Priming the Cargo Bed

Quite sunny and very hot again this morning. Perfect for priming day! I’m painting the whole cargo area with a rust converter primer (Corroseal) since there are a few rust spots and I don’t feel like sanding them all off. Since I have to prime anyway, figured I’d kill two birds with one stone and use this rust converter primer. It’s more expensive than normal primer, but timewise it’s totally worth it. I’ll then put a top coat of white metal paint. I’m going through all this to prevent rust developing on the inside walls of the cargo area. Condensation can be a real problem in vans, as I’ve already discovered with the mildewy floor mat. A vent will be the main solution to that problem (no air circulation is the reason for condensation build-up), but just in case I get a condensation layer next to the exterior metal shell of the van, I want that metal to be well coated by a protective layer of paint.

I had never heard of rust converter before this. I learned about it in doing research on painting rusty metal. It’s a water based product that works on rust to convert it into an inactive form and prevent it from spreading. It works as a primer as well. You just paint it on and as it dries it converts any rusty spots to a black patch. The rust converting primer went on clear, so that was a bit annoying. It was however, very thin/watery, so it went on very easily. Tools used for this process were a ¾’’ brush, a 2’’ brushes, and a 6’’ roller and tray. The ¾’’ brush came in very hand to get into the nooks and crannies of the door. Since the primer was water based, I washed out all the brushes to use again for the top coat. Overall, the priming took about 4 hours to complete at a leisurely pace. Probably used only a half to two thirds of the gallon of rust converter. A full 24 hours is needed for the rust converter to cure. I’ll be back at the final painting stage soon as the next sunny day rolls around!