Custom Fiberglass bed

Hello,

I am PLANNING a project and this is just a little bit of research I am doing... But I am wanting to construct a custom fiberglass bed cover for my 92 Dakota Shortbed and as of now I'd like to just get a few opinions but my main question is about how the paint finishes on fiberglass... I heard that fiberglass causes paint to fade quicker and I dont want my bed cover to be a totally differant color than the rest of my truck.

Thank you,
-Jason

As far as I know thats not true. The bed cover you might want too look into just buying a premade as someone on here mentioned before it is much cheaper than trying to make your own. when you weigh the cost of all the fiberglass and resin your going to need to make it.

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Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

I have made many fiberglass kits and the only thing you need to worry about is the paint has to be the same quality has on the car and ********* FLEX AGENTS MUST BE IN THE PAINT******** this is critical! the fiberglas is flexible and also can take still be curing and changing its shape for many months after it is painted, without the flex agent the paint will crack or chip very easy, i see so many guys with body kits all stone chipped up and they would not get that with a good amount of flex agent......  But unless you are buying BIG bulk amounts of fiber glass, i would recomend that you buy a used box cover or even new, the cost of mat will be about the same only no labour.

Well, I have a custom bed so I'll need a custom cover... I dont care what it's made out of but I want it to look nice... My bed isnt the standard bed... about 6 inches are capped off at the top...Could I make it from metal and fiberglass the top to give it a rounded look

The problem I see you running into is warping. When you glass a large area like that it won't be straight. Plus if you make it on your truck the weight of the material and resin will cause it to sag. Aftermarket bed covers that you can buy are built upside down inside a mold, and it's sprayed in, or hand laid. By the time you're done and you've spent hundreds of dollars on resin, mat, sandpaper, filler, paint, etc..., it might not look very good, or if it does look good it will probably weigh 300 pounds.

Consider buying a fiberglass bed cover and modifying it. That way you have something to start with.

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If you want to save yourself a huge headache and save a nuts load of money go to checkmate.com and buy one. I did not need to use flex agents on my cover. Your paint also will not fade as long as it is the same or better quality.

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Why do you ask if I ate paint chips when I was younger?