changed my mind again, went overboard and added white BC then cleared it. The white epoxy would have been just fine by itself for this application.

For your trailer, I would use a good plywood then cover it with the white smooth FRP panels that we use in commercial applications. Cheap, easy to install and easy to clean surface.

Router Table (1).jpg

Router Table (7).jpg

Router Table (8).jpg
Sent by the random thoughts from the voices in my head...
Next

Return to Body and Paint

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Drew, Google [Bot] and 83 guests