IF, like many other bakkie owners, you put your vehicle to hard work loading garden refuse and the odd heavy household appliance, you’ll know it often results in damaged paintwork, making your pride and joy look very second-hand, very soon.
The obvious solution is to apply some form of covering to protect the load bay surface, but which one? The simplest option is a rubber mat that’s been cut to fit the load bay. These mats are readily available, work very well and are usually made from old tyres. They do, however, look a little rough and ready for some tastes and many customers therefore opt for a polyurethane covering. This involves spraying a coat of liquid polyurethane onto the metal, which then hardens to form a tough, long-lasting layer. Here are some of the better providers of both solutions.
RHINO LININGS
This company offers a three-year warranty that’s transferable to subsequent owners of the treated vehicle, and it has more than 60 franchise operations dotted round South Africa.
Rhino Linings offers polyurethane coatings in various colours – most customers choose black – and the compound adheres to steel, aluminium, fibreglass and even wood.
With the majority of load bays constructed from mild steel, the most important benefit is protection against corrosion, as it’s virtually impossible to prevent a painted steel bay from getting scratched down to bare metal. The surface is also slip-resistant, which means you don’t need special rubber mats or tie-downs to prevent items from sliding round and possibly breaking.
±R2 000 for a double cab’s load bay
DURAM DURABAK
If you’re the DIY-type, try your hand at painting a polyure-thane coating onto your bakkie’s load bed and tailgate. Duram makes a product called Durabak that’s available in a grey or black textured finish and can be purchased as a spray or brush application. A litre covers four square metres, but Duram recommends two coats, so you’ll need between four and six litres for the average double cab’s load bay. Drying time is about two hours and the coats should be applied in one direction, each 90 degrees to the other. Using a roller gives you a more stippled surface, which increases the non-slip characteristics.
You can also use Durabak to protect the inside of your trailer, as many use thin-gauge mild steel that tends to rust quite easily. Yet more options are a non-slip covering for stairways and ramps or
bathroom/shower floors.
±R300 for a litre tin and ±R1 000 for a four-litre tin
PREMAT
Pretoria Mat and Rubber has been in business since 1958 after buying a Swiss patent to recycle scrap tyres into matting. Production kicked off in 1964 and today it exports to a number of countries.
Used truck tyres form the raw material, with the sidewalls sliced into long strips before being interwoven into whatever shape and size is required for the vehicle. The heavy-duty mats are particularly useful for transporting animals, such as horses, by road.
The woven rubber strips mean water does not get trapped and the manufacturer claims that rust is therefore not a problem. You can order solid mats if you want and tonneau covers also form part of Premat’s product list.
±R1 200 to cover a double cab’s load bay
OLD AND DAMAGED SURFACES
Remember to treat any sign of corrosion before adding a protective layer. The slightest crack in the coating will allow water to seep in and, once there, it’s unable to evaporate, which will speed up rusting underneath the protective coating.
HOW TO TREAT IT
Cold galvanising
Like hot-tip galvanising, this is also a zinc compound but applied with a brush. One such product is Galzinc that costs about R200 per 1 kg tin.
Zinc phosphate primer
This paint is typically a mix of zinc phosphate and titanium dioxide compounds.
Water-based paint-on coatings
Sold by the likes of Plascon, they are specifically targeted at bakkie and trailer applications.