Extreme Trailers outshines SBS with their superior powder coating. While SBS faces issues with peeling and poor adhesion, Extreme uses a unique "gassing out" process to ensure long-lasting, flawless finishes. For custom trailers that combine durability and style, Extreme is the clear winner.
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Hot dip galvanized trailers have always been one of the industry standard best form of protection against the elements, in particular salt water exposure. And whilst a galvanized trailer starts out that pretty shinny Zinc silver colour, they soon dull due to oxidization, thereafter developing that annoying dull grey colour...the caveat is pretty much all owners accept this, as there hasn’t really ever been a better alternative...
About 5 years ago when I purchased my dream Seadoo XPDI, I was fortunate enough for the dealer at the time, Jetworks Kent, Tom Hope, to throw in a brand new Extreme 350 bunk Trailer, which I vividly remember on the collection day thinking, wow that trailer with its brand new shiny galvanized finish looked epic...
But what I soon discovered is literally within 1 or 2 times in salt water exposure, that shiny appearance dulled, and no matter how much love and attention I put into cleaning and protecting it, that Zinc coating, once oxides never regains its shiny appearance.... Trust me I know this as I spent hours cutting and polishing it, to then only discover the Zinc protection coating is only microns thick. As a result I had not only cut and buffed off all the galvanized protection, but then ended up creating what’s called ‘burn through’ on the base metal due to the heat generated from cutting it back... Cut a long story short, there is no way of keeping the galvanization shiny, other than continually getting it re-dipped.
So within months of owning my new Extreme Trailer, coupled with my experience of removing the zinc, I started doing more and more research into what other realistic, real-world coatings could be used on PWC and boat trailers... And as the famous saying goes, ‘boy did I go down a rabbit hole’. From ‘Chroming’ to ‘Hydro Dipping’, you name it, I looked into it, and whilst all these coatings are possible, they all have limitations from cost to not being suitable for salt, rendering them not viable for PWC boat usage.
With my search, I did come across stainless steel trailers but their starting price is considerably more than a standard galvanized trailer, plus aesthetically whilst stainless will not rust and dull, you are still limited to a pretty standard silver/grey looking trailer.
So then just when I had given up hope and was thinking I would just get my trailer re-dipped, and then in time live with that annoying dull galvanized finish, my Dad mentioned powder coating which he had started using a number of years ago vs standard spray painting, for his car alloy wheels, noting how he had seen improved longevity results, which considering alloys on a car are exposed to all sorts of contaminants including road salt in the colder months of the year, got me intrigued.
I had previously discounted powder coating, as I assumed it was basically a glorified spray paint. I had seen a lot of standard spray-painted trailers in the USA and the common theme with them is they just don’t last as spray paint is only microns thick and even with 2k strong paint, it will soon peel and crack... and a lot of the time it’s just not possible to spray over galvanized. Most of these trailers come as just bare material and then sprayed, which means you have no base corrosion protection and a very thin spray paint over the top.
However, with powder coating it has a secret part to the process which I will come onto... that coupled with my Dad’s new endorsement of confidence, I thought ‘what the heck’ I’ll reach out to some powder coaters and see what they say...
Well, virtually all powder coaters came back and said they weren’t confident in powder coating over galvanization, due to poor adhesion, thus they could not be confident in providing a warranty for the intended usage i.e. launching it into salt water... Then just as I was about to give up, as is normally the case, vitally the last company I rang was a large industrial powder coater company.
As soon as I outlined what I was looking to achieve, it was like one of those light bulb moments... They said they had been developing over the past 3 years a tried and tested formula for powder coating over galvanization, due to a large construction client tasking them with wanting the protection of galvanization and the aesthetic finish of powder coating.
The reality for me is it was right place right time, without the multimillion-pound company commissioning this powder coating task, to nail an effective adhesion formula, I wouldn’t have been able to benefit from the results... It also largely explained why powder-coated trailers are not very mainstream, I concluded by and large most powder coaters don’t have the experience, knowledge and proprietary coatings to powder coat over galvanization correctly.
Anyway, what materialized is the key to powder coating over galvanization is what is called the ‘Gassing out’ process... if you are interested to learn more I have made a whole deep dive video talking about powder coating which you can watch here.
But in essence, the process of ‘Gassing out’ consists of putting the galvanized trailer into the powder coating oven and baking for 24-48 hours, in this time all the gas from the zinc is expelled from the substrate.
For context, zinc is one of the core compounds used in the Hot Dip galvanized coating ingredients, and is what causes the poor adhesion and lifting of the powder coat, if not removed before application.
In addition there are a number of pre-coating treatments such as dip baths, primers, that need to be applied after gassing out, but before powder coating, to give the slippery galvanized finish a key to grab to. Unfortunately even with a lot of asking, I couldn’t get the treatment names, as this is the proprietary information that differentiates your average powder coater to the capable powder coaters that can powder coat over galvanization. From my understanding, it’s very much trade secrets, kind of like KFC secret spices. All of which, when done correctly, gives a very strong bond between the base galvanized coating and the top powder coat finish.
So armed with this new found knowledge, me and my Dad disassembled my virtually new Extreme 350 bunk trailer, took it to said powder coaters, and 48 hours later, hey presto, I had a powder coated trailer, which we subsequently re-assembled in my Mum and Dads kitchen, much to my Mums dissatisfaction.
In tandem to my powder coating discovery, I also went on a mission to find colour coded red parts to match my beloved XPDI, which no one was offering at the time. I literally had all my ancillary parts spray painted, which although I know realistically wouldn’t have the longevity they would need, to me it was a necessary aesthetical detail of the trailer. At this point things like ‘Snubber blocks’, ‘Kneel rollers’, ‘Light board tightening knobs’, ‘Winch straps’ were all standard black from suppliers. Me being me however...I was the guy in my bedroom using my Mums sewing machine making custom red winch straps.
As soon as I had assembled the trailer and sat my XPDI on top, it was another light bulb moment that every proud PWC owner needs a trailer like this, and I need to make this happen. I also understood that whilst I had nailed a 1 off in my Dad’s garage, I wanted to be part of a trailer movement that put the emphasis on custom trailers vs accepting the boring standard galvanized trailers.
So in the following months after powder coating my first trailer, I started looking closely at what the big major trailer manufactures here in the UK and what they were offering. For context unlike the US, powder coating and sprayed trailers weren't really an established thing.
Here in the UK, Extreme Trailers and SBS Trailers are the main big trailer manufactures for galvanized trailers, supplying all the big PWC and boat dealers across the UK. Yes I know Vanclaes Trailers are growing in popularity but they are purely stainless steel trailers...and that’s a story for another day.
Back 4 years ago, at that time, in terms of powder coating, both SBS and Extreme didn’t have an official powder coated trailer in their line up. SBS were offering powder coated trailers which were request-able optional extras, but not actively marketing, shop-able trailers on their ecommerce site. And as for Extreme, they hadn’t officially launched any powder coated trailers.
At that time it didn’t make sense to me that Extreme didn’t offer a custom trailer, as Extreme unlike SBS had/have all their own injection moulding tools in-house, for context all ancillary parts like Snubber blocks, Kneel rollers, and Light board knobs, are all made by injection moulding. Why Extreme weren’t offering a full offering of different colours. Extreme brand colours are blue just like SBS have their own brand colour of orange.. thus there trailers are colour coded in their brand colours.
I still remember my first ever email to Extreme, it contained a picture of my custom 350 bunk Extreme Trailer (see below), and it was captioned subject line ‘Look what I have done to your trailer’
Extreme were the only trailer manufacture in the UK offering injection moulding parts in house, SBS were not, and SBS to this day, still don’t. So it was logical to reach out to the brand that had the capability to execute my vision of mainsteam custom. Whilst SBS now offer coloured rollers 4 years on, these are bought in 3rd party rollers from ‘E-trailers’, why is this problematic? Well it restricts you as the customer requesting any colours you want.
...why Extreme didn’t have a powder coat trailer in their line-up, seeing as they had all the proprietary ancillary part moulds and could do any colour, which SBS didn’t, seemed like a unique opportunity to start a line of dialogue with Extreme and find out more.
Literally the same day I sent my outreach email, Ross Knight the Sales Director of Extreme, called me and his opening words were something to the effect of... ‘How did you guess, you have read our minds’... In tandem to the call he had emailed me back the below pictures. The pictures immediately excited me, as it showcased a prototype R&D fully custom powder coated trailer, with the all important colour coded ancillary parts, and the icing on the cake was 6 colour coded winch strap options.
It was quite literally like Ross said, as if I had read Extremes development teams mind... I built a near identical custom trailer in my Dads Garage, which materialised Extreme had been building at Extreme HQ! The bit that still blows my mind, is all the small tricky areas that I had came up against, Extreme had been working on behind the scenes.
So when people say to me, 'did you give Extreme the idea of powder coated custom trailers', I honestly wish I did but I think the truth is, I reached out at the right time and me affirming that someone else was doing this in their own garage, and likely something many more PWC owners would want, was enough for them to push forward.
At this time Extreme were in the final stages on nailing all the design details, things like the U-bolt protectors to stop the powder coating cracking under bolt tighening, the axle coating and so on...all details that I had first hand experienced as tricky problem areas.
Small segway when I say axle coating, by default trailer axles come with ‘press suspension’ rubber axles’ meaning it’s not possible to put the axle in the powder coating oven, as it would melt the rubber suspension that’s pressed inside the axle shaft. Me being me, I hated the idea of having a beautifully powder coated trailer and then having the axle left standard galvanized, it breaks up the aesthetic. I had therefore overcame this by getting my axle in isolation automotive 2K sprayed, but this in the long run and on a commercial level, isn’t a great solution, as unlike powder coating, there isn’t a way to gas out the axle, as such you are relying on basic automotive 2K spray primers, as such my axle was always the problem area that would peel.
So when I asked Ross...how have you combated this axle issue, his response was ‘we are making our own axle specific coating’... Again I don’t have the specifics as like with the powder coaters I mentioned above... Extreme guard this coating information, as it’s a unique detail. SBS currently still don’t coat their axles and you can see why, Extreme spent 12 months alone just developing what I would describe as a ‘flat bed under car’ like coating, that would bond and hold strongly to the axle. As a result the whole trailer has a consistent black colour way.
In addition the final piece of the puzzle for me that affirmed Extreme trailers would be my choice of trailer brand was, when I asked Ross about their powder coating supplier, to which he replied ‘we use a gassing out process’ I was like a proud parent when a child gets a correct answer in a math test! Extreme had been taking the R&D of these new custom trailer very seriously as ‘gassing out’ is only something you would know if you truely cared to take the time to investigate the limits and weak points of powder coating over galvanized. Whats more it demonstrated Extreme recognised the importance of providing the 2 layers of protection; Galvanisation and powder coat, Vs bypassing the galvanising like many others have done before, typycially coating over bear metal, which as outlined as next to no longivity.
So you're all thinking how do SBS fall into all of this and this is the plot twist. So around 1 month before reaching out to Extreme with no knowledge of their behind the scenes custom trailer R&D, I had purchased a brand new custom powder coated SBS trailer, for my Brand New Seadoo Spark to sit on. At that time, to my knowledge SBS were the only firm offering powder coating direct from manufacture; I had heard good things about SBS standard trailers so figured there custom trailers would be just as good. What I overlooked was that fact at that time, I was essentially an early adopter of their custom trailers.
And whilst I’m not going to go into every detail in this blog, my personal experience of SBS custom powder coated trailer on a product level, wasn’t as good as I hoped. The SBS team were very helpful in trying to find a resolution including a brand new replacement trailer after the first one had issues, but even on the 2nd trailer, the QC just wasn’t there. The main point of contention for me is around SBS powder coating adhesion and overall thickness; to me SBS don’t seem to have teamed up with a powder coater that truly understands the art of gassing out the galvanization before powder coating. How do I know this, everything that I was told would happen when powder coating a trailer incorrectly, such as, ‘powder coat lifting, and cracking’... these are all the things I had experienced with SBS... all of which are symbolic of Zinc gas lifting. Maybe I was the exception to the rule, maybe I was part of the first wave of owners that SBS provided these custom trailers to, maybe they have since changed powder coaters, but I’m a huge believer in ‘brand stamps’ and ‘first impressions count’...maybe I’m fussy, in fact I know I’m fussy, and maybe a lot of owners won’t care about some of this, but when you’re talking custom trailers, to me at least your paying a premium for a premium product.
A custom trailer is only as powerful as the complete consideration of all the supporting colour coded parts... SBS didn’t and still don’t offer colour choice ancillary parts including their winch strap. The final detail for me with SBS is, by default, they only powder coat the main frame of the trailers and leave details like the fender brackets standard galvanization. Sure I know you can pay them extra and they will coat everything, but that to me it's like saying ‘do you want all your car spray painted sir or just the doors’.
So when I saw Extremes prototype trailer, with every detail considered, it made sense to buy one of the first Extreme custom trailers aswell... of which you can see here when I visited Extreme HQ and ordered it, and also then watch here for the collection day of my brand new custom Extreme trailers, I’m proud to say I was one of the first owners of the Extreme custom trailers and to this day, I still have that very trailer under my Seadoo Spark Trixx and none of the powder coat has lifted or chipped.
For any eagled eyed viewers you will see on the original collection day my trailer axle was standard galvanization, this is because at the time Extreme were still nailing an axle coating... in the following months Extreme dropped yet another defining innovation and that is their unique hard wearing axle coating as mentioned above. I have a lot of respect for them not rushing coating the axle just because I was egger to collect the trailer, they got the formula right and then when it was, they even changed my axle to a newly coated axle.
One of the key things that have always pulled me toward Extreme vs SBS is everything Extreme have launched is tried and tested and nothing is put onto their trailers until it’s a nailed formula. Which sorry SBS, but hydro dipping...really! When I first googled hydro dipping 4 years ago, I was able to work out within 10 minutes of basic research why hydro dipping is a flawed concept for trailer useage...so why SBS launched it at the 2022 NEC Boatlife as a plausible next gen custom trailer baffled me. It was more of marketing gimic to gain market traction, which to me, felt none sensical when there base powder coating finish has issues to be resolved, let alone pushing another finish.
3 Extreme trailers later and touch wood I have had 0 issues with powder coating lifting and cracking vs 1 month in cracking and lifting with the SBS. For me the proof is in the product and from my own SBS product ownership experience, I didn’t see a comparable quality finish in SBS like I saw/see in Extreme. As brutal as it may sound, I think the way Extreme designed and introduced custom trailers was as a truly stand alone range, where SBS seem to treat powder coating as just an upgrade without the real R&D behind it, to ensure when customers pay above and beyond their standard range, they truely are getting a higher level of quality.
There are a host of other none custom related details such as CNC parts promoting a cleaner looking finish to name just one, but again these are details unless you have seen and compared both brands and product offering side by side, may go unnoticed. I think it’s like when you have 2 similar products offering the same thing but one up close just is inherently more refined.
In conclusion when I get asked why I’m so pro Extreme, it’s 100% down to the product., Yes I know have a great relationship with Ross and the Extreme team, but the product is what pulled me in, in the first place. In fairness I had great dealings with SBS, both Lucy and Andy were nice to me and this is nothing to do with them personally. In my opinion SBS have been unchallenged for many years and Extreme comparatively are the new kids on the block. Extreme were founded in 2005, whereas SBS were founded in 1959, so SBS undoubtedly have a rich British trailer heritage. However Extreme is innovating more fiercely and with more attention to detail, Extreme seems to focus on the merit of their products first to sell trailers, whereas SBS seem to lean on their history as a USP to sell their trailers, but in reality a great product shouldn’t be predicated on heritage alone.
Both are great brands, but in the end it has to be Extreme for me. Who knows what the future holds and maybe SBS will prove me wrong in years to come, I do after all stop by their trade stands and try to keep one eye on their latest offerings and I do above all else love that the custom trailer offerings have grown. Competition is healthy and normally promotes growth in a sector... so I’m excited to see what each brand do next, and I will be there to see it!
‘Keeping these classics alive’!