Update
I posted this in Balu4k's thread because he was asking about the sturdiness of my lid design. Since I wasn't 100% sure, I decided to go out and stand on it. I weigh 225 lbs and the lid held my weight no problem. I was more worried about the plastic saw horses giving way than I was the lid.
The sheet metal didn't all meet up perfectly at all the corners, so I had to fill some decent size gaps with the welder. Since I'm not the best welder on the planet, the corners weren't exactly perfect after grinding. I used some light weight polyester body filler to fill the grinding marks and to even out all the edges.
It's hard to see, but after sanding it off, all the edges look nice and even and have a nice smooth feel to them.
The guy at the paint supply store talked me into trying Dolphin Glaze.
I was skeptical at first because it comes in a bag like Canadian milk:snorkel:. I was worried that it would be to runny to spread, but I have to say, this stuff is pretty awesome. I highly recommend it, or something like it. Once you are done done making the panel straight with the body filler, you just apply a thin layer of this to fill the deep sand scratches and sand it off with a finer grit paper. You are left with a very smooth surface that's ready for primer.
Since that is done, it was time to do something with the underside. I originally had planned on having the underside powder coated, but the guy I use is backed up about 5 weeks, and I don't want to wait that long. After much thought, I ended up just using Rustoleum primer and their aluminum colored paint. I went with that color for 2 reasons. 1.)The trailer and outside of the lid will be painted silver to match my jeep. This aluminum color is a brighter silver, but it follows the same theme. 2.)I will eventually install some sort of led cargo lights and I wanted something that would reflect light as opposed to absorb it. Otherwise, I probably would have just painted it black to match the bed-liner on the inside of the tub.
For a brush on finish, I think it looks pretty good. Tomorrow, I will flip the lid over and prime the top so that it's ready for paint. ETA...In this picture, you can see where the frame warped a little and the sheet metal doesn't lay down quite flat. So irritating!!
Oh yeah, my weather stripping came from Uni-Grip. That means that I finally need to make a decision on how to attach the hinges to the lid. To weld them on, or to bolt them on, that is the question. Frankly, the thought of drilling 12 holes through those 1/4 inch steel hinges and then 12 holes through the structure of the lid is leaving me less than enthused about the bolt on route. Welding them on would save me a bunch of time, not to mention the expense of the hardware. I just can't decide. I'll keep thinking on it I guess
