Good information. I was planning on applying a black epoxy to the back and ground contact areas. The areas it does touch the ground will be gravel with mulch upto the gravel. The downspouts are all pipes in the ground to a central drain on the property.
I will need to play around with the rusting effect. I may go a bit less than 11ga, but want it to hold up long term, 10-15 years.
Thanks for the video link.