Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Has anyone ever tried just spraying the wooden cabin exterior with acrlic enamel automotive paint? Seems like that would hold up well and would be fairly inexpensive. Earl Scheib probably wouldn't charge much.

George,

It depends on what finish you're after.

If you want a smooth gloss finish, forget it - you'd need soooo much highbuild primer and sanding back (to eliminate the wood grain showing) that it would cost a fortune.

If you're happy with visible wood grain, no problem, though you'll still need maybe twice as much paint as on steel as the base coats will just sink into the wood. You might want to look at this (British!) web page: The Trikenest.

Andrew

BE WARNED spray paint will not fill the grain in plywood. Every time a coat was applied it looked good then the grain would come out again, so if you are thinking of going down this route you will need some sort of grain filler.
And that's the least of your worries...

I'm more inclined to think the teardrop would end up looking like this someday...



Mike...

That's what I was concerned about, the eventual peeling and fading of the paint. I retired from the sign business a couple of years ago. I've seen many old billboards that ended up looking like that. They were mostly painted with outdoor sign enamels (long ago they contained lead) heavily pigmented. Eventually they will fade and eventually fail. I know that a lot of sign fabricators started using acrylic enamels (car paint) to cover sign boards mainly because of the durability, fade resistance and nice finish and fast drying. I believe that most of this application was onto boards that had a sealer already in them or a thin laminate of some kind on the surface allowing for a nice finish with the paint. I was thinking that this paint might last much longer. Using cabinet grade birch might help with the grain as I have built many of my own home's cabinets out of the stuff and have applied only a sealer and a couple of coats of interior enamel without any hint of the grain showing. I will have to investigate further by calling up some friends still in the business. They do use an interesting material that might be used for exterior use. They use coroplast (corrugated PVC) sandwiched in between layers of thin aluminum. Some that I used was very strong and lightweight. Seems like I remember that the color was baked on enamel. Comes in varying thicknesses. Sign suppliers probably have it along with just plain sheets of different colored aluminum. Don't remember what it's called. I really like the Uniflex 255 stuff but it is pretty expensive. Almost more that the trailer costs. But still may end up using it as it is lightweight and easy to apply and pretty forgiving and won't delaminate or buckle in the heat.

II looked in to this. Epoxy and glass! See system 3 information. They have a primer to go over the epoxy. A lot of prep work is needed to get a good gob, but it can be done if you have the time.

Chuck

My wife who likes bright and shiny and new, just comes in and says why not just paint it with the same house paint we used to paint the house. Exteror Sherwin Williams satin finish. She says just repaint it everytime we repaint the outside of the house. The last person on this earth I would have expected that to come from. Hmmm.....it's a thought. Let's see about 36 bucks for paint.... I got a roller..... it'd be just like home.....

Yes and it should peal like the house, ever couple of years.
Right! Tell her that! Just make sure the doghouse tear is heated.
Chuck

Two coats of primer and three coats of exterior semi-gloss.

…

We’ll see how well it holds up. I’ve done the ‘glass and epoxy with five coats of varnish’ thing, I didn’t want to do it again. It’s not a boat

I built a bead cover for my 94 pickup, it was Loun plywood covered with polyester epoxy and glass. Primed it with auto primer and two coats of exterior semi-gloss. The first year it looked good the second it started to peal where the winter ice would sit. But it was just a weekend job to make it look new and last another year. The truck set outside all year long.
If it was in a garage, when not in use should have lasted as long as I had the truck. 4years and 100,000 miles. The only lesion I got rid of the truck was I hated shoveling it out of snow banks. It loved snow banks but couldn’t get it’s self out with out me shoveling.
Chuck

Down here in Austin there ain't no snow and ice. We got hot and humid though. The side of my house is plywood. The paint on it now is water base Sherwin Williams satin finish. It's four years old and shows no signs of cracking and peeling. The north side of the house looks good. I might repaint next year or so but not because its peeling or cracking. I probably won't go this route but I can't see why the paint wouldn't hold up on a camper body. Painting a 4 x 8 box every three or four years wouldn't be a great strain. How long could it take? Couple of hours including clean up. 'course it won't have that Airstream look but neither does my wallet.

Hey Shil, looks great. Would be interesting to see how the paint job holds up through your Canadian weather

I have a small plywood rowboat that I finished with exterior latex enamel. When not in the water, it sits upside down on the shore. I leave it uncovered all winter and have very little touch up to do in the spring. The main reason for touch up is to cover scratches from rocks.

So I finished my tiny trailer in latex. I expect to do a bit of touch up each year but shouldn't have to worry about scraping on rocks. Also, my trailer is subject to modification as I think of changes I want to make. The street side door will be replaced with a permanent piece of plywood next spring and the curb side door will be rebuilt. The rear galley area will be shortened and a new galley lid fabricated. The front awning window will probably get installed also. With all this hacking and hewing going on, latex is a good way for me to go.

On the other hand, if you are maiking the definitive, love of your life, ain't never gonna change a thing trailer... an epoxy finish might be a good idea. Seems to me it requires a balance of objectives. Keep in mind that if you do put a latex finish on, you probably won't be able to go to epoxy if you change your mind. It will be latex forever.

By the way, if you use a knappy roller, you can get a slightly textured effect that goes a long way toward hiding woodgrain. Try your techniques on some scrap plywood to find out if you like the look.