Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am leaning toward using marine vinyl as a top to my tear. What is the best way to attach the vinyl?

Will the vinyl adhere with epoxy and if and when I want to change the vinyl, will it remove easily enough?

I glued two pieces of foam together with Titebond III... I couldn't separate them when dry...... Can you imagine glueing vinyl down with epoxy????

Is the vinyl watertight? The reason I thought epoxy was because of it's watertightness.

Ed, I sure wouldn't use epoxy if you may want to remove it later...I believe Jeff (warpony) used no adhesive on his vinyl top...just a couple of staples to locate it and then captured the edges with the trim(maybe)...also, the outdoor carpet adhesive, that many here have used on the Al skins would probably work well...there is also an automotive product used specifically for vinyl tops....
madjack

We posted at the same time Jack, do you know the answer to my previous post?

It's called Contact cement. Both the roof and vinyl are sprayed.. let dry , then applied to each other.

Ed, the vinyl should be watertight...the stuff Jeff used was a heavy duty tonneau cover material...I would seal the ply first with a urethane or other sealer first, before applying the vinyl though...
madjack

Ed...if it were me...I'd use some sort of an adhesieve that doesn't get hard like an epoxy. The top is going to need to expand and contract with the temps. epoxy is very rigid and not flexible as some of the other glues out there when cured...I think I'd try a carpet cement, Henry's, Roberts etc...troweled thinly, with a notched trowel. I think the original vinyl tops on cars used a spray on contact type cement. It will remain flexible. I have used a cement for carpeting around swimming pools with good luck. I think the epoxy would penetrate the mesh back substrate on the vinyl and hold it, but it may cause the vinyl overlay to seperate as it moves through temp ranges...and when you lay the vinyl, don't pull or stretch it..it'll just fight you and will pull back over time... Just my opinion, others may vary...doug

Ok, I think I'm getting some crossed signals.

Does the vinyl need to be glued down or can it float? If it can float, a coat of epoxy on the ply would be the best in terms of watertightness since I wouldn't have to worry about adhering the vinyl.

I'd glue it down...ever see a car from the 70's with a big bubble in the vinyl top going down the road? the glue didn't hold and the wind high/low pressure differences is lifting it....seal the wood with epoxy first for water proofing, do an agressive sand on it to give it a tooth...then apply the vinyl glue...doug

doug hodder wrote:I'd glue it down...ever see a car from the 70's with a big bubble in the vinyl top going down the road? the glue didn't hold and the wind high/low pressure differences is lifting it....seal the wood with epoxy first for water proofing, then apply the vinyl glue...doug

...sounds like good advice to me .....................................

Chaotica wrote:Ok, I think I'm getting some crossed signals.

Does the vinyl need to be glued down or can it float? If it can float, a coat of epoxy on the ply would be the best in terms of watertightness since I wouldn't have to worry about adhering the vinyl.

Yes I would coat the roof with epoxy, but I wouldn't put the vinyl on the wet epoxy. Once the epoxy is dry, you can either float it ( I think it might wrinkle in hot or cold weather) or glue it down with contact cement. I used to work next to an Auto Glass place that used to replace vinyl roofs all the time, and that is what they used. There are different versions of contact cement on the market. Go with the one best suited for your needs. If you have to replace the roof it will come off a lot easier than if you glued it with epoxy.

Ok, I think I got it now, thanks for the responses everyone.

I was checking out Jeff's trailer at LCG. I noticed (and asked him about it) that he put foam under the vinyl. I'd imagine that it would do a good job of hiding all the small imperfections on the wood.

asianflava wrote:I was checking out Jeff's trailer at LCG. I noticed (and asked him about it) that he put foam under the vinyl. I'd imagine that it would do a good job of hiding all the small imperfections on the wood.

Was the foam glued to the skin and the vinyl glued to the foam?