[cwcarpenter98]

I ended up doing my own test comparison by accident because I didn't use the right product for the finish I chose 4 years ago. Back in the summer of 2017, I put new wood in that my dad and I cut to fit. I used a pecan colored stain and sealer combo which looked great. (First picture)

My truck sits outside in all weather, so the sun and weather damage took its toll. After only 3 years, I needed to re finish the wood again.

For the second time around, I sanded the wood smooth and replaced the one corner board that held water under the mounting flange of the bed, thus rotting out. Since I still had some stain leftover from the first go, I used that again. The color turned out great in my opinion, but, just that stain wasn't going to give me the long lasting finish I desired.

After 2 coats top, bottom, and sides of the stain, I procured some Spar Urethane to finish off the look. I was on a slight time crunch because it was the week before I was going back to school last summer (2020). I applied 2 coats of spar on the bottom of the boards, and I think I did 4 coats on the top and sides. It turned out much better than I was expecting and is probably the nicest part of my truck. (2nd and 3rd pictures. Can see the replacement board in these)

The last two pictures show how it looks after a year of sitting out in the Georgia weather.

Since I do use my truck to haul stuff, I have scratched the spar in a couple places. I am seriously considering getting a rubber bed mat that I can easily put in to haul stuff and take out when cruising. Or, now that it's functional, I'll just use my trailer on some of the bigger and heavier stuff I want to carry