Undercoating a fiberglass tub

[Sam I am]

Does anyone have any experience on undercoating a fiberglass tub? I want to get rid of the red, raw fiberglass look. I was thinking of using a cheaper DIY bedliner on the underside.

My main questions are:
1) What is involved with the prep work i.e. does it need to be sanded to "knock off the shine" or will it hiold paint due to the existing texture of the 4wd tub?

2) what products have you guys used? I originally thought to use black paint, but figured that the thicker bedliner would add strength and dampen sound. I was thinking a duplicolor or rustoleum bedliner product.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Major Jack]

A neighbor of mine built an early Willey's fiberglass street rod. He sanded all the areas he was undercoating so material would stick. He sprayed with Duplicolor spray undercoating. Worked really well. Can't help but emphasize that just with painting. Proper preparation would be a must.

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

I'm going to paint the underside of my FG tub White with poly-urethane paint.

I'm not going to do any prep work at all.

Here's the reason. The chopper gunned surface has plent of surface profile for paint to stick just fine.

The main reason to sand the gel coated side is to increase surface profile , and the big reason is to remove ALL of the mold release.

There is no mold release on the other side. The paint or bedliner you are going to use won't just fall off. And any scraping that takes place on the underside will take the coating off no matter how much you prep the surface.

When I glue fiberglass to other fiberglass parts I usually Sandblast both of the mating parts simply to raise the surface profile to give the resin something to stick to.. I guess you could lightly sand blast the bottom of your tub too.

Randy

 

[Sam I am]

thanks guys

Thanks for the replies. I did end up sanding with a 60 grit disc on a grinder. It was quick an dirty (insert jokes here!) I painted the first coat and the second coat will go on by the end of the weekend. I handed up using regular rustoleum bedliner and it looks good so far. Pictures to follow soon.

 

[Sam I am]

photos

Here is a feww pictures. One before i sanded, 1 after i sanded and a few with paint. The paint was still a bit wet when the pictures were taken and it dried to more of a matte finish. The sanding/preparation definately was worth it. When painting, I could tell a difference on the hard to reach (to sand) places. I am happy with the results. It looks MUCH better than raw fiberglass.

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Gosh Sam: That looks exactly like the one I have. 4WD Hardware?. Mine is finally coming off this week to take to LA to have the top installed. I take pictures after it's on.

I still have a bunch of reinforcing to do on the underside to support the rollbar, but it is getting close to paint time.

Randy

 

[Sam I am]

Gosh Sam: That looks exactly like the one I have. 4WD Hardware?...

Randy

Yes Randy, the tub is a 4wd Hardware brand. We finally got it mounted to the frame this week and it is sitting perfectly level...probably more so than my dining room table!

I will be taking it to the exhaust shop this coming week for the dual exhaust. Pictures of anyone's dual exhaust set-u[s would be appreciated.