Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I'm just going crazy looking at it every day and not being able to do anything with it. I'm about 1 month post shoulder surgery and the doc just let me take my arm out of the sling. I have very little range of motion and there's no strength in the arm but I think I may try doing a couple little things with it. I may round the corners and edges and see if I can do that without too much pain. I've got quite a bit of work to do to make it "camp"able by spring. I hope I can knock out some of the more tedious but lightweight items on the to do list. I'm just so anxious to complete it and prove its' roadworthiness and campability. (I think I just made up those two words)

Might be good to heal first , then do trailer work when you’re better ...
Those were good words eh ?

yeah, don't push it , or you'll be going thru surgury a second time real soon...

as for making up words, I'm in a off-road vehicle club, and we talking about our vehicle's roadworthiness and drivability often enough

HEAL FIRST!!!!!!!!!! yes i am yelling at you, take this from the grandma. do not even do the things you "think" you can do. wait, that trailer will still be there. you do not want to add problems to one you may have solved.

Mel,

Are there things you can do with the good hand/side/shoulder? I too will caution pushing yourself overly. When you get to PT ask your tech what kinds of range of motion activities are safe to do at home. Think wax on / wax off here. They may give you alternate exercises that will allow you to do limited work until you are fully healed.

Hang in there, the light is at the end of the tunnel.

linuxmanxxx wrote:

hwff wrote:If you're going to use Styroplast, just remember that nothing sticks to Styroplast after it dries unless you paint or primer it within a few hours after it sets up.

Quick question on the styroplast. Since you would only have a short window for paint or primer to adhere and even shorter in hot summer time, how about just tinting the styroplast? Can you guys come up with tinting additive or point us in the direction of compatible ones? Be a lot easier to put it on the color you want and be done with it.

Currently there are no available additives for tinting Styroplast. We can have a batch made with tint but it requires a 30 gallon minimum. If you can all agree on one color we can make it happen...

hwff wrote: If you can all agree on one color we can make it happen...

This group hasn't agreed on ANYthing yet. I don't think we'd start now. Actually that's one of the best thing about this group. Anyone can post their ideas and no one gets beat down (too badly) for it. Well.... no one has been known to take it personally yet.

OK, OK, OK I get it. I will temporarily stand down from the idea of trying to do anything to the trailer with the healing shoulder. Between the fact that I am actually going to listen to your good advice and the fact that I doubt I can get the results I want with the off hand, I'll just try to be patient... I'm just going to the 2nd Physical Therapy appt today and she did give me a set of stretches to do and that seems to help some. Helps reduce the pain anyway. I tried to think of those things I can do left handed, but I am soooo right handed, I can barely brush my teeth with the left hand. I guess I just get to look at it every day and think about the way I should tackle some of the issues. I'm going to try a couple of tests and samples though. Don't try to stop me.....

hwff wrote:Currently there are no available additives for tinting Styroplast. We can have a batch made with tint but it requires a 30 gallon minimum. If you can all agree on one color we can make it happen...

Wouldn't it just simply be easier to take that tint for 30 gallons and divide it 30 times and rpkg it for sell to tint a gallon at a time and provide multiple different base colors available? You make a little more money and we get choice so everybody wins.

from a FAQ at HWFF ... Q: How can I slow down the set time for Foam Coat so it doesn't harden before I finish applying it?

A: We recommend adding latex paint instead of water. It doesn't seem to weaken the Foam Coat and can give you up to well over 40 minutes working time if you mix it straight with no water. I don't think that this has any affect on the longevity of the Foam Coat. I wouldn't suggest any of these techniques in combination with the liquid fortifiers. One of our customers said suggested adding a couple of packets of sugar to the Foam Coat: If sugar is present in concrete, it delays setting time of concrete, so sugar act as a retardant. If sugar presents 0.5% to the weight of cement, it delays setting time 2-3 hours. and if sugar presents more than 2% to the weight of cement, then concrete setting delay several days or more.

http://hotwirefoamfactory.com/customer/ ... amcoat.htm

does anyone know how foamcoat / bounce will adhere to itself after it has 'cured'? I'm wondering if the surfaces of the trailer were coated flat except for a 3" border, after it has dried, could it then be assembled and foam coat applied over the border area.

linuxmanxxx wrote:

hwff wrote:Currently there are no available additives for tinting Styroplast. We can have a batch made with tint but it requires a 30 gallon minimum. If you can all agree on one color we can make it happen...

Wouldn't it just simply be easier to take that tint for 30 gallons and divide it 30 times and rpkg it for sell to tint a gallon at a time and provide multiple different base colors available? You make a little more money and we get choice so everybody wins.

Unfortunately the tint is not available as a separate product. The tint would have to be added during the manufacturing process. Sorry for the inconvenience! You can paint on top of the Styroplast though, so you don't have to be stuck with the neutral tan color. Prime or paint the coated part the next day, or better, later the same day. If you paint after 12 hours you will need to lightly sand the surface or apply an epoxy primer for paint to stick.

allan1 wrote:does anyone know how foamcoat / bounce will adhere to itself after it has 'cured'? I'm wondering if the surfaces of the trailer were coated flat except for a 3" border, after it has dried, could it then be assembled and foam coat applied over the border area.

The Foam Coat will stick to itself whether it is just Foam Coat or with the additives present. The Foam Coat is often used as a gap/crack filler, then another coat is applied over the corrected areas, so it's a common question.

hwff wrote:

allan1 wrote:does anyone know how foamcoat / bounce will adhere to itself after it has 'cured'? I'm wondering if the surfaces of the trailer were coated flat except for a 3" border, after it has dried, could it then be assembled and foam coat applied over the border area.

The Foam Coat will stick to itself whether it is just Foam Coat or with the additives present. The Foam Coat is often used as a gap/crack filler, then another coat is applied over the corrected areas, so it's a common question.

Thanks for the quick reply. Same question but about styroplast? Also, if there were areas you did not want the styroplast to adhere to (say a 4" circle in the middle of a project) what type block would need to be there to prevent styroplast from adhering ... does that make sense?

allan1 wrote:

hwff wrote:

allan1 wrote:does anyone know how foamcoat / bounce will adhere to itself after it has 'cured'? I'm wondering if the surfaces of the trailer were coated flat except for a 3" border, after it has dried, could it then be assembled and foam coat applied over the border area.

The Foam Coat will stick to itself whether it is just Foam Coat or with the additives present. The Foam Coat is often used as a gap/crack filler, then another coat is applied over the corrected areas, so it's a common question.

Thanks for the quick reply. Same question but about styroplast?

The Styroplast will stick to itself if you apply the second coat after it has set up - within a couple of hours after the initial application. If you let it dry completely, you will probably have to use a primer before adding the second coat. Please let me know if you have any other questions!