6x10 for a family of 4

[Bezoar]

I'm new to epoxy too. How many layers/coats did you do to get that awesome shine? How was working on the vertical surfaces? Any tips? Looks great!

[Terra6]

Luv that gloss shine. Looking good and progressing which I'm sure that you're finding satisfying.
Lots more workthan one realizes on everything.
Which is why I'm trying to tank mine to make others aware.

[bartek]

Thanks!

I'm new to epoxy too. How many layers/coats did you do to get that awesome shine? How was working on the vertical surfaces? Any tips?

To be honest, I'm sure there are better ways to do it, as I seem to have taken way more time than others (took few weeks to get it all done) and used way more epoxy (including the floor and the galley, 5 gallons) but here is what I did:

I followed Raka's epoxy manual - I did one thin layer (spread with a roller, than squeegee) before fiberglass to saturate the wood. Then put a 4oz fiberglass, one initial layer of epoxy, and then it took 2 more to fill in the weave.
I worked in sections (mostly due to time constraint) - one wall, the other wall, roof, hatch. I tried to keep <24h between first 3 layers since I didn't want to sand the first layer (the one before the fiberglass - I was worried I'll sand into stain) and the second (weave was visible, and I'm sure I would have ruined it).
After that I sanded layer 3 and 4 really well, since they come out rough - a bunch of drips, dips etc.
On one of the walls I tried to put one more layer to see if I can get this really perfect, but I found no additional benefit, so I kept to 4 thin layers for everything else.

It's still pretty cold here and I had to keep 3 heaters running in the garage to get it to 60F. Kind of run up my electric bill, but man, it felt good to have a warm garage for a change

Fiberglass

I went with 4oz cloth based on online advice - I didn't need strength and was mostly worried about wood checking. I think it's much easier - even when you get some voids during the application, the 4oz fabric stretches to accommodate any uneven application and you can press it in with a squeegee to fix the voids very easy.
From what I hear heavier weave may not be as forgiving.
I went with 50in width - I couldn't find the fiberglass wide enough to avoid seems, so I figured the best strategy was to align with the existing seams in 48" plywood (which anyway will be covered by the trim) - 50inch was just big enough to allow for a nice overlap on the seams.

Application

Each layer was applied with a roller to keep it thin, and I run over it with squeegee right after to remove the air bubbles (and there was a ton). Especially on a vertical I tried to keep the layers very thin - it felt like I'm throwing away a lot of epoxy though - everything that stayed on squeegee was turning into this cloudy white substance, so I had to discard any epoxy which stayed on the squeegee after each pass. It easily felt like I'm throwing away over 20% of what I just applied.
It helped to mix small batches - I started with 6 oz per batch, then moved to 9oz. Anything larger than that and the epoxy turned cloudy before I could finish applying. I also found I had to discard the roller every 1-2 batches which felt pretty wasteful (I found some cheap rollers on the web, but still). I still don't quite understand if there is a way to avoid this - the epoxy on the roller would start setting and it would cause the subsequent batch to cloud up when I tried to reuse it for longer.
Despite thin layers, this stuff runs like crazy - I'd keep checking back on it every 30 minutes, and frequently things were fine for a few hours, then I'd come back the next day and find a bunch of large drips which developed overnight. Good news is it can all be sanded pretty well before varnish.

Sanding

I wet-sanded everything - I started using a block, but it was really slow. Against all the good advice I moved to an electric orbital sander at lowest rpm and used a rag to keep the sandpaper wet, hoping that GFCI will kick in in case I get too much water on it... It ended up being just fine, no electric shocks to report and I didn't trip GFCI either. Even with orbital sander and grit 80, doing all the layers took a while and it's a messy process.
Wear a respirator - even with wet sanding this stuff gets everywhere.

Varnish

After sanding the last layer as well as I could, I applied 3 layers of spar urethane, sanding lightly in between with 240 grit. It took at least 24h before each layer was dried enough to sand, and even that felt like a stretch.

[tony.latham]

It looks great!

this caused possible problems with water pooling, but I was able to fix this (we'll see how well) by adding an angle to the bottom part to allow the water to drain.

It should work fine. I did my first one that way. What saved its bacon was the fact that the galley floor was sealed with epoxy.





Tony

[bartek]

Some final touches before getting the trailer road-ready

Vent installation required an "adapter" to flatten the roof (made of 3/4 plywood, epoxied and then painted black). Originally, I wanted the vent on the top, flat portion of the roof, but it didn't quite fit in the garage (with all the planning I forgot to account for vent thickness in the plans:) ).
Back where I have it now, the curve is quite pronounced.




Doors and windows - I had those ordered and delivered months ago, so this was a quick job. The doors take quite a bit of effort to close though - I had to remove the small metal striker plate to make the opening for the latch a bit bigger and it still takes quite a push to close correctly.
I have this problem on both sides - the walls seem flat (based on straight edge) and the door close evenly on all sides, so I'm not quite sure what the problem is and how to solve it.

[Bezoar]

Could it be that the trailer is so airtight that closing the door is like sealing up Tupperware? did you try it with a window open and see if it made a difference?

You build is looking great!

[Graniterich]

What brand of doors? I had that problem with some challenger doors. I now cut out an extra 1/4 inch which solves the problem.

[tony.latham]

Your finish sure looks superb.

Randall White has the same problem with his doors. You could probably reach out to him about a fix.



Tony

[bartek]

What brand of doors? I had that problem with some challenger doors. I now cut out an extra 1/4 inch which solves the problem.

Yeah, challenger doors. At this point I think I'm going to do the same thing - did you end up installing strike plate again after cutting the opening?

Randall White has the same problem with his doors

Thanks, I pinged him, looks like he hasn't fixed it yet, but his plan is to increase the opening size. I doubt that's what's causing my problem though - I left plenty extra around the sides . Either way at this point I wouldn't want to remove all the butyl tape to try

[western traveler]

That finish looks great! So I have a couple of questions. You used a random orbital to clean up the drips between coats.
Can you see any sanding marks through the layers?
Also how well were you able to hide the seam overlaps of cloth?
My planned build is a woody as well and those are two items I am not sure how to handle...
If the finish comes out looking anywhere as nice as that I will be thrilled!
It’s been fun following your build...

[bartek]

That finish looks great! So I have a couple of questions. You used a random orbital to clean up the drips between coats.
Can you see any sanding marks through the layers?

Thanks!
Yeah, I used orbital on the epoxy and didn't bother with fine grits (most of the time it was either 80 or 100) - I think the next epoxy layer fills the scratches and makes them completely invisible, I certainly don't see any.
I made sure to clean with acetone followed by a tack cloth in between layers to make sure the dust doesn't stick around in scratches - still, close to impossible to remove all the white dust from the epoxy sanding, but this didn't seem to be a problem either.
I always tested the steps on a scrap piece of finish on the side (I had a piece of plywood which I tried to finish exactly like the trailer, but I exaggerated every mistake - e.g. I scratched it big time in the wrong direction with grit 80 sandpaper, didn't clean the dust at all except dry cloth, didn't sand at all between some layers to test adhesion etc.)

Now, on the varnish, I always made sure to run a sanding block with the direction of the grain (240 or 300 grit), since it took very little effort and I figured it's better to be safe than sorry.
I'm sure more experienced folks here can comment if the approach made sense, but I like the result.

Also how well were you able to hide the seam overlaps of cloth?

That didn't work well - you can certainly see them. Even worse, that's where most of the hard to sand drips have developed, because the seam is somewhat uneven, so the epoxy drips more there.
I know folks blend them in by sanding, but I actually wasn't worried about hiding the seam, since I'm planning to cover it with black trim anyway.
I was worried about sanding through the cloth and reducing the strength, since my cloth seam is in the same place where I had to join plywood.

On the trim, I'm thinking something like this - which will anyway add contrast between colors. I just can't quite decide if I should just go with straight simple trim or make something more elaborate



More elaborate option:

[western traveler]

Thanks for the strait forward answers! So helpful...
Great advise on the test pieces. I will be sure to incorporate that.
I am planning on covering edges where the cloth meets with laminated strips of a wood not yet determined (or steam bent or sawn radius).

I thought you might have had enough success to bypass that. I will be interested in how you trim yours out but I like the simple design you have but they both look good.

Not surprised with the drips at the laps. All the glass work I did in the distant past was sanded, fared and primed prior to painting with Sterling Linear Polyurethane (A two part paint that stretches to a glass like finish).
Because of that I never really concerned myself with those issues but a woody is a different animal.
(I am keeping the painting option in my back pocket just in case).

I have seen so much talent exhibited on the pages, yours included, that I have hope.

[bartek]

All the lights are installed, connected and I got the license plate. There is still no galley and the inside needs a bunch of fit and finish work, but I think we're ready to go camping!

My daughter testing the waterproofing:



I also started adding a bed for kids in the back - they kind of fit between the wheel wells, but barely so, and we could use more storage underneath. Still need to stain and finish the front to match the rest of the cabinets.




I didn't quite want to waste the wheel wells space, so I made a slide out cover - it's kind of awkward, since you need to bend it to slide out, but I don't even know what I'm planning to store there - it definitely wasn't finished nicely inside since I wasn't planning to use it in any way, so likely rarely used things like spare tire wrench, maybe some other handy tools etc.

[Bezoar]

Looks great to see it outside the garage! You have made a lot of progress!

[bartek]

We managed to go camping for the first time, I'm so glad to be finally using this thing



Now it's time for slow and steady stream of what I'm sure will end up being endless improvements.
We started thinking about galley design (for the time being there is nothing there and you need to prop the hatch open with a stick ) and while that's going, I installed some missing electrical switches in the cabin.
I initially had them installed in the small plastic box, but didn't like the look, so I fashioned two "side panels" which look much better IMO. From the top, the switches control back reading light, front reading light (to be installed above the door) and porch light.
We sleep sideways and I figured we may be changing direction so I have reading lights installed on both sides (plus I really like when things are symmetrical )

The electric box setup to be replaced:



The new panel (and yes, I still need to remove the masking tape :