12 gals of water is about 144 cubic ft of fluffy snow and close to 13.5 cubic ft of ice.
I did lots of testing and weighting a decade ago. Painted tunnels were first eliminated by Doo to lose weight (their still trying).
I noticed more ice and snow build up on my first bare tunnel and took the time LOL to bag and weigh snow and ice build up (tunnel, old style running boards, suspension, hood) after a heavy interior day. Highest weight I got was 44 lbs with the running boards more than the suspension back then (remember carrying special pokers to bust it off lol).
It was enough to try EVERYTHING to keep the snow off. So out came the hole saws lol.
One thing I learned was different temps of snow and environment made different coatings and material work sometimes and not others. Seemed like you can't beat mother nature all the time but sometimes you can.
Best I found for bare aluminum was a good carnuba polish on the outside and refresh every couple of rides (around the rub areas) until the weather warms up. Worked every bit as good a powder coat that was not polished.
Underneath best was a tight fit between track and tunnel (which Poo does the best) so the snow that sticks is less in volume. I don't care what you put under there i will get scratched from snow crystals and ice and what the heat exchangers don't melt will still be in there.
My '12 HCR had the short front tunnel cooler and it was the Cat's a** lol in the fluffy early fresh. Much more like a fan cooled tunnel for staying clean. But,,, later in the season when the really sticky snow came, there was so much build up (3 to 4'''s) all the way front the rear bumper to within a few inches of the front cooler.
I'm sure if I had not reinforced my tunnel (twisted it trying to heave it out of a hole) I would have bent the thing from that weight. It would stick like glue cause the wet snow from the front exchanger turned to a block of glued on ice for the whole back underside of the tunnel then the top would start to build up keeping the aluminum REAL cold.
I like the Pro layout on the 13. I though it was the best sled I have had stock for little snow build up. Heat exchangers do a fine hob of breaking up the sheets of ice underneath and running board style is great.
I still do the carnuba buff on the hood, panels and outside tunnel and reapply if I remember. I still have the original can of Mothers yellow stuff I bought in '96 lol.
