fiberglass

[Ron Dickey]

I have a neighbor who's dad made a camper out of 1/4 in sideing then fiberglassed it. it lasted several drives across the country, and many other camping tours. it was destroyed last year built in the 60's.
This would keep the weight down alot.

any thoughts

[Chris C]

I don't see anything wrong with that..................if it's just the outside skin. Surely you didn't mean 1/4" siding by itself, did you?

[Ron Dickey]

I don't see anything wrong with that..................if it's just the outside skin. Surely you didn't mean 1/4" siding by itself, did you?

I think he said he built a frame and then put the wood on the outside then fiberglassed it. He is looking for pictures. This truck cap extended in height and had slide outs on each side for sleeping. I think

Ron D.

[doug hodder]

Ron, since I don't have a lot of info to go on it is hard to make a call on this. but you need to think that what a lot of people call "fiberglass" is not the same thing to a lot of others. To me, that means, epoxy resin, glass cloth at least 1 layer, and more coats or resin. To others, it may mean resin only, either epoxy or polyester. Check out what is being used. The industry has come leaps and bounds since the 60's. There are a ton of new materials out there including Kevlar......Doug Hodder

[Chris C]

Kevlar? Never thought about using Kevlar. Heck, we could build Kevlar tears and camp during hunting season and not worry about our trailers turning into sieves.

Actually, Doug, I didn't know whether he meant the cloth and resin method or fiberglass sheet. But after I read his second thread, I understood.

[doug hodder]

Hey Chris....yeah kevlar is being used on the hulls on wooden boats now. It is incredible for abrasion/impact resistance. Pretty pricy though. I don't think I'd test it with a 9mm ....Doug Hodder

[Chris C]

You're right, Doug, Kevlar isn't much use against a solid 9mm round. But it will sure stop a lot of other things!
I'd just never heard of it being used as a reinforcing material with resin. Makes sense though. I think I'll stick with plywood walls and aluminum skin..............white aluminum. (really hate being hot! )

[asianflava]

From what I was told, the weave is the key to a bullet proof vest's resistance. Never tested it though.

[Chris C]

Don't ask me to! I was born very early in the morning....................but it wasn't THIS morning!

[ALAN GEDDES]

Lots of layers and technology in a vest but they do work. Got a real nasty couple of bruises but no holes. Ex Army guy.