Body shop people are not early birds, probably because they have to stay late for customers to pick up their vehicles after work. I'll be lucky if they are there by nine. Heck, my energy is usually about half spent by then.
It will be a dull day of prepping for the coating that I will eventually apply. When you get new steel, there is mill oil on it, and where there isn't oil, there is surface rust. First I'll need to degrease them with Formula 88 from HD- (Great stuff), then I'll paint them with a phosphoric acid etching solution that will turn whatever rust is there inert. Hopefully, by tomorrow I can finally apply some coating.
These steel beams get dipped in saltwater regularly and are stationed above the saltwater the rest of the time, so it is about as harsh an environment as steel can have. I got some super-wham-O-dine coating that is supposed to seal out rust for good that I'm going to coat everything with. It will be the acid test.
