Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Has anyone used painted or epoxied marine duck canvas on their teardrop roof? If so, how successful was it in terms of keeping things dry? I've seen this done on a lot of old wooden boats and was wondering if it would be a good idea on a teardrop.

Kris

KA wrote:Has anyone used painted or epoxied marine duck canvas on their teardrop roof? If so, how successful was it in terms of keeping things dry? I've seen this done on a lot of old wooden boats and was wondering if it would be a good idea on a teardrop.

Kris

Kris,

Not too long ago I was daydreaming about Vardos (gypsy wagons) and did a test of this on a 1 foot square piece of canvas stretched on a frame and coated with epoxy. The results were posted someplace on the forum. The results weren't so good. It stretched and sagged pretty bad when wetted out with the epoxy and stayed that way when it cured. Other than that problem it worked pretty good and was sealed to the frame really well. Jim in Savanna suggested using air plane dope instead of epoxy thinking it would shrink the fabric.

You might consider heat shrink aircraft dacron. Here is a link.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/menus/cs/dacron.html

The old timers used canvas and aluminum paint ...

Thanks, Steve and Bob, for the replies. I was thinking about laminating the canvas to a wood surface to make a rigid top rather than stretching it like a drum...sort of like the roof coverings that you can stand on that were used on old wooden boats. I'm just worried about being able to handle sheet aluminum. Also, I like the look of painted canvas. I will definitely check out the airplane canvas link.
Kris

I talked to my buddy who operates an upolstery business about a vinyl top for the motorcycle tear. He was able to match the wine colored bike saddle on my goldwing and assured me that it will hold up well. The material he selected is a marine grade vinyl used for boat seats. Price was reasonable too !

Thanks for the idea, Bob. It will be interesting to hear how the vinyl works for you. It should look great behind your bike.
Kris

A long, long time ago, when I was a Boy Scout (circa 1962) we built a Canoe, covered with duck canvas and oil based house paint. That canoe is still around and does not leak.

Based on that, I thought of it for a roof as well.

Happy trails

Len

len19070 wrote:A long, long time ago, when I was a Boy Scout (circa 1962) we built a Canoe, covered with duck canvas and oil based house paint. That canoe is still around and does not leak.
Based on that, I thought of it for a roof as well.
Happy trails
Len

Yep, Len... My lifelong friend Noble Enge has been building canoes like that for 50+ years... Most of them are still going! He is also the best canoe sailer I have ever known. He convinced me I could build my own canoe when I was about 14... He's still going strong at 75:
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... 9273.shtml

Thanks Brick and Len. Canoes that don't leak are a good testimonial for canvas. I think the material looks really nice, too.
Kris