Rehab an Old, Rusty Boat Trailer

Rehab an Old, Rusty Boat Trailer

This boat trailer rehab tip came from our friend Cody Richardson. You may know Cody from his creative use of automobile license plates to make customized fish art. Apparently, he’s a bit of a boat head too, and definitely knows his way around a shop. A couple of years ago, he made use of some fancy Sherwin-Williams paint and helped two of his buddies turn their rusty, beat-down trailers into something they could pass off as new.

A few words from Cody about his rehab process:

“A couple of good friends’ drift boat trailers were in pretty rough shape, so I figured I would help them out… 

I painted my Clackacraft trailer about three years ago with this paint (Sher-Kem High Gloss Metal Finishing Enamel), and it’s still holding up strong. 

We set the trailers on sawhorses in the yard to get them prepped–one of the trailers was already ready to go, while the other was dirty and had surface rust covering most of it. We removed the wheels, then hit the rusty one with a sander and some zinc spray paint to inhibit rusting. 

Once prepped, we used the Sher-Kem industrial-grade metal finishing enamel from Sherwin-Williams. I also use a cheap HVLP Spray Gun from Harbor Freight. This paint dries quick enough that we’re able to apply three coats on the top and bottom of each trailer.

Once finished, the paint dries rock hard and looks like black glass on the trailer.”