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Ok guys. I need all 4 of us (that are on here right now, lol) to put our heads together. I want to paint my trailer MYSELF. The problem! I dont have a place to do it. My garage is full and my water heater is right beside my boat and cooler weather is coming so Im under the gun. WTF do I do? Even if I pay someone else to do it, I have no where to put my boat?? I need ideas!! Jet
Something I've done in the past is to enlarge the garage with plastic sheeting. If the forcast is for light wind and no rain during the project it works great.
Ken
Worse comes to worse, get 4 MEGALARGE TARPS, one to cover the floor, and the rest for everything else. Overspray can go a long distance.
Turn off water heater, warn the wife. Turn off the gas line so that the pilot light goes out. Then let it cool off a bit, wrap in moving blankets or actual old blankets. You don't want the paint dust getting into the burner area. Not really worried about the top, as you can wipe that down, but you must keep the dust out of the burner area.
Paint.
If I can hang my Salt from the garage rafters, why not just get a few guys & lift that little comp off the trailer & set it to the side :). Seriously, if you can lift it in the garage - pull the trailer out from under and prep & paint in the driveway (you can always wheel it back under at night while the work continues). Maybe $150-200 for one of those portable awnings & some plastic sheeting for a temp paint booth. I also looked into local marina for temporary in-water boat storage, lift-off dry storage facilities, & even local fiberglass repair shops to lift & store short term. If you paint in the garage, just turn off the hot water heater (I assume gas) to paint & re-light when done.
Jet, don't forget to ground the frame of the trailer. This will prevent static from attracting dust to the fresh paint. If your water system for the house has a ground nearby the garage, you can just hook a jumper cable from the trailer to the ground rod. I saw an article in Hot Rod mag a few years ago, this guy was doing his own paint in a booth he made from tarps in the garage. He put an old box fan at one end, and funace filters infront of it to keep the dust out. He also had filters at the other end to let air flow thru. And wet down the floor before painting to keep from kicking up dust while you work. Good luck, and post some pic's!
I am curious to see what others have to say about this
cna training
Ok, there are some ideas. Keep um coming. Thanks guys
I've painted airplane parts in the garage using a very simple temporary plastic enclosure. I partitioned the end stall of my multi-car garage with clear plastic (thickness driven by budget). I attached the plastic sheet to the ceiling using a long wooden nailing strip. I simply let it drape to the floor, and held it in place with boards as weight. Everything was cleared out of the area ahead of time, except a work bench for mixing paint. I also stretched sheet plastic across the floor of the partitioned area (this offered more spill protection than overspray protection). I did not cover the two remaining walls or garage door, and did not experience any permanant paint overspray accumulation on these vertical surfaces.
The end wall of the garage had a window, in which I placed a simple box fan for air out-flow (protected by a furnace filter). At the opposite end I partially opened the garage door about 2 feet, and taped a sheet of plastic to the bottom of the door, that reached the floor, and was held down by lumber for weight. In this pastic sheet, I cut openings, which I then filled with furnace filters, to provide fresh inlet air. You want to allow about 4 times the inlet opening than the outlet opening, or the plastic sheet will "suck" inward.
If the outside air is to cold, the inlet air openings could be cut into the partition wall plastic to bring heated air in from the rest of the garage area instead of from outside.
I could roll an airplane fuselage or wing panels into the space, or racks of small parts.
You would probably need to jack the trailer up rather high by the axles to allow you to paint underneath.
Pay a marina to store your boat a couple of days. They can do it either in the water or out. They have the right hoist to just yank it off the trailer and put it on storage blocks for as long as you want.
Jet, I'm looking into painting mine (maybe next winter). I already talked to a local Malibu dealer about lifting my boat off the trailer and putting it on dolly's for the weekend. IIRC he is asking about $150 to do it. I then planned on bringing it home and doing the prep in the driveway. For painting, if it is a calm enough day I could see tarps all over the driveway and just paint it outside. If not, I think it is possible to do it in the garage, following the tips already mentioned. Check around your area for boat dealers and service and see if they will remove your boat from the trailer and store it on another trailer or dolly's for a weekend and bang it out.
If you can, replace the bunks. My Winter/Spring project is to order a set from Ultimate Bunk Boards.