malibubts
Adventurer
Dog Platform Updates
The rear seat platform is another step closer to being done. I ended up deciding against the carpet as I was worried about durability as well as my abilities to make it look good when it was finished. I went with a DIY bed liner instead. After looking around Raptor Liner seemed to be a pretty popular brand and it seemed like it would be a better coating since it was a two part mixture. I went with the roll on option, which turned out pretty well. If I had an air compressor or was doing something more important than covering plywood I would have definitely shot the coating on with an air gun.
Also, be careful with this stuff. It has a pretty intense fume once you get it mixed and is really tough to get off anything once it's on there. I painted the thing in shorts and that wasn't the best idea; I had to take a pair of scissors to free some clumps of leg hair afterwards. It'll also take a good week+ to dry; I put the platform in the truck after about 5 days and I could still get a whiff of the chemical smell when getting into the truck after it sat.
IMG_0488 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr
The texture turned out pretty well; not too rough, but not too soft either. I used the included rollers in the kit and they seemed to do an OK job. A bit of caution here though, pay attention to the rollers starting to rip apart. As the coating starts to set up it gets stickier and wants to rip off tiny pieces of the foam from the roller. So I have some tiny bits of foam randomly stuck to the coating. They are slowly coming off and it's not too big a deal, but something worth considering.
IMG_0489 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr
Mounted up inside the truck
IMG_0491 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr
Really the only thing left is to get some tie down points on there. Testing it out with the kennel and some other items showed things were pretty prone to sliding around. I was initially going to just go with some D Ring mounts, but after thinking it through wanted something a little more adaptable. The Decked Core Trax are on my list of items to pick up and I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to use the same style of tie downs on the platform. So the rough plan is to get two 48" airline track tie downs and mount them along the width of the platform. That should provide plenty of options to tie down whatever I have in the back.
The rear seat platform is another step closer to being done. I ended up deciding against the carpet as I was worried about durability as well as my abilities to make it look good when it was finished. I went with a DIY bed liner instead. After looking around Raptor Liner seemed to be a pretty popular brand and it seemed like it would be a better coating since it was a two part mixture. I went with the roll on option, which turned out pretty well. If I had an air compressor or was doing something more important than covering plywood I would have definitely shot the coating on with an air gun.
Also, be careful with this stuff. It has a pretty intense fume once you get it mixed and is really tough to get off anything once it's on there. I painted the thing in shorts and that wasn't the best idea; I had to take a pair of scissors to free some clumps of leg hair afterwards. It'll also take a good week+ to dry; I put the platform in the truck after about 5 days and I could still get a whiff of the chemical smell when getting into the truck after it sat.
IMG_0488 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr
The texture turned out pretty well; not too rough, but not too soft either. I used the included rollers in the kit and they seemed to do an OK job. A bit of caution here though, pay attention to the rollers starting to rip apart. As the coating starts to set up it gets stickier and wants to rip off tiny pieces of the foam from the roller. So I have some tiny bits of foam randomly stuck to the coating. They are slowly coming off and it's not too big a deal, but something worth considering.
IMG_0489 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr
Mounted up inside the truck
IMG_0491 by ebeiersdorfer, on Flickr
Really the only thing left is to get some tie down points on there. Testing it out with the kennel and some other items showed things were pretty prone to sliding around. I was initially going to just go with some D Ring mounts, but after thinking it through wanted something a little more adaptable. The Decked Core Trax are on my list of items to pick up and I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to use the same style of tie downs on the platform. So the rough plan is to get two 48" airline track tie downs and mount them along the width of the platform. That should provide plenty of options to tie down whatever I have in the back.
