Hello all! Fresh from Maui back to the gloomy skies of Vancouver. Good to be home but missing the sunshine already.
Finally came to a decision about the replacement wood bed. I decided to go with marine grade plywood. Mainly because of cost as it was half the price of "real" wood boards. I went with a multi-core baltic birch plywood. Got the store to cut it into boards (saved me about 3 hrs work)
Got the old man to help me run the boards through my table saw to put the skid strip grooves in them
Took what seemed like forever to drill the offset washer holes, but finally got them all.
At about 11:00 last night, the old man and I put a coat of stain on them in his carport. Here's what they looked like this morning:
Looks similar because of the yellow light from the carport but they are much more golden coloured than they started. I chose "golden pecan" stain by varathane. Unfortunately because of all the moisture in the air, the boards were still wet this morning, so I'll have to start varnishing them tomorrow.
In the meantime, I cut out a bit of rot on the fender lips and welded some patches in. I also took a hammer and dolly to the front panel to try to straighten out the huge dent that happened long before I bought the truck. I'm also planning to use some of the epoxy paint to coat the inside of the fenders and the flange that meet the body. That should keep the rust at bay for a while. I'm also going to paint the skid strips and all the heads of the new fasteners black with the same epoxy paint. I also have to fight with the remainder of the bed frame tomorrow as the tailgate bolts are seized in the trunnions and it's the older style bed, so the rear bulkhead is spot welded to the bedsides (which have to come off to get the new wood in)