Automotive clear on bed wood?

[bigmoe]

Anyone use an automotive clear on their bedwood? Any pictures?

[The Rocknrod]

No. I wouldn't use a product not made for wood..

[Steeveedee]

You could, but it might not stand up to much abuse. Then again, some of the new finishes are pretty dog-gone tough. If you're only hauling A$$, it should be OK. Have a chat with your paint retailer!

[ls60apache]

people have used SPI clear on wood go to the SPI forum and do a search for more info

[vin63]

Use a spar marine urethane. Wood expands and contracts a lot more than sheetmetal.

[Killer Bee]

for a near clear finish, I used these marine products..

2 coats Penetrating Epoxy
6 coats Gleam 2.0 Spar Varnish

as Vin stated, I would avoid metal finish products on wood..

especially since such great wood products available today..

I even avoid metal finish products on metal

good luck!

[88Stanger]

Originally Posted by vin63

Use a spar marine urethane. Wood expands and contracts a lot more than sheetmetal.

Exactly what i used and for the same reason. Works great, looks great and is not that hard to do.

[bigmoe]

Hey thanks for the great info!

[Pinball Chris]

Check out the tests on mar-k.com, under tips and tricks.

Chris

[Killer Bee]

Originally Posted by Pinball Chris

Check out the tests on mar-k.com, under tips and tricks.

Chris

I looked through those and debated the choices myself..

something to consider though is the quality of the products they used.. my childhood friend's dad is a master cabinet maker now in his 70's.. he told me to disregard anything sold at home depot for DIY'ers, they're woefully inferior.. by comparison, the total boat deep penetrating epoxy is $157/gal, I made it through my longhorn deck with just under a half gal.. the total boat gleam gloss spar varnish is $95/gal.. I bought a gallon as it has other uses but only used about a third of it for 6 coats on the longhorn..

my friend an his son painted their longhorn deck based on this study and it started failing in 2-3 years.. not sure what products were used but it wasn't the cheap stuff, their results otherwise are stunning..



professional products used properly to protect wood in marine applications may not last forever but certainly should fair better than what was demonstrated by that testing..

I seriously doubt the hard shell epoxy coating on the boards I treated ends, edges and all, will look anything like those tested.. and maintenance coats of spar varnish should preserve the uv protection for many years..

paint touchup would seem to me more labor intensive than varnish maintenance recoating.. for decent paint work, the strips would probably need to be lifted, varnish probably not..

so it really boils down to what your preferred appearance is, intended application, and storage options.. paint was factory oe and most lasted many years.. but likewise, many vintage boats out there are well preserved in marine coatings.. I preferred the wood grain appearance for my project so I went for it.. the ochre longhorn parks in a barn so not overly concerned.. the red longhorn parks outside here so we'll see.. I actually wanted to try painting my red longhorn deck to match but was out voted by everyone, NO one agreed with me on paint so I'm going with epoxy and varnish again

dad's 65 will be next so should have this all figured out by then

good luck!