Rough FG Surface for Rock Chip Protection

[Tim Ryce]

Hi All,

The bottom half of my Trillium looks to have had (at one time) a rough fibreglass surface applied to it; the previous owner tells me that it's to prevent rock chipping of the gelcoat, and he went so far as to glue on a sheet of rubber to the front end of the trailer. I've tried to attach a picture to this post; hope it works!

Unfortunately, the roughened surface is now coming off; probably didn't help that I scrubbed the heck outta the fibreglass last weekend in order to get those stains out (they did come out; woohoo!). Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to restore the rough surface? Did the Trillium come from the factory with this coating on the bottom half?

Thanks for any ideas,
~Tim

[Booker B.]

Hi Tim,

I have seen quite a few 1975 and 1976 Trilliums that had a 2 part rockguard on either side of the front of the trailer frame and I believe that was from the factory. I have never seen a Trailer with the entire bottom done stock from the factory.

One of our members has a black rock guard paint around the entire bottom of the trailer and it looks great. Hopefully this link works: Trailer Picture

Edit: There was a forum discussion of the merit's of having or not having a rock guard covering at all. Though they do help prevent chips they mar the lines of these classic eggs. Our 1976 has seen little road travel and there are hardly any chips. If I do a rockscreen in the future I would do the entire trailer like Sharon's trailer I posted.

[Doug Mager]

I differ slightly in what Booker says about this system 'preventing' rock chips. IMHO, all it does is make the little beggers harder to see. Our Trilliums 'chin' as a coating of the stuff that is now being applied on the rocker panels of new(er) cars. When we adopted our egg from its previous 'people', it had a covering of artifical turf crap glued to the lower front of the egg. The trailer was painted green and the turf was painted this green!!! Y U C K!!!!

One real good (but also REAL fuggerly) way to 'help' prevent those nasty chunks is to install a rubber 'broom' either to the rear bumper of your tow vehicle or one that mounts to the trailer hitch itself.

[Pete Dumbleton]

Here're photos showing some dirt patterns on an egg after dirty drives.

[Booker B.]

You got a story to go along with that last pic Pete?

[Doug Mager]

Looks ta me like Pete's been up here ta Iron Mountain, LOL!!!

[Pete Dumbleton]

They were all taken on my trip through BC, YT and NWT to AK in 2001. It was in early Spring and the shoulders were soft from the snow melt. Signs said keep way to right when approaching a hill (that was on the Campbell HIGHWAY in YT, BTW) so there would be fewer head-on collisions, so I did.

But I stayed there too long; the shoulder on the hill was firm, but wasn't just a little further on. Trailer wheel dug in and pulled truck into ditch, so I rode it as far as I could but stopped when tires started slipping.

I disconnected the truck and drove it out; 2WD was enough because I hadn't dug the wheels in. Then I put the truck on the hard part of the road, dropped the tongue of the TT and hauled it out with tow rope. If I lived up there, I'd make a sort of sled for the front of the tongue because I had to keep pulling it up out of the mud.

I was kind of sweating it and working my ears really hard because I didn't want one of the tanker trucks coming up over the hill behind me.

Here's another photo of a rental RV on another HIGHWAY near Chicken AK. This looks like just a back road but it's part of the way from Dawson City YT to the Al-Can near Tok AK, with tandem tanker trucks and large Princess Lines tour busses whizzing by...

[Connie M.]

Hey, Pete, from the looks of those pictures, you had a grand advanture!
Tim, our Trillium has the 2 part rock guard in front, but nothing rough on the sides like yours.
I reckon each person's thoughts about rock guards and dirt and such are influenced by where they like to camp. Or what's available to them, anyway.

[Tim Ryce]

Thanks for the replies, everyone, and the scary pictures, Pete! My wife really likes the look of the Trillium that Booker posted, with the black rockguard all the way around the bottom; looks like I have yet another winter project on my to-do list!

Anyone have an idea of *what* was used to make that black chip-resistant coating?

Thanks!
~Tim

[Booker B.]

Hi Tim,

That picture I provided is of Sharon Herman's trailer but I believe she bought it this way. She may know what the previous owner used.

Cheers,
Booker

[Pete Dumbleton]

If I wanted such a surface, I would use one of the pickup truck bed products. I saw a jeep wrangler done up in black liner and it looked great! (I am not a fan of washing and waxing...).

[Paul from NWOnt]

Rhino-liner, or Hercu-liner (or whatever brand) is a pick-up truck bed liner that is sprayed on, and is nearly indestructable. Depending on the manufacturer, it is available in a multitude of colours (including glow at last check), and is scratch/spill/chemical resistant. There is a little bit of weight to it, but it has insulating properties, and absorbs sound as well.

One HUGE drawback is that once it's there, you pretty much need to destroy the item to remove it.

To my knowledge though, it's paintable in case you wish to change things up at a later date.