Finished Painting My Bus with Durabak Bed Liner

[nconn]

Hey all! I figured you might be interested in the process with painting with durabak bed liner.

Overall the whole process of prepping the outside (patching holes, sanding, etc) and painting took about 3 weeks. I was hoping that once I started painting everything would go smoothly but unfortunately none of my projects go that way

What happened is that I decided to paint the black rails black again and everything else a desert sand color. I painted the black rails first, let them dry and then planned to mask them off and paint the rest. The problem came with trying to mask over the new bed-liner. absolutely nothing would stick to it. I tried about $150 worth of different types of tape ranging from every color of masking/painters tape, duct tape, a foil tape, etc... Eventually i found a double adhesive gorilla tape that would stick just enough to work (normal gorilla tape does not work). Because of this delay I had to wait another week to paint the desert sand color due to poor weather.

Once I got the working tape everything went well. One thing to note is that I 100% recommend spraying bed-liner vs rolling it. The texture is way better when spraying. Also trying to edge with bed-liner is like painting with Elmer's glue. Masking the black and spraying the desert sand color took 2 days. (spraying bed-liner you use an undercarriage gun that takes way longer than a normal HVLP spray gun)

Overall I am very happy with how this turned out. Feels and looks very rugged. I was going for more the rugged look vs the smooths automotive paint route.

[BarnYardCamp]

It does look good.
Nice job.

[sportyrick]

very nice, like the color also

[TaliaDPerkins]

So, If their coverage figures are correct and $159 covers 80 square feet with two coats -- if I need no primer I'm at about $2,650 to cover my bus.


Does that seem right to you? Do you think two coats are needed? Primer required for clean sandpaper scuffed factory bus paint?


That's a lot of money.


I'd use the vivid blue smooth, but yours does look great!

[rossvtaylor]

Very nicely done!

I have that standard Shutz gun and the Vari-Nozzle gun, too. But for some jobs, I like to use a modified HPLV gun with a 2.0mm nozzle. With Raptor liner, I mix the material and hardener as directed, then thin with a medium urethane reducer (I get at Napa) by 10-15%. This is what it looks like with 2 coats over a black primer base...the texture is really fine this way, which is the look some want. This Freightliner ambulance conversion didn't quite require 2 1-gallon kits of Raptor Liner, so the materials cost (not counting primer) was a bit over $400. You may notice that the upper part of the cab's doors and the hood are left the original rat-rod black...but even if I'd sprayed those, the 2 kits would have sufficed.

[natebaird]

That looks really good! Would you mind mentioning the name of the gun that you used?

[rossvtaylor]

Originally Posted by natebaird

That looks really good! Would you mind mentioning the name of the gun that you used?

It was the cheap $16 Harbor Freight purple gun. I drilled the tip out to 2mm. There are lots of YouTube videos about that and it has worked well. I have the gun marked for Raptor and I only use it for that.

[nconn]

Ya, That seems about right if you have a 40ft bus. Not the cheap way to go. Luckily when talking to them on the phone they said primer is really not needed on anything but bare metal. you just need to sand everything down.

[nconn]

Originally Posted by rossvtaylor

Very nicely done!

I have that standard Shutz gun and the Vari-Nozzle gun, too. But for some jobs, I like to use a modified HPLV gun with a 2.0mm nozzle. With Raptor liner, I mix the material and hardener as directed, then thin with a medium urethane reducer (I get at Napa) by 10-15%. This is what it looks like with 2 coats over a black primer base...the texture is really fine this way, which is the look some want. This Freightliner ambulance conversion didn't quite require 2 1-gallon kits of Raptor Liner, so the materials cost (not counting primer) was a bit over $400. You may notice that the upper part of the cab's doors and the hood are left the original rat-rod black...but even if I'd sprayed those, the 2 kits would have sufficed.

Attachment 71994

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That Looks really good! If I ever work with bed-liner again I may try the HVLP spray gun tip.

[Bus'n it]

That turned out really nice! Love the color.

[Mercuric Mind]

Yep I agree spraying the bedliner is easier. I did my bus with raptor liner. https://www.skoolie.net/forums/membe...cture27064.jpg

[Omnibot2000]

All looks amazing, never thought bedliner would lay as well as that.

[vegabond]

That looks great! I am looking to use the Raptor Liner as well, what size compressor do I need? I see so many people saying they did it with 40 PSI but then others are saying it is about the CFM's? I have no clue what either one means but if you could help me in the right direction, I would greatly appreciate it!

Vegabond

Originally Posted by rossvtaylor

Very nicely done!

I have that standard Shutz gun and the Vari-Nozzle gun, too. But for some jobs, I like to use a modified HPLV gun with a 2.0mm nozzle. With Raptor liner, I mix the material and hardener as directed, then thin with a medium urethane reducer (I get at Napa) by 10-15%. This is what it looks like with 2 coats over a black primer base...the texture is really fine this way, which is the look some want. This Freightliner ambulance conversion didn't quite require 2 1-gallon kits of Raptor Liner, so the materials cost (not counting primer) was a bit over $400. You may notice that the upper part of the cab's doors and the hood are left the original rat-rod black...but even if I'd sprayed those, the 2 kits would have sufficed.

Attachment 71994

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Attachment 71996

[nikitis]

Originally Posted by Omnibot2000

All looks amazing, never thought bedliner would lay as well as that.

I imagine if he clear coated the bed liner, he'd never need a paint job again.

[cadillackid]

how do you clean a bus thats been bed-lined.. having pickup trucks with spray in bed liner it seems like i can never get that pristine look again after getting it dirty.. the nature of the rough service seems to make it hard to clean vs a smooth surface.. never thought of clear coating it.. maybe thats the trick.. I really like the look of a bedlined bus but I am also one that wants my busses to be clean ...

[rossvtaylor]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

how do you clean a bus thats been bed-lined.. having pickup trucks with spray in bed liner it seems like i can never get that pristine look again after getting it dirty.. the nature of the rough service seems to make it hard to clean vs a smooth surface.. never thought of clear coating it.. maybe thats the trick.. I really like the look of a bedlined bus but I am also one that wants my busses to be clean ...

My friends, the Lacroixs of the Lacroix Cruiser buses, actually chose bedliner for the ability to clean it. As professional automotive detailers and instructors, they felt like they'd be spending too much time trying to keep their bus conversions (I think they've done 3) clean with painted finishes. Their bedliner is a fairly rough-grain finish, but the actual surface of the SEM bedliner is quite smooth and their bus looks really good even after driving down our 3-mile red dirt road. I've had a good experience with the Raptor I've used, too, on both my Crown and the Freightliner ambulance. It seems to hide dust/dirt pretty well and cleans up nicely with just a water spray. Seems odd, I know...