Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Whoa! Cool!!

Rick...are ya gonna f'glass or epoxy or ??? over the bondo............................

my fear with the bondo would be the different expansion rates between it and the wood.

But it does look good and kills two birds with one stone.

I can't draw a straight line, much less tape a straight line.

Good tip

That's nice! I like it!

Mike...

My brother had a body shop in the past .... I hung around there doing custom painting ...(murals...$$$$) Did alot of Vette' repair ...lots of bondo over glass, and glass over bondo ...seemed to work fine ...and I did several murals over that ..... wouldn't want my artwork to crack now ....would we...???

very nice and a clean look...........................
Barb

Great idea, and timed right for me. I just finished skinning my tear, and was debating how to fill & trim the seams. Your idea looks like a perfect solution, and I have a can of Bondo sitting just a few feet from my tear!
Another idea: I have plastic spreaders I use for Bondo. What if I cut a shallow, slightly arched notch in one, and dragged it across the wet Bondo? It might give it a rounded molding look.

coldbeer wrote:Disclaimer: I'm not making any claims on how well this will hold up but since I tried it, I thought I should share it as it may be a unique idea (good or bad) and may trigger some creativity in someone else.

In my quest for a woodie seam moulding, I laid down some masking tape; then put some bondo down; then just as the bondo *started* to cure, I pulled up the tape to make a nice straight edge. Then as long as I didn't sand all the way through the bondo, I had a seam filler/psuedo moulding all in one.

I'm not sure I will keep it in the long run - but there ya have it.
--Rick

Looks like from the pix that you layered the bondo; how many layers did you apply? Did you allow for a full cure between layers? How thick do you think one could go with that technique?

Looks good - but I do wonder how long it will last. Filling a gap that wide and not have something underneath for it to grab I suspect that it will crack. The twisting of the frame, etc would make it a candiate to crack. It is like when a dentist fills a large cavity. He/she will put in some anchor posts so that the material has something to bond to.

Like Madjack asked a epoxy coat with some reinforcement fiberglass would give a stronger joint.

But again - this is only my opinion and my family tends to over engineer things

Let's us know how it turns out

Bill

Hey Rick,
that looks real neat. If I was't committed to a clear wood look I would definitely do that. Don't know much about bondo on wood but they use it on cars.

As for the gap, if I am reading correctly, you don't really have a real gap just where the ply comes together right?

If I doesn't work what have you lost? You'll get a fun weekend and have a good project to come back to.

Enjoy
Aunti M

My experience on Bondo onto plywood is that it sticks as well as wood glue, providing it is applied to a virgin wood surface, or to a clean, well-sanded surface.

If you have two sheets of ply that meet at a joint where they aren't properly fixed to each other, the Bondo will certainly crack - each side will stay fixed to the wood underneath it like it should, but it won't hold the joint together.

If Bondo fell off plywood, I would look to see what I had got wrong in preparing the job, rather than blame the Bondo. For example the cure of any polyester product is harmed by water so not protecting it from even a light shower is asking for trouble later. Also Bondo must be 'fresh' - a tin that's been sitting in the garage for a year is useless.

Andrew