Now for the finishing touch. No matter how ugly your project turns out, there's nothing like a nice coat of paint. It usually improves things. And of course it does protect it 'till you scrape the paint off, which doesn't take long. When painting over rusty steel, I prefer brand name rust-type paint. Some how I maintain the illusion that this will make up for my halfassed surface preparation. 
I usually go for a thick coat of paint, real thick. This is another of my self deceptions. Somehow I delude myself into believing that if all else fails, the paint will hold things together. I mean why not ? It sure sticks to me. And the paint brush too. Why is it so hard to clean a paint brush ? This explains the popularity of those water based paints. But I don't trust them, at least not on this sort of thing. It should be noted, that even after the original Truck Rack had fallen apart, it was still painted just fine.
And now comes the installation. Without this step the whole project would be pointless. With the help of the Athletical Son, the newly refurbished Truck Rack was placed on the truck. The entire assembly was then securely attached to the truck bed with a number of screws.
We haven't tried to use it yet, but it seems strong enough. I even think that if the Athletical Son decides to workout on it, it may even survive. But actually, I don't want to encourage that sort of behavior.
And so here is the finished project, ready for the road and whatever comes next.
3 comments:
Looks pretty sturdy to me. maybe you should take up building custom-made traveling jungle gyms. Though you might have legal issues w/ that sort of thing.
Those triangular braces will add a good deal of strength. The welds are longer and the forces can be spread over more area. This can only help. By the way, those are nice welds. I am still learning the fine art of welding stuff. I do not have a need to do this very often.
There is some goop you can buy for boats that turns rust into this hard black surface. The rust is changed on a chemical level, not simply covered up. It is a little more expensive than paint, but it totally stops the rust process.
If I want to really rust proof something, I paint it with cold galvanizing spray first, then paint over that with some kind of other paint unless I do not care that it is silver / gray in color. The galvanizing spray is rough and makes a great primer.
No job is finished unless it is painted.
well, you must be a pretty handy guy to have around.
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