Buyer’s Guide · Tray Materials
Aluminium vs Steel Ute Trays
Weight, rust and what each one costs you ten years in. No hedging, including the cases where steel is still the right call.
The short answer
If your ute lives anywhere near salt water, or payload is tight, build in marine-grade aluminium. You save roughly 100 kg, there is no rust clock running, and you never repaint it. Steel earns its place on inland rigs carrying steel-tracked plant and formwork, where impact matters more than mass and the budget is fixed.
Read this knowing we build in aluminium. We have fabricated both out of Coffs Harbour since 1989, nine out of ten trays leaving the workshop now are aluminium, and the coast is the reason why. The cases below are the ones where we tell people to buy steel instead.
The Three Things That Actually Decide It
Weight is payload
Every kilo of tray is a kilo of tools, water or gear you cannot legally carry. Most stock dual-cabs run out of GVM long before they run out of deck space, and a steel tray spends 100 kg of your budget before you load a thing.
Salt air decides it
Boat ramps, beach tracks and coastal humidity are a rust clock on steel. Aluminium has no iron to give up. On the mid-north coast this single factor settles most builds before we talk price.
Modifications age differently
Adding a toolbox mount, ladder rack or water tank later means new holes. On aluminium that is just a hole. On steel it is a new corrosion site that needs sealing, priming and painting to stay honest.
Side by Side
| Criterion | Aluminium | Steel |
|---|---|---|
| Weight (1800 x 1800 tray) | Roughly 120-160 kg bare. Payload you get to keep. | Roughly 220-300 kg bare. That is 100 kg of gear you cannot carry. |
| Corrosion on the coast | Marine grade 5052 handles salt air and boat ramps without a coating to maintain. | Rust starts at chips, welds and drilled holes. Coffs Harbour salt air finds them fast. |
| Impact and abuse | Dents under a sharp hit but does not rust from the damage. | Takes a hammering from steel-tracked gear and rock better than alloy. |
| Upfront cost | Higher material cost per kilo. Custom trays start at $12,999. | Cheapest way to get a flat deck on the back of a ute. |
| Cost over 10 years | No repaint cycle, no rust cut-outs, holds resale value. | Budget for sanding, repainting and eventually welding in new sections. |
| Repairs and modifications | Weld, drill and add mounts without opening a corrosion path. | Every new hole or weld needs sealing and coating again. |
| Fuel and tyre wear | Less mass to accelerate and stop. Noticeable on long runs. | Heavier all the time, loaded or empty. |
| Heat and towing | Fine for standard towing. Gets hot in the sun, so line drawer bases. | Handles concentrated point loads from heavy plant and gooseneck setups. |
Weights are typical bare-tray figures for a 1800 x 1800 dual-cab deck and vary with headboard, gussets and internal framing. Get the real number from your fabricator before ordering a GVM upgrade.
Why Coastal Utes Kill Steel Trays
Steel rusts wherever its coating breaks. On a work ute that happens in the first month: a dropped angle grinder, a self-tapper for a new light, a strap buckle dragged across the deck. Each one is a bare patch, and salt-laden air does the rest.
The pattern we see in the workshop is always the same. Around year three the paint bubbles along the welds and the underside of the headboard. By year five someone is grinding, priming and rolling paint over it on a Saturday. By year eight there is a hole where a mount used to be, and the repair costs more than the difference in build price would have.
Aluminium has no iron, so there is no rust. It forms a thin oxide skin that seals itself and then stops. The real risk is galvanic corrosion where aluminium touches the wrong metal, and that is a build-quality question rather than a material one. Every tray we make uses 316 stainless hardware with isolation at dissimilar-metal joints, which is why the workmanship warranty on those builds runs for the life of the tray.
One honest caveat: marine grade matters. Cheap imported alloy trays use commercial-grade sheet, and those do pit and crack at the welds within a few coastal seasons. Aluminium is not automatically better. Marine-grade 5052 with proper welding is.
When We Recommend Steel
- Steel-tracked plant, daily. Excavator buckets, posi-track loaders and scaffold dropped from height dent aluminium. If that is the day job, steel takes it cheaper.
- Inland, dry, no salt exposure. Take the coast out of the equation and the corrosion argument loses most of its force.
- Plenty of GVM headroom. On a truck-based platform, 150 extra kilos is noise rather than a payload problem.
- A hard budget ceiling with a short horizon. If the ute is being turned over in three years, the ten-year cost argument never lands.
- Paddock repairs by whoever is around. Any welder can patch steel with what is in the shed. Aluminium needs a proper alloy welder, and that is a real constraint if the ute works two hours from town.
If any of those describe your work, say so when you call. We would rather build the right thing than the dearer thing.
Aluminium vs Steel Tray Questions
Is an aluminium ute tray stronger than a steel tray?
Not per millimetre of thickness, but that is the wrong comparison. Aluminium trays are built from thicker sections and a heavier internal frame to reach the same load rating as steel at roughly half the weight. A well-engineered marine-grade aluminium tray carries the same working load as a steel tray of equivalent rating. Steel still wins on raw impact resistance, which is why some heavy plant and mining fleets stay with it.
How much lighter is an aluminium tray than steel?
Expect 80 to 140 kg saved on a standard dual-cab tray, depending on size and how much internal framing the build needs. On a 1800 x 1800 tray, aluminium typically lands between 120 and 160 kg bare, where steel sits between 220 and 300 kg. That saved weight goes straight back into your legal payload.
Do aluminium ute trays rust?
Aluminium does not rust because it contains no iron. It oxidises, forming a thin grey surface layer that actually protects the metal underneath. What can go wrong is galvanic corrosion where aluminium meets the wrong fasteners, which is why every Camesco build uses 316 stainless hardware wherever possible and isolation where dissimilar metals meet. Steel trays rust from the first stone chip.
Is a steel tray ever the better choice?
Yes. If the tray spends its life loaded with steel-tracked machinery, concrete formwork or scaffold, and it lives inland away from salt, steel takes the punishment cheaper. Weight is also less of a problem on a truck-based platform with plenty of GVM headroom. For coastal trades, touring rigs and anything where payload matters, aluminium wins.
Does an aluminium tray cost more than steel?
Upfront, yes. Aluminium is dearer per kilo and takes more skill to weld properly. Over ten years the sums flip: no repaint cycles, no rust repairs, no cut-and-replace sections, and a much stronger resale position. Our custom trays start at $12,999 and carry a lifetime warranty on all workmanship completed by us.
What aluminium grade should a ute tray be built from?
Marine grades 5052 and 5052. Commercial-grade alloy is cheaper and shows up in imported trays, and it pits and cracks at the welds inside a couple of coastal seasons. Ask any fabricator to name the grade and the hardware spec. If they cannot, that answer tells you what you need to know.
Still Weighing It Up?
Tell us what you carry and where you drive, and we will tell you which material suits the job. Marine-grade aluminium, 316 stainless hardware wherever possible, lifetime warranty on all workmanship completed by us, built in Coffs Harbour.