Got the Herculiner first coat done, think I am going to wait for warm weather for the second quote - took almost 3 quarts to do the first coat well, think I will need to buy an extra quart to do the second coat right. Observations:
1) On an older truck with surface rust, flaking paint and even some latex paint in the bed (?!!!) it took a much longer prep time than the 'few hours' people mention.
Maybe on a new truck bed... but on mine it was literally days of prep.
2) The supplied roller is indeed crap... and will fall apart by the end of the first coat even if you are careful. They supplied a spare roller but having another available
(especially if like me you are miles from a hardware store) is good.
3) The brush they supply for corners etc. works well and lasted very well.
4) I mixed it at first with a drill and stirrer. I found once I had done that, a stirring stick was adequate for in-process stirring. I probably stirred every 5 minutes or so.
5) They recommend buying Xylene as a solvent and thinner... I'd give that 1000 thumbs-up. I never worked with it before; other than burning a little (like in the crook of
my elbow) it was convenient. It does not dry as fast as acetone.
6) Clean-up- the Xylene took off over-runs (damn blue tape NEVER works 100%!) easily and was great where I got coating on my skin. I wore gloves but did not wear
long sleeves. I also did not wear a mask, I left the doors open and it was windy out.
7) I have read where people complained of smell and getting headaches, I had no issues.
8) I used a sharp chisel for flaking paint and several brushes for prep. In order of effectiveness: 1) Paint stripping wheel, the ones that look like stiff black scrubby pad.
Used up two but they worked the best. 2) Circular coarse wire brush on the drill, did a good job but not as good as the stripper wheel. 3) Cup brush on the drill. Hard
to keep in line at bends and did not score the paint as well. 4) Plastic bedliner prep brush on the drill. Very disappointing, barely scratched paint surface at all.
9) Prep - Scrape all loose flaking paint, then run over the area with the drill. I figured adhesion was the main thing, so I made sure any remaining paint was scored
heavily - if it takes a wire wheel to score the paint and it won't let go any other way, I figure it's probably solid enough for the Herculiner to grip. If the paint kept flaking
off under the brush, I just kept running the brush until I got to firmer stuff.
10) Actual painting time was a few hours. Curing time was slow, we had coolish dry weather and I gather the Herculiner really likes hot humid weather to cure well.
Mine was still slightly tacky to the touch after two days.
11) Removing the tailgate was not terribly difficult and made the job easier.
12) I thought I would do the bed first and if I wanted to do the top rails later, I could. I find I am already leaning that direction, since if I have anything long in the bed it
will probably wind up partially on a rail. I did do part of the top of the tailgate, but I see a rail listed on LMC for only $40 I may buy just for a belt-and-suspenders
approach.

 

Looks great! Just got done doing mine as well. I just used 80 grit on my orbital air sander and got the shiny clear off from the old paint. Did my dabbing as recommended on corners and hard to reach places first then rolled. Like you my first roller was trash and was leaving pieces of the foam in the liner by the end so I trashed it. Overall I'm happy with the look and finish of it. Mine won't be worked to test for durability but if it doesn't start to flake or peel I'll be satisfied. My cure time was about 36 hours but it stayed in the heated shop that entire time so I'm sure that had an effect. Good job on yours looks great

 

Ditto not working it too hard... my bed had far more flaking paint than yours, and really what I wanted was for it to look a lot better without having to strip it and get it painted. The more I look at the paint job I got, the more I wonder if they were training someone - will NOT go back there.

 

Quick bump and add... did a second coat today. Only took a 1/2 gallon, and saved about pint or so for touch-up. I extended it a bit - I noticed when I brought home some wood a while back that not having the top rails of the bed and the top of the tailgate coated opened me up to damage. So today I extended the liner to just past the holes in the top of the bed - hopefully next time I have something leaning up there the paint is protected by the Herculiner.


I mentioned on another thread I was doing some reinforcement for the mounting clips for my door panels - I prefer the metal clips vs. the plastic trees but the plastic panel mounts get broken after 40 years or so. I cut a small strip of flashing metal (like you see by the lower mount) and JBWelded it into the mount, then added more JB Weld for bulk and smoothed it down. Now the little clips have something to hang onto!


While in there I also saw that the door panel extension which goes under the finger cup on the door handle was long broken - I cut a metal reinforcement for it, JBWeld/clamped it into place, and added more JB Weld just because. I figure a couple if small screws inside the panel to hold the reinforcement in place, and drill a couple of screw holes where the screws come down from the cups into the door, and that should reduce stress on the door panel.


Also decided that my long-misaligned door needed attention. Could get a socket on 5 of the 6 hinge bolts, so set up a jackstand with a piece of 2x4 on it under the door, jumped on the doorsill a coupla times, and managed to get it reset so well I had to also adjust the latch post.


So starting with the base truck in primer black, I have gotten this far... from the truck below to the truck you see above.

 

Looks great, keep up the good work!