Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Someone had posted that to paint raw aluminum with atutomotive paint, that extra steps would be involved(versus steel). Thus my question is if a person plans on painting the teardrop from the start would they be better off just using steel(probably around 20 ga.). Besides I can easily get steel in 6x10 sheets. Or would the extra steps involved in painting aluminum have to be done on color clad(prepainted aluminum)just like raw aluminum? Thinking of a 2 tone in metalics.
Thanks

If you are going to paint why not use wood instead, should be cheaper

Aaron Coffee wrote:Someone had posted that to paint raw aluminum with atutomotive paint, that extra steps would be involved(versus steel). Thus my question is if a person plans on painting the teardrop from the start would they be better off just using steel(probably around 20 ga.). Besides I can easily get steel in 6x10 sheets. Or would the extra steps involved in painting aluminum have to be done on color clad(prepainted aluminum)just like raw aluminum? Thinking of a 2 tone in metalics.
Thanks

Aaron... I can't think of any reason why you couldn't use steel. I think some of the early tears were covered with painted steel, for that matter? If you use galvanized steel, you still have some prep problems to go through to get automotive paint to stick properly... Very much like preping aluminum. I wouldn't personally use raw steel because of condensation and rust problems that I think would be inevitable? Sheet steel is sure cheaper and more widely available... I have thought of doing the same thing.

Someone had a steel covered tear at IRG. I remember because they had magnets stuck to it. It was the prepainted sheets.

I'm using steel to clad my trailer with. I know it is heavy; but I'm using sandwich wall construction to lighten the overall weight.
. I know it is a poor quality picture but you can get the idea.

And yes they are insulated door blanks from french doors cut out for the windows. You can stand on one of them accross 48" spaced 4x4's on the ground. Try an Insulated door??? You get the idea.

Pat

When I first started looking into the covering, I found out the price of 6 x 10 steel was through the roof.

I also checked with one of the companies wich makes the metal roofing. They had the painted steel, .0625 thickness, any color but only in 42" width. any length but only 42".

Thought about overlapping an putting a strip of trim at the seam. The painted price of the flat roofing material was equal to the price per foot of the metal roofing.

Aaron, check your local sign making company and price some epoxy covered aluminum. It's made for being outdoors all the time so a TD should be a piece of cake for that stuff. Comes in different colors, too.

Jeff

Here's my all-steel teardrop. Even the skeleton underneath the steel sheets is steel. Steel is not easy to prep. I spent nearly $400 on primer, filler, and rust-inhibiting primer. I had many, many hours prepping the steel for paint. The paint job cost me another $1,000. (I had a local automotive repair shop paint it and they did a great job.)

If I had to do it again, I would still build the skeleton out of 1 x 1-inch square steel tubing, but would use painted aluminum sheets on the outside. I know a guy who owns an enclosed trailer business and he was the one who recommended the painted aluminum.

I bought my bare steel sheets in 48" x 96" 24 Ga and 48" x 120" 20 Ga locally. At a recycler ( seconds ). In the picture in my above post are steel on the panels ( 24 Ga 20"or 22" wide x 64" or 80" long on both sides of the panels ) I use them where I can and recycle all the scrap I do not use to get some of my money back.

Pat

Aaron, We are using steel on the exterior of the slide out tear. You can see in the pic that Charles is preparing the seam with bondo for it's paint job. It will be painted to match my truck. We purchased from our local "pipe and steel" friend. It is already colored but we want it to match the truck.
Charles said he will never use it again on a teardrop. It is tricky to handle because of weight and easily dings or creases while working with it.



Linda

Coca Cola Teardrop wrote:Charles said he will never use it again on a teardrop. It is tricky to handle because of weight and easily dings or creases while working with it.

So on his 4th build he's going to use Filon? I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Aron, painting aluminum really isn't any harder to do than steel, scuff it up with scotch brite, the red color is best. clean it really well with lacquer thinner or MEK, prime with a self-etching primer all the automotive paint stores have it, then paint color. there is another step before primer that is a conversion coating, but as long as you use the self etching primer its not really necessary. I've been painting airplanes for 30 years.
.....Bob