Line X Or Rhino Lining Addition?

Since purchasing my 550 Ultra in August 2017, I've spent a lot of time thinking about (but much less time doing anything about) keeping the aluminum skin looking decent. It's really hard to not touch the outside or get any water drops off before they dry. I don't want to spend hours polishing and waxing the exterior.

With this in mind, I saw that Oregon Trailer is now offering a lining on their off road models (TerraDrop Alpha and DoDrop Alpha) which is similar to Line X or Rhino liner. This would obviate the need for all of special care of the exterior. A simple water spray is likely all that would be needed when the trailer gets dirty. It would also make the trailer more off road capable by not having to worry about scratches from branches when going down trails.

I'm wondering if any other owners have gone this route and what their experiences have been?

addendum: Wife says "I like the aluminum. It's cute and looks like an airplane". I might not be able to get this idea to the takeoff phase.

 

I would love to see how it would turn up.

 

I know that a few people have replaced their alcan cover with rhino lining, something I want to do in the future. It would be interesting to see what it would look like to have the whole trailer covered!

Randy

 

The dark covering would be too hot for camping in the south, I believe. I used to think the patina and some fingerprints are not a good things. Now I look at it as I am actually camping! I don't feel that way about my car, however.☠️

 

Apparently the coating doesn't transfer much heat at least according to a review done of the Oregon Trailer out at the Overland Expo last year. I think that you could choose other colors if you wanted perhaps even white. I've got a tough sell though with my wife so it probably won't happen for me.

 

I've often wondered if the clear 3M material used for rock chip protection on the front of cars could be applied to the whole TD when new, and if you could keep the beauty of the factory new mill finish aluminum, without the elbow grease required to keep that look with the bare aluminum. I've used it on several cars and the leading edges of my plane, and it's held up quite well. You could probably use a thinner material on everything but the leading edge surfaces to ease installation and lessen cost. Just wondering.......maybe a factory option applied before delivery?????

 

I've thought about that and even looked into it at one point. I was told that it might not adhere to the aluminum but have never actually heard of anyone that did it. I need to get my truck bed sprayed and figured I would take the teardrop with me and see what they say.

 

There was a thread a while back in which Cary mentioned a unit that had done this and it worked well. I'll post below. Also there are some pics in a thread of a 560 for sale a few months back that had this done. I'll link that one too.

Alcan Cover - Replace Alcan Cover With Bedliner Paint?

SOLD - 560 Ultra Raindrop For Sale

 

Thanks for digging out those links! I'm definitely going to do that one of these days. Contemplating a gray instead of black, hmmm.