STM (composite panel) Teardrop

[whiteryanc]

I've been researching this company for my own ideas of a composite build structure and they've up to this point shown larger pull-behind campers. This morning however they posted up a fantastic looking little teardrop and actually have a lot of information on it.

Looks like the body with no doors/windows is apx. 308lbs including finishing skins inside. A tad heavy but fascinating to see a frame-less build of only composite panels. Would love to see this mounted on a trailer and finished off!

https://youtu.be/IwWqEHtwUC8

[saltydawg]

Well you can see it. My link here is below and its mirrors more complete over at expo portal. Stomperxj is doing the saw tooth ultimate, he is also based on stryomax system of panels. He has spent much time on the phone with them, we both used the adhesive they use.

Mine is a big teardrop his is a small camper, but about the same size.

mine here
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=73133

slightly more complete thread at expo portal
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/thre ... ls.217954/

Sawtooth ultimate thread at expo, he has a youtube channel with almost the entire build so far,
https://expeditionportal.com/forum/thre ... er.183743/

[saywhatthat]

we been doing DIY glass over foam with pods coming at 120 to 130 lbs . Much easy to fix if something goes wrong with stronger foam 100% foam and poly resin, As we use woven makes it lighter and so much stronger

[MickinOz]

I've been researching this company for my own ideas of a composite build structure and they've up to this point shown larger pull-behind campers. This morning however they posted up a fantastic looking little teardrop and actually have a lot of information on it.

Looks like the body with no doors/windows is apx. 308lbs including finishing skins inside. A tad heavy but fascinating to see a frame-less build of only composite panels. Would love to see this mounted on a trailer and finished off!

https://youtu.be/IwWqEHtwUC8

On my trailer frame, the whole outfit with doors, mattress and cupboards would come in at 450kg or so. Not too shabby for a 9 x 5.
With all plywood, I finished up at 465kg.
I did look into this company for their skin materials. They have fibreglass sheeting of various widths and thicknesses off the roll. Unfortunately, price plus freight from Queensland to South Australia was prohibitive for me..
That is a nice set up. I bet they could sell a few of those as kits if they want to.
Perhaps the most interesting thing in that video was they actually nominate the product to use for glueing. A very useful piece of info right there.

No disrespect to saltydawg and saywhatthat, but you guys aren't really doing the same thing.
This is kerfed and curved, not quite the same as mitreing flat sheets together. Apart from using different material your builds seem pretty standard. I too hope to see the rest of the process and the finished product.

[twisted lines]

I wish I could send a drawing to a company and pick it up. Pop tops just tell them what length ya wan't.
Its all good stuff

[saltydawg]

No disrespect to saltydawg and saywhatthat, but you guys aren't really doing the same thing.
This is kerfed and curved, not quite the same as mitreing flat sheets together. Apart from using different material your builds seem pretty standard. I too hope to see the rest of the process and the finished product.

I understand where your coming from on that. If you look at sawtooth ultimate he did do the curfing on curves. The way we ( sawtooth and I ) connected the panels with bent sheet metal with glue and rivits is how they do it. I did mean on the attaching things together, and the basic materials are the same, with the exception of they use a 2 part polyurathane glue and we used epoxy to glue the skin to the foam. I have a sneaky suspicion that the skin I used, made in south carolina is what they use. The fact that sawtooth used them and he has been talking to stryomax for years makes me think it, and the skin maker told me they ship to Australia for an rv makers use when I went down and bought mine.

Yes sawtooth is closer to the way they do it, in general than mine is. In hind sight I would have done the kerfed and radius corners on mine. But it would have added a lot of work, that I avoided.

If I ever do another trailer, its going to be one piece foam body with hand laid glass over the whole thing, inside and out.

[saywhatthat]

we build a bit different. Sadly most real fiberglass skins you can find are gel-coat and mat . To weak and heavy for me. buy using woven glass it's stronger and lighter uses less resin so lighter . Cheaper to ship a 5 gal bucket when you do it by going with D.I.Y . curfing on curves To me is a weak point. if your reading this you can do your own skins.

glass over the whole thing, inside and out.

is great a fast steam and all clean . With the high cost of wood is cheaper to do glass / foam