Has anyone EVER restored a bed properly?

[georgieb51]

This is a great topic. Right now I am putting together an order from MAR-K of Oklahoma for a whole stepside bed kit and wood kit.They sent me an email of 20% off through the end of this month (code OLDSCH1820) on orders over $1,000. so this seems a good time to bite the bullet. To answer the question I have never done a wood bed with paint on the wood but I have owned trucks with evidence of paint on the wood and vowed that if I ever had the chance I would paint the wood. I have decades of experience working on wood boats so I have learned what it takes to get any sort of finish on wood no matter if it is painted, or a clear finish like varnish. Here is how I will do it:

I am ordering the yellow pine bed wood from MAR-K but unlike the original trucks I will not be using plain steel strips to hold them down. Instead I will be ordering unpolished Stainless Steel and will just paint the stainless. It will provide an extra measure of insurance against rust. With all the wood on my boats I first seal all the surfaces with a clear epoxy sealer. I prefer Smith's CPES (Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer) saturated into the wood. Then I use a marine primer ( I prefer Interlux InterProtect 2000, an epoxy primer) from Jamestown Distributors in RI. I will do this on the bed wood. I also use Jamestown's epoxy fairing compound called Total Boat Total Fair on any checks and knots the same way we would use bondo to eliminate imperfections prior to topcoats. Since Total Fair is a green color it would not work for clear coats but works perfectly for painted wood. I will treat all my boards on every exposed surface this way and then topcoat with the colored paint prior to installation. If I need to touch anything up I can just use colored paint after installation. All the bolts and metal strips and wood boards will be the same color as the rest of the bed interior.

I too have debated about using clear-coated boards on the floor, but to tell you the truth I am getting tired of seeing trucks done this way even though they can be quite beautiful. I prefer seeing the paint on my trucks look the way they were when they came out of the factory, and this includes the bed floors. This is just personal preference and it has not been easy to stick with this decision.