You're in the same boat I was from the sounds of it, wound up having mine sprayed professionally with auto paint, just blasted, gussetted, sealed & primered, then a couple coats of paint & a couple coats of clear...has held up 100times better than I figured it would. I blast a lot of pastures & the clear hasn't even started to chip yet. Had I had the money, I would have went ahead & got it coated....but being born a poor black child I was not able to dish out the money.