Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I know it's been a long time since this thread has been active but I've got a related question and seems like a good place to start.

My walls are made of 3/4" hemlock "Swiss Cheese" core, with 1/4" birch ply on the inside, 1/4" birch on the outside and 3mm Dibond for the outside.

If you are not familiar with Dibond it is basically a plastic sheet with very thin aluminum on both sides.

What my question is: Does anyone have experience putting Dibond on the exterior walls of their TD? I don't think that it would have the same expansion problems of plain aluminum but I also don't know if it would be better to glue with contact cement, 3M Tape or let it float.

I'm leaning toward "Float" but would appreciate some inputs before I get there.

Thanks,

Won't very thin aluminum scratch, press dent and/or tear easy with the soft interior?

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I have a neighbor who's used it on a couple of TD's now and it's worked great.



He's always used a contact cement but this thread got me thinking about letting it float hence the questions.

Interesting, how thick is it and how stiff is it?
Stiff as equally compared to say cardboard, card stock, bath melamine panel, etc..
Or maybe 'clear plastic' 'new item' blister pack that takes a knife to cut.
Also will it hold up to 12" on center studs or studs need to be closer?
QUESTIONS, QUEStions, questions.

It comes in various thicknesses but what I got is 3mm.

Flexibility is probably comparable to plywood of the same thickness.

I would think that 12" centers would be more than close enough.

I cut it with a jig saw and routed it with a pattern bit.

Weight compare to same in Lauan?
Cost per 4x8?
Anything longer say 12 foot?
Is there an R rating with the 2 layers of aluminum?

I don't know the weight comparison. You could Google Dibond and check the spec sheet.

A 5' X 10' sheet of 3mm was $172.

I don't know about all the sizes that are available since all I needed was a couple 5' X 10's.

$172.00... YeeeeeOUCH.
Looks like I'll stay with wood. Available everywhere.

THANKS for all that info.

You're welcome but I'm still waiting for someone to chime in on a "floating skin" installation.

You have any experience with floating floors?
To keep the sheet from becoming a drum skin maybe one good dab of silicone in the sheets middle?

Only other thought which you probably know is the expansion rates.
Outer skin gets the sun, inner never does. JUST mentioning and it might spark some other thoughts.

And therefore the agony.

Thanks,

Thought about this for a while before commenting.
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If it's for lamination strength, 100% glue it.
Decoration, float it.
Only other possibility is a layer of thin foam between the sheets and 100% glue the 3 layers. Foam is the 'giving' layer.
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Dibond is one brand of aluminum composite material (ACM). ACM is used for signs, cladding buildings, exteriors of trams, trains, and other mass transit vehicles, etc. On buildings, it is bonded and bolted at the edges. I've never used it but I would probably just use adhesive around the perimeter edges and around openings and let the rest float. There have been builds that have used ACM but I'll have to do some searching to find them.


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Thanks for all the comments. I've got a call into Dibond Technical Support and will ask them the question. Hopefully I'll get a good answer that I can share.

By the way I did a search on this forum for "Aluminum Composite Material" and found a good thread. Although it doesn't definitively answer my questions.

Thanks again,

Somehow I think you're not going to find what you're looking for.
But I do hope it's soon so you can finish your trailer.