Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

A friend of mine who is not a member of this board asked for me to post this bit of information for all who may be interested.

Have a good day,
Gage

FYI,

Over the years I've received countless requests about using the interior bathroom paneling available at Home Depot & Lowes for exterior Teardrop siding. Kemlite manufactures this type of product too but it is not Filon. The product "Filon" is a special FRP that is for exterior use on RV's. The interior bathroom panelings are not protected from UV rays and should not be used. The Kemlite factory told me that these panels will yellow, become chalky and brittle outdoors. They also said that these products shouldn't even be used on the interior of a trailer because of the extreme temperature changes, causing it to violently expand and contract. Kemlite will only sell Filon with $10,000 minimum orders. Most RV manufacturers will not sell to the public. But there is one enclosed trailer manufacturer in Wisconsin who will sell Filon at $2.00 per square foot (that's cheap!) and will roll it up and ship it to you. His name is Glen Erickson, 340 Rosemont Street, Coleman, Wisconsin 54112, (920) 273-0747. It comes in 8' wide rolls, cut to length. Filon can be rolled up into a 7" radius.

...since he can roll it up tight, it can be shipped UPS, FEDEX or even USPS for around 30/35 bucks plus what ever he would want for packaging...a little more than aluminum would cost but not bad for Filon
madjack

I paid $1.75/S.F. for 4' wide filon from here
http://www.themetalcompany.com/product/fiber/fiber.html
They ship as well.
Bruce

I received a sample pack from Kemlite and had described my plan for their product. Wonder why they would send it if I couldn't order it.

dacrazyrn wrote:I received a sample pack from Kemlite and had described my plan for their product. Wonder why they would send it if I couldn't order it.

Well, email them and ask about a min. order and what would the cost be. That's simple enough. Prehaps they have changed thier policy.

Have a good day.

dacrazyrn wrote:I received a sample pack from Kemlite and had described my plan for their product. Wonder why they would send it if I couldn't order it.

The right hand probably doesn't know what the left hand is doing. I could be that someone takes phone calls and their job description says to send out samples. It's just a job and they probably aren't paid to think too long and hard.

dacrazyrn wrote:I received a sample pack from Kemlite and had described my plan for their product. Wonder why they would send it if I couldn't order it.

TrimLok corp. Makes every kind of seal and trim you might possible want in various rubber and plastic. When we called for more info they sent us a sample pak...when we called about ordering, we were informed that they deal with the RV/Auto indistry and would have to order at least 500 ft of some product...1000 ft of some others...just because they send a sample pack does not mean they are gonna sell you just enough for your personal needs...just relating my experience with a different but similar co........
madjack

Madjack, I was told that the aluminum for my little tear would cost around $800.00, so I haven't looked any further for aluminum. Is ther a place I can buy it cheaper than $800.00. By the way, I am building our tear 5 feet wide.

$800 sounds pretty steep. I went to a metal supply place and they quoted me $69 for a 5X10 sheet of .040, they also had various extrusions which would work for the trim. They were available in 16ft lengths which means no seams in the trim. They quoted me anywhere from $8 to $17 (depending on which type) for a 16ft piece of the extrusion.

The hold up for me came with the top skin. 60 inch is the widest they had, the outside dimension of my trailer is 62 1/8 inches. I contacted Lufkin trailers and they quoted me $15.50 a ft for 101 inch wide aluminum.

$69.00 X 2 $138
$15.50 X 17 $263.5
=$401.50
Of course minus the trim.

Jim, the aluminum should cost you no more than 250/300 bucks anymore than that is a rip....somewhere is CHooChoo should be an 18 wheeler trailer manufacturer/repair facility where you can get 102 wide AL in coil form...they would be a good place to check...Atlanta is down the road, so check for SAF metals or Reliance Metals or......the point is 800 bucks is way to much...I bought 5, 4X10 sheets of.032 al for 220 bucks delivered to my door from AL & SS Specialties, a division of Reliance metals back in the spring
madjack

p.s. maybe some of those East Coast guy can give ya a clue

Asianflava and Madjack, you both have made my day, thank you so much for letting me know about the cost on aluminum. That is the way we wanted to go, now we will go that route. We are very excited about building our little tear.

I checked on the Filon at a place in Atlanta and they want close to $8.00 a sq foot for it. That is way out of our budget. TLOML and I saw a little tear at the Cracker Barrel one night and talked with the folks that owned it. They had aluminum on theirs and it did look soooooo goooood. They also used windows that came out of a conversion van for their doors and they looked really good. The windows had the sliding glass in the bottom and they sealed perfectly.

Thanks again for the information fellers, we do have a trailer repair here in Choo Choo land.

Used FRP on the ceiling of our Cubby. Love working with the material. Will report to the group if we see any signs of failure.

It seems to me we have or had a member that skinned the exterior of his trailer with FRP, painted to protect from UV.

Last report I remember, he reported it was holding up well.

Larry

Jim-

Check out:

http://tinyurl.com/7nrxw

At $17.95/ 4' x 8' sheet that is 1/16" thick, UV stable this stuff calcs. to $o.56/sq ft.!

Should be a boom to builders, wish I knew about it when I built mine!

Anybody have any thoughts on this stuff or considering it for their build?

Cheers,

Coop

Jim,

I'm bulding my tear 4'8" wide, so I had to buy 5' wide aluminum for the top. The sheets I got for the sides are 4' x 10' .040 3003 aluminum for $51.75 each, and the sheets I got for the top were 5' x 12' .050 3003 aluminum for $96.75 each (they didn't have .040 in 5' widths). I really only needed 1 1/2 sheets to do the top, but had to buy 2 sheets, so I guess I have a start on my 2nd tear

I got mine from an aluminum supplier in Denver, counln't find any up here in South Dakota. I did find a truck repair shop that would sell me 103" aluminum by the foot for around $10 per foot, but I figured that there would be too much waste to go that route.

I got the trim for the edges at a local camper shop for about $14 per piece, and I think they are each 16' long. Since they are stiffer than some of the stuff the teardrop suppliers sell, I will probably have to abnneal it, but there are several posts on the board explaining hhow to do that, and it doesn't sound like too much trouble.

Junkman, I really appreciate the information on the aluminum, that makes me a happy camper.

Goldcoop, thank you for the link, that is some amazing material. If it will stand up in a carwash or horse stall, it has to be some tough stuff, and it is UV protected also.

Thanks to all of you so much for your help, ya'll are a super bunch of folks.