Wood sided trailer is having issues. Suggestions wanted

[Graniterich]

Frp is as heavy or heavier than aluminum.how about encapsuling with the mix, wood doctor product, or expoxy first



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[lacofdfireman]

The FRP sheet in the photo above is maybe 20lbs. It’s pretty light. Not sure what the mix is your talking about. What is it?


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[MatTech]

OP, Seems to me like you are going in circles a bit with all your options. Let's get back to basics.

You have a wood sided trailer coated with raptor liner... the adhesion of the coating the wood is performing properly. What is failing you is that the raptor liner is not flexing with the trailer at your wood seams. This is letting water in and causing swelling of the wood and making things even worse.

Reading the technical data sheet of the raptor liner they make no claims whatsoever as to elasticity or flexibility. They also state that it is a polyurethane based product. If your wood is still in good health there is no reason to remove it if you plan on putting wood back on there. You just need something that will either cover the whole exterior as one continuous membrane and which will bond adequately to your polyurethane based raptor liner. Or you need cover with aluminum using well thought out sheet placement with overlap, or as others have suggested an adequate sealant at corner/seam moulding.

As for thickness the .020" thick aluminum I toyed around with was unacceptable in my case because I will be skinning directly over foam and without solid wood underneath the aluminum it dents very easily to the point of puncture. I would bet that applying that same thin aluminum to solid wood backing would be totally acceptable.

Before ripping any wood off I still recommend you wait until I've had the chance to test the samples being sent to me from Liquid rubber. They are both polyurethane based liquid membranes and should bond to your raptor liner though I will forward that question to Trevor on your behalf. The one sample they are sending is their deck coating and it is rated for 200% elasticity before failure and the other is a new formulation so they don't have a TDS out for it yet.

You've got a good looking trailer with a small flaw causing big problems. If I were you I would be looking to the liquid waterproofing membrane option as you're pretty much at the stage of being ready to apply. Everything else will be a far more in depth project.

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[greygoos]

I am going to give my cracks and or peeled section a good cleaning and seal the area, then reapply the bed liner or black paint. Will try to get to it this week and post the result. I would try to repair your situation first before ripping it apart and starting over.

[lacofdfireman]

OP, Seems to me like you are going in circles a bit with all your options. Let's get back to basics.

You have a wood sided trailer coated with raptor liner... the adhesion of the coating the wood is performing properly. What is failing you is that the raptor liner is not flexing with the trailer at your wood seams. This is letting water in and causing swelling of the wood and making things even worse.

Reading the technical data sheet of the raptor liner they make no claims whatsoever as to elasticity or flexibility. They also state that it is a polyurethane based product. If your wood is still in good health there is no reason to remove it if you plan on putting wood back on there. You just need something that will either cover the whole exterior as one continuous membrane and which will bond adequately to your polyurethane based raptor liner. Or you need cover with aluminum using well thought out sheet placement with overlap, or as others have suggested an adequate sealant at corner/seam moulding.

As for thickness the .020" thick aluminum I toyed around with was unacceptable in my case because I will be skinning directly over foam and without solid wood underneath the aluminum it dents very easily to the point of puncture. I would bet that applying that same thin aluminum to solid wood backing would be totally acceptable.

Before ripping any wood off I still recommend you wait until I've had the chance to test the samples being sent to me from Liquid rubber. They are both polyurethane based liquid membranes and should bond to your raptor liner though I will forward that question to Trevor on your behalf. The one sample they are sending is their deck coating and it is rated for 200% elasticity before failure and the other is a new formulation so they don't have a TDS out for it yet.

You've got a good looking trailer with a small flaw causing big problems. If I were you I would be looking to the liquid waterproofing membrane option as you're pretty much at the stage of being ready to apply. Everything else will be a far more in depth project.

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Thanks Matt. Maybe I’m just misunderstanding what everyone is saying. It seems like most are saying I have 3 choices.

1. Start over by removing all exterior skin and reskinning with all new plywood

2. Sheeting over existing problem using either sheet metal (heavy) or aluminum (expensive). Float the walls but attach by overlapping seams.

3. Sanding down Raptor liner and recovering with a water barrier type of paint, stain etc. Not even sure how big of a chore it would be to try and remove the Raptor liner. That stuff is on and hard as nails. Might be a huge rap to try and sand it that’s why I figured I might just have to remove all the wood. Personally don’t think it would be worth the effort to try and sand it.

Or are you saying I may be able to paint right over the Raptor without sanding and having to remove Raptor liner? If so I’m 100% for this option to at least try. At this point I have nothing to lose. I will need to try and sand down the spots where I have siliconed though I’d imagine which will also be a pain but it’s probably easier than sanding the entire trailer.

Let me know. Thanks.


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[lacofdfireman]

I am going to give my cracks and or peeled section a good cleaning and seal the area, then reapply the bed liner or black paint. Will try to get to it this week and post the result. I would try to repair your situation first before ripping it apart and starting over.

Agreed. At this point for me I’d like to do the least evasive thing possible to fix the problem. If it doesn’t work I’ll start over or skin over the problem.


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[MatTech]

I should get a response from Trevor at liquid rubber tomorrow as to how their product would bond directly to the raptor liner. My guess is you would just have to clean the surface thoroughly and apply right on top.

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[lacofdfireman]

I should get a response from Trevor at liquid rubber tomorrow as to how their product would bond directly to the raptor liner. My guess is you would just have to clean the surface thoroughly and apply right on top.

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Perfect. That would be awesome. Do you know if Liquid Rubber is paintable? I really want to keep my current paint scheme.

Also do you have a link to the stuff your talking about? When I google search it I get stuff like flex seal and Henry’s asphalt emulsion. Thx


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[MatTech]

https://liquidrubber.ca/collections/all ... 4375201743

No idea if its paintable, I don't plan on painting it as it comes in a few colours and I'd rather not have another layer of something to maintain.

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[MatTech]

Here is your reply from Trevor:

Hello Tim


Thanks for the recommendation.


How old is the coating?

As it is a solvent based polyurethane coating (I believe), I am confident that you can apply our products to the existing without deterioration, if it is a year or older.

The PU-100 does offer 400% elongation (double the Polyurethane Deck coating).


If the trailer experiences extreme movement, you may also consider our RV Coating.

You will trade off hardness for 1500% elongation.


Sand the area with a coarse (60-80 grit) sandpaper to increase profile.

Clean with soap and water, or a cloth dampened with acetone.

Prime with Multi-Purpose primer.

Apply the detail via our 3-course method.

When dry, apply 2-3 coats over the entire area to topcoat.

Before applying the final coat, inspect for blisters, pinholes, etc, and repair.


I hope this helps.

Please let me know if you have any questions.


Have a great day!

Trevor


On Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 11:10 AM Tim Dubois <[email protected]> wrote:

Trevor,


There is a member on our forum with a plywood sided teardrop trailer and he is having problems with the product which he applied to waterproof the outside.


He used Raptor Liner bedliner material and it is failing at the seams in the wood due to what I suspect is a lack of elasticity. The product is a polyurethane based coating and I told the owner of the trailer I would contact you to determine if one of your membranes would be appropriate for him. 


He is unwilling to remove the current coating as it is adhered too well to the substrate and impossible to remove cleanly. Would the polyurethane deck coating or PU 100 membrane bond to his current coating without issue? I have already told him that I have samples on the way and will share my thoughts on your product with him once I receive them.


Thanks again for all your in depth help.



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[MatTech]

I received my samples of the polyurethane membranes today. Check out my thread over on foamies if you want to see the products and read about my impression.

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[lacofdfireman]

Well I decided to take the easy route and went and bought some PPG Gripper paint and decide to go over the Raptor liner. Well once I bough the paint and pulled my trailer out to wash it I looked at the cracking and it had gotten worse. Like way worse. To the point you could grab the first layer of Baltic birch and just pull off the layers. So I decided that maybe i would just pull off the first layer of Baltic birch but that didn’t go so well either.



So then I made the decision that I’m going to just pull it all off and then reskin the entire trailer. So now I have to do so real work. Finding all the screws was made much easier with a good strong magnet. And once found I’d go after the area with the claw of a hammer to expose the screw head.



It’s going to be an all day project to stop this entire trailer. But I think it’s the right way to go about this.




So I have a few questions. I hate to say I need to cheap out on this but I really do need to finish this the least expensive way possible. I would love to fiberglass (even though i don’t know how) or use aluminum or sheet metal but I’ve already put to much money into this and need to somehow find the best way to seal the wood and just get it done.

I’m really considering the PMF method of finishing this. Can someone please educate me on the best way to finish this off that isn’t going to be super expensive? If doing PMF do I need to treat the wood first? Seems like I’ve seen people just paint the exterior with paint then lay on the fabric drop cloth then paint again over that. Will this work or do I wed to do more prep work first?


Also I originally skinned my outside of my trailer with 1/4” Baltic birch. Should I use the same again or go a different route? If different what should I use?

Thanks everyone for your help. Looking forward to the replies.


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[John61CT]

Yes, figured that was really the way to go, could have fully encapsulated everything but PITA and risky.

This way yes PITA but more likely to do it right and last longer with less maintenance.

Glidden Gripper is killer primer, long as surface prepped of course.

PMF I believe means dropcloth / canvas **over foam** and instead of wood skin / cladding.

Insulation as well as water resistance.

Lots and lots of Gripper, then final coat of oopsie exterior for color and UV protection.

TB2 has proven less water resistant over time.

No foam, just canvas+gripper over what, more plywood?

Sounds less good to me, but maybe it's been done, personally I'd go Full Foamie, only use ply for interior lining if desired for aesthetics.

And that could wait until proven waterproof.

There are a few authoritative PMF foamie threads, but the main one is a long slog.

[lacofdfireman]

So what about using this Fiberglass Resin from Home Depot plus cloth? Would this work? Not so how may oz. cloth would I use?






Also what’s the best way to treat the new wood that I’ll be putting on? And should i use 1/4” Baltic
Birch again for the skin?


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[tony.latham]

So what about using this Fiberglass Resin...

Stay away from (that) polyester resin. I'd recommend Raka epoxy and their 4 oz cloth. And get their pumps for easy mixing.

http://www.raka.com/epoxy.html

You might Youtube "fiberglassing cedar strip canoes" to get an idea on fiberglassing. Mix 1/2 cup batches otherwise they'll "pop off."

This may sound odd, but I'm glad you stripped it down. And yes, 1/4" Baltic birch.



Tony

p.s. I'd name her The Phoenix. Rises from the ashes.