Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

What about using strap points on the floor and wrapping them under the trailer? just a thought

Mary C.

As far as paper board, how about single ply matting board? It comes in 30X40" sheets and can be had for around
4.00 each in quantity...

Pete, having Much experience with mat board (Art) , I think the chipboard is better and much cheaper ...

I think I am going to go the frp route, I like the fact that is it smooth, easily trimmed stable and takes paint well. Nothing worse than seeing wood grain thru the paint or having the wood separate and chip.

Hello, I have a big roll of floating row cover for gardens outside. Its about 8 or 12 ft wide. I'm not sure but I think it is very similar to an open weave tyvek that the glue would sink into. Has anyone thought of this as a skin? A few layers would be just as light as canvas and I think It might work very well put on in overlapping layers. Its pretty strong considering you can almost see though it and I don't think you can go wrong with U.V. resistant.

I am still trying to find my way around the site, and the foamie section is particularly daunting. So please bare with me

-Matthew

Matt, you really should test that material first to see if the glue sticks and you can paint over it with foam safe paint (Latex) . Just a small sample should tell all ...

Oh, sounds like experiment time to me. Remember it is important to take pictures lots of and ballast checks are important too ..........

Mary C.

So I finally got back on-line and wanted to follow up. I had a few scraps lying around and sliver of time so, a mini test. I knew going inside to check the procedure would not result in a test so I did more improvisation than I would have liked...

2 inch board is not available at my local box stores so I used a small piece of the 1/2inch reflective film sort with the aluminum pealed off as the base. I painted full strength tight-bond 2 onto the cleaned foam and pressed the floating row cover on with a puddy knife.
I was impressed by how well the glue soaked though so I put the second layer on with a thick grid application down on the board and worked the puddles up and out though the fabric with the knife. I did both layers together with no drying time. After letting it tack up for a little bit I put a third layer on dry and placed the board under plywood weighed down...

When it finally cured its kinda impressive. I can really see how a purely foam structure could hold up.

This is what I thought of it...

It is not as strong as canvas, I don’t think even with extra layers it ever will be... there is a quilting in the fabric to bond the fibers together, these points don’t absorb the glue as well and once the fabric has stiffened they act as perforations. I can rip the individual layers if I peal them back and then pull laterally, they break on a dotted line.

This quilting also shows up as a fine texture, a coat of paint might cover it up but it was not as smooth as I had expected

I don’t know what the canvas is like to work with but something I did like was how well the row cover absorbed the glue. It filled in and became tinted and transparent, I was fairly confidant visually determining if there would be a good bond to past layers, dry and too thick were fairly easy to see.

at 10ft wide this material is .10 cents a square foot. It weighs 1-2 oz per square yard and can be bought by the foot in various widths.

I am sorry but I am realizing I don’t have the time to really hash this out. I still think it may have potential but I have no tactile contextual knowledge.

IH , those results look promising , but I’d think you want a heavier skin , just for long term integrity ... Most canvas is 8-10 Oz. and more than adequate for the job ... I used 18 oz. (HEAVY) canvas on the FS , which might be overkill , but it sure is strong ... All in what You want to do, and what you think is best for your application. ...

Yea, pretty much what I was thinking... Seems promising, just not sure for what application. It didn’t strike me as resilient enough for an outer skin

There is a cardboard covered foam sold at most building/roofing supply houses that takes fiberglass resin both epoxy and poly ester. I have used it for years to make cars, boats, consoles, air compressor covers and other things. It is easily sanded- tho you will want to wear a respirator, and it bends pretty easy. It comes in 4x 8 sheets- 1/2, 1", 1 1/2, 2, 3, clear up to 6 inches thick. Normally it is used on commercial building roofing to provide insulation and support for plastic membrane roofing. There was a big article in Mechanics Illustrated where a guy was making cars, sub marines ( scuba type) and other projects . I will try to find the article. Blue polystyrene will not accept poly ester resin without a protective layer to separate them. It does work with epoxy- but I react very badly with the fumes even with protection. A surf board ins made of styrofoam sandwiched or wrapped in fiberglass and is very light and strong but gets real expensive quickly.