I had anticipated that repainting our old horse trailer would be a pretty big challenge. Lots of rusted spots, chipped paint, and such. I knew there would be hours of sanding and grinding, a bit of Bondo™ and some fiberglass repairs. Then… priming and more sanding, and more painting. I knew it was going to be a big job. Two weeks in and now I realize: I had no idea.

Instead of doing the spot repairs I anticipated, I ended up having to completely strip the entire front section of the trailer.

The big, blistered spots were so corroded, pitted, and pocked, I had to Bondo™ those. The silver dollar sized spot where the corrosion had eaten completely through the metal turned out to be a six inch by ten inch section that required new metal and fiberglass patching. And more Bondo™.

Each time I used the knotted wire brush attachment on my grinder to clean out a tiny rust spot, I discovered a “spider web” of corrosion damage to the metal. A surface spot the size of the head of a straight pin turned into a stained area the size of a half-dollar. Even places where there was no visible surface indication had hidden corrosion. Instead of doing a half-dozen spot repairs, I needed to strip the entire section.

Having a good bit of experience over the past fifty-six years using chemical paint and varnish remover, I paid over fifty bucks for a gallon of what cost six bucks when I first started doing furniture refinishing. It took fifteen-plus applications of that and two hours to remove two square feet of paint. Kudos to the modern automotive paint engineers on chemical resistance… Boy Howdy, did they do their job! As for me… back to the grinder!

The knotted wire brush attachments work really well for about six minutes. It took about six hours to grind away sixty square feet of blue trailer paint. Currently, I’m calculating whether to buy sandblasting equipment, contract with someone else to finish what I’ve started, or just buy a different trailer.

I am so glad that our Redeemer doesn’t reconsider whether we are really worth His trouble or not. I love the reassuring promise that the apostle Paul conveys in Phillipians, “He who has begun a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

No matter how much corrosion He already knows there is below the surface.

H. Arnett
9/9/2025