# Found some rust.



## KellerJames (Jan 19, 2004)

Inspecting things under the Outback the other day, I found surface rust in several places on the frame. I expected to find that, but one area about 1" wide and 8" to 10" long is deep rust. Right at the edge of the the under belly enclosure mtrl. toward the front of the trailer, it appears that a layer of rust about 1/16" thick has formed. 
As far as a fix, I'm assuming I should scrape this off and wire brush it as well as possible and then prime and paint with Rustolium products. Would these product STOP the rust or should I seek a more industrial type coating?








I haven't had the opportunity to remove the under belly mtrl. yet, but it looks like it might be holding a little water near the area of bad rust. I have no water leaks in the trailer to my knowledge. Should I drill some small weep holes in the under belly mtrl.?.


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## shake1969 (Sep 21, 2004)

I was putting in the battery cutoff today and I noticed several spots of rust bubbling up through that one coat of high-quality WalMart paint Keystone put on the frame.

IT MAKES ME SICK!

That's the type of quality control that bothers me the most. Not the trim you can see, but the cancer on the inside! GAK!

So now I get to spend 3 hours sanding down the tongue and putting epoxy on. Thanks, Keystone.

And don't say take it back for warranty. I can spray Krylon over the rust, myself, and save about $30 worth of gas. I had a guy tell me one time he would make it as good as new. I nearly hit him. As good as new is not that good, IMHO.

Rant over.

Sand the area. Use good primer and Epoxy paint. Hard as heck to clean up, though.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

You are oh so right!  The Krylon trick just won't work. I think I must have had 20 or 30 cans of krylon on the tongue of my prowler tt. It would last maybe a couple weeks or 3 miles which ever came first. Do it right the first time....


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## Y-Guy (Jan 30, 2004)

KellerJames the weep holes might be a good idea, if you are getting a lot of sag you might want to look at the mod Kirk did Outback belly support

A good wire brushing, maybe even sanding, then several coats of good rust inhibitor paint.

If you are getting a lot of water in the underbelly you may want to pull it back and make sure you don't have a leak or something.


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## KellerJames (Jan 19, 2004)

Thanks for the replies guys. Having no experience with rust before, what is the best rust inhibitor that any of you might know of? 
Y-Guy, I do intend to put one cross support in the middle of the two largest sections. I don't think the sag is low enough to warrant all that much support. The 21RS isn't very big. Just big enough. 
Thought I was going to get to it this weekend, but my wife tells me we're going out of town this weekend.







Oh well, back burner for another week.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

I think you want to scrape or sand off as much rust as you can first, then kill it with naval jelly or any number of products like naval jelly. After that, use a good paint to cover it. Y-guy mentioned epoxy paint. I've never used it, but I'll bet it would do the trick.


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## BigBadBrain (Aug 26, 2004)

Can USAF Colonels use naval jelly?


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## luv2rv (Jun 21, 2004)

Naval Jelly? Uh are we still talking about the rust problem ....









Seriously, I'll have to take a better look at my TTs underbelly in the spring. This is the last thing I want to worry about.

My old TT had a full aluminum ALKO frame. No rust issues at all.

Wayne


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

3B you're a riot! Can't wait for Faragutt!

Naval Jelly is a thick liquid that neutralizes rust. Here's a url
http://www.shorechemical.com/Section%207%2...naval_jelly.htm
Other products, equally as good, are probably available at most hardware stores and probably Wal-Mart as well. Some are real thin and watery. You can apply them with a paper towel. They chemically react with the rust and neutralize it. After that is done, it safe to paint and you normally won't get any more rust bubbling up under the paint.


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## luv2rv (Jun 21, 2004)

Thanks Vdub. Sounds like a great solution. I'll check it out in the spring.

Wayne


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## Guest (Oct 21, 2004)

I'm no expert, but I would think that you would have trouble getting the paint to stick to a coating of naval jelly.
I would say a good sanding and then a coat of primer and then a few good coats of paint. Rustoleum or something like that.


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

The rust neutralizer dries similar to paint. Paint sticks to it real well. I have restored a couple antique tractors and used these type products on a lot of different rusted areas. Painting over the rust inhibitor is expected and it works like a champ. No problems.


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## KellerJames (Jan 19, 2004)

Good info vdub. Thanks.
When you mentioned the naval jelly, I though I would have to remove it with a degreaser after neutralizing the rust and then paint it. If the jelly coating is left on, then does that serve as a primer or do I still need to prime before the top coat. I've never used naval jelly before. Being from an Air Force family, I wasn't sure I could. (I had to follow BBB's lead)


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## hatcityhosehauler (Feb 13, 2004)

Zoomies using Naval Jelly.....what would my old CPO think about that?


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## vdub (Jun 19, 2004)

Naval Jelly is not actually a specific product but is a class of products that all basically do the same thing. At least, I have never seen a bottle actually branded as "Naval Jelly". Believe the brand I used was Extend, but not absolutely certain. Some of these products are thick and jelly-like so they will stick to a vertical surface. Those would probably have to be removed to some degree before painting. The product I used (wish I still had a bottle of it kicking around) was just like water. When it came into contact with rust, there was some sort of chemical reaction, and the rusted parts turned black. After it dried, I don't recall doing anything special before painting. The paint I used was oil-based (John Deere green, of course). I'm sure a water-based paint would have problems and I can't say about epoxy. However, this was about 10 years ago when I was using it, so you would have to check the instructions to see what they recommend and if they have developed any different products for use with some of the newer paints. It worked really well, it's pretty good stuff.

Something I never thought of until just now is that a lot of metal is now powder-coated. I've never worked with that, but I'm sure it would have to be treated differently. Your best bet is to go to the hardware store and ask for rust inhibitor or naval jelly and you'll probably have a half-dozen products to chose from. Then, just follow the directions.


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