siding suggestions

[jb1957]

Im building a semi standi 5'6' in front and 6' in the back im going to use extruded foam and hard board outside
any ideas about covering the hard board has any body used FRP on the out side how does it hold up to
UV the trailer is 6' wide and 12' long
thanks
Jim

[Kody]

Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic is a very good material to use and will tolerate the sun and UV the same as a standard Fiberglass boat. Using the flat sections as you have for your TD, it would be an easy job to make your own sheet of FRP to attach to the frame. The method is to get a sheet of hard "Masconite" and apply about eleventeen coats of release wax to the smooth side. When the sheet is ready, paint on a layer of Gel Coat tinted to your desired colour. This layer needs to be at least 0.025" - 0.030" thick and as uniform as you can make it. Lay up two layers of Chopped Strand Mat,6 oz weight and finish with a layer of 4 oz.woven cloth. The layers are put on without stopping. Roll the layers out which will compress the glass tightly and then let it cure for at least two days. Rolling the glass makes it very dense and adds greatly to its strength, you also use a lot less resin. Make the sheet of finished glass at least 2" wider all round than the size of the open panel on the framework. When the glass (resin) has cured, remove the new sheet and trim to size. The glass sheet can be glued to the frame with more resin making sure there is good coverage around the edges.
This is much cheaper than buying FGP already factory made and it's extremely strong. The surface will be perfectly smooth and glossy and the Gel Coat will help immensely to protect the resin from the UV. The panels required for your TD would be easy to handle and very easy to make. The only requirement is that you don't try or remove the newly made sheet until the resin has hardened fully. If you remove it when it's "Green" it will bend and not have any inherent strength to enable you to apply it to the frame. Any crease or buckle will remain forever. If I were building a frame the same as yours, this is how I would make the panels, no doubt about that. The adjoining panels can be glued together using a strip of 4" wide glass, "resined up" and laid along the wooden frame before you place the sheet on. The glass sheet/s are trimmed to final size before gluing onto the frame. To protect the beautiful exterior of the Gel Coat, run masking tape around the edges and a plastic protective film over the rest of the sheet. Splashes and drips of resin or messy fingers, won't then mar the finished job.

If you preferred to use hardboard, covering it with glass is easy and it will not come apart until water manages to seep in through the edges. After the glass has been laid on and cured, there is a lot of sanding and even bogging to obtain a smooth surface that can then be painted. There are special coating resins that can be sprayed on to achieve a fine finished look but you must still start with a sanded and smooth surface. My preference would be to toss the hardboard and make the glass panels. I think this may be lighter than glass covered hardboard. Practice on a small piece first and see how it looks. This might just be what you want or as we say, "The bees knees". Hope this helps you.

Kody

[bobhenry]

I used the Sequentia panel FRP from crane plastics on two builds. They are about 2 years old and are stored outside 24-7 365 so they have not been pampered. With a bit of soap and water to rinse off the tree sap and bird poo they look as good today as 2 years ago. I used rosettes and screwed the panels directly over the spars. There was blue foam in the voids and taped in place with ice dam tape just under the panels for additional support. The sides were trapped under the door trim and clearance lights and bottom trim so no fastners were used on the sides.

Here is a link to both builds....
http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=38489

scroll down a bit to the start of the chuck wagon thread

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=30307&start=75

P.S. wear eye protection and a disposable mask. I tried being macho and the eye infection I incured simply convinced me I was a macho idiot

[mallymal]

Hey Kody,
That's fascinating.... about 40 years ago, me & my pa built a "speedboat". We made our own sheets of FRP in exactly the way you describe. We then fixed them to a timber frame, much as you would with plywood. We went slightly out of kilter with the finished weight, as the frame was overbuilt, and we used loads of resign & filler to waterproof & reinforce all the joints. But it was still great fun to cruise around in!