Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Quick question - has anyone ever used Dacron fabrics instead of painters canvas for laminating xps in their Foamie camper build?

I was discussing building a pmf covered foamie camper with a friend who builds rc airplanes, and he said Dacron fabric is very strong and has been used for the skins of aircraft for decades. He said model rc airplane builders often substitute Dacron dress lining or suit lining material from fabric outlets as a less costly alternative to airplane grade Dacron with very good results. He strongly advised me to pursue this option instead of canvas.

Has anyone ever tried this? Any idea what kind of adhesive could be used to adhere it to xps?

Dacron is great over an open frame with right adhesives and paints to protect it from UV. Almost nothing sticks to it (look up "peel ply") so it's unsuitable for PMF.

The fact that canvas soaks up lots of paint/glue is part of why you want to use it.

I built this several years ago and flew the pants off her.



She's covered with dacron. The glue you use to adhere the fabric to the wing ribs would quickly send any of the foamboards to never-never land. And TB2 won't stick to it.



Tony

tony.latham wrote:I built this several years ago and flew the pants off her.



She's covered with dacron. The glue you use to adhere the fabric to the wing ribs would quickly send any of the foamboards to never-never land. And TB2 won't stick to it.



Tony

This gets my gears spinning - how about dacron stretched over ribs, painted, and insulated after? You could come up with some interesting shapes.

This gets my gears spinning - how about dacron stretched over ribs, painted, and insulated after? You could come up with some interesting shapes.

You could. The dacron isn't stretched. It's shrunk using an iron.

T

My next trailer will be that. More like a skin on frame boat than an airplane but covered with heavy dacron.

Pmullen503 wrote:Dacron is great over an open frame with right adhesives and paints to protect it from UV. Almost nothing sticks to it (look up "peel ply") so it's unsuitable for PMF.

The fact that canvas soaks up lots of paint/glue is part of why you want to use it.

And why you don't want to use Dacron on a Foamie .... Great for planes (old planes) , not so good for Foamies ...


This has all been tested by others over the years ...