Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

wonder if you could lay the fiberglass cloth down then put the stryofoam spray on top. maybe that could give the smooth finish and durable?

also wonder if you put the spray on top of canvas and continued with a build up of layers filling in all the holes of the fabric til a smooth layer is had?

Eagle , common Primer does that , probably cheaper too ... I think a lot of this stuff is for "crafters" .. Too expensive in small bottles , not really made for our kind of building , despite their outrageous claims , which a lot of times just isn't True ...

Sorry if this has been asked before, but what about 3M's spray trim adhesive? Has anyone used it?

I used to put on vinyl tops years ago and its pretty easy to work with.




Randy

RR, That may work , as long as it doesn't melt the Foam!!! Maybe a bit pricy ... but if it works for you ...

Really cost isn't that bad, you put it in a spray paint gun to apply it. I little goes a long way.

You could even cover a teardrop with vinyl top material, lots of colors and textures!

I'm not building a foamie, just interested in trying to help out.




Randy

RR, your ideas are much appreciated ... Sounds good eh ? Something else to try ...

Just put this idea together for using Gorilla Glue ... The RC guys have been doing it for years , don’t know why I never associated it with Foamies before...

Basically they Control the expansion of the GG with the amount of water they add ... For gap filling joins , they spray a lot of water on the joint and it foams like crazy ... for a close fitting join , they might not spray on any water at all , just relying on the relative humidity of the air (which may not work in the desert) and which causes very little foaming/expansion, but takes longer to dry/cure ... so if the panels fit tight , you don’t have to remove all that excess foamed glue that squeezed out ... and there’ll be very little “ deformation “ of the shape due to expanding glue ... Just FYI..

You're probably right about the lack of humidity in the desert being a problem. Single digit humidity readings aren't uncommon here in Nevada, but still thinking that should work pretty nicely for most every where else. Trying to think of a way to get just enough water on a tight joint to keep the foaming of GG to a minimum.

Could you run a humidifier in the shop to raise the moisture level just enough? Is that too little humidity? Short of scientific instruments how do you know when enough is enough? Just thinking out loud...kinda

Maybe just a quick spritz , in the desert ???

I'm trying to figure out what to cover the foam with, how to "glue" it and how to finish it. So I made up some samples



From left to right:

Fiberglass Cloth with Epoxy, Canvas with Epoxy, Canvas with TB2 (Titebond II), Fiberglass Cloth with TB2, Fiberglass Cloth with paint(Exterior Acrylic Latex Semi Gloss Enamel), canvas with paint, Fiberglass cloth with Kilz 2 and canvas with Kilz 2.

Both the fiberglass cloth and the canvas are heavier than I would actually use. fiberglass is 9 oz cloth, I'd use 2 oz cloth, canvas is 10 oz cloth, I'd use 6 oz cloth. This caused some "wet out" problems. I couldn't get the epoxy or glue to penetrate the canvas well enough so I coated the underside of the cloths before completing the wet out process. Ironically the canvas (which was sold as "drop cloth") was penetrated by the paint and kilz pretty easily. I couldn't get the TB2 to penetrate the fiberglass cloth too easily either so I undercoated that also. The fabric weight also caused some difficulties at the corners. It didn't go around the corner too smoothly and wouldn't stick too nicely. That will probably not be a problem with lighter weight fabrics and I'm going to round off the corners and edges anyway.

I'm looking for a couple of different things from these samples. Which provides the best adhesion for the buck and which of these samples will be easiest to make smooth and create a "gloss" finish.

I'm going to let these all cure for 3 days or so since I won't have much time before the weekend to do anything with them anyway. I'll post my findings at that time, but right now I think fiberglass under paint is looking good

Mel , great that you’re doing your own samples /testing !!! Only way to find out what works best for you ...
Now saying that , it was never our intention to wet out the fabric , but merely adhere it to the foam ... Then the paint/primer would “wetâ€

yup what gpw said. hehehe

i used full tb2 generioulsy! i wasn't skimping on this part. then laid the canvas, pull tug. tape in place and let dry. did not even give wetting it a thought. after dried, i then used a roller with diluted tb2 and coated very well, that wetted it. i went over it a couple of times, to make sure i got every weave there was. you will see where you missed spots after it dries, then you can go back over it.

i loved this method because it was so simple and it works.

Yeah, GPW, you're probably right about the amount of work. I guess it's a matter of if my desire for a smooth finish outweighs my patience to do the work. I had at one point hoped to get this done so I could do some fall camping in it, but with the late start I got, that won't happen so I now have a project I can work on all winter. I should have plenty of time to do weave filling and block sanding. We'll see if I have the patience to do it.

At some point I guess you also have to consider the cost of time and materials vs. just fiberglassing and epoxy to begin with. Right now the cost of epoxy is prohibitive but ...

Considering all the factors , is why I went the Simple route ... never thought about emulating the Beauty TDs we’ve seen here, just an economical place to camp ... easy for anyone to make , and Thrifty for most ...
Fiberglass requires a whole Lot more work and skill to make “prettyâ€

Oops !!! Just had an idea ... How about covering the covering ... Put canvas on first , then put a finer material over it (bedsheet) That eliminates a lot of the texture , easier to prime . fill and sand slick ...