"Having done an awful lot of sandblasting: big trucks, little trucks, cars, trailers, building, bridges, etc, etc, this is a job that whatever you manage to rent or buy to do yourself is simply not going to be enough. Your best bet is to take it to a place that specializes in sandblasting and have them do it. Be prepared to pay top dollar if they have to take the trailer apart to do it right. You are going to be better off taking the bed loose and the fenders (and anything else that you can unbolt) , strapping everything to the base trailer and then taking it down there. Also be prepared to replace the axle bearings unless you specifically tell them to NOT blast the areas around the ends of the axles and to cover the wheel areas. Sand will get in there and wreck the bearings if you don't and the 'sandblaster' is not going to be that careful without specific instructions to the contrary."
I've been re-thinking the sandblasting. There is not a lot of rust on the trailer so I'm thinking of using one of those drill based rust removers and remove the spot rust everywhere and immediately priming. This is what I did for the rack on the Jeep and it worked well.
When it comes time time to paint, I think I'll remove the tub from the frame so I can paint the entire tub and the entire frame separately. That may be this winter since I plan on using the trailer this summer regularly.
Question: When you run your finger over the paint, there is some residue. Obviously I can't paint over that. If I wash the tub with abrasive steel wool or something like that, should that be good enough?
Brody, the wires for the jeep should be in Thursday so I think I should be able to get there Thursday or Friday.