Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Ok ive got 2 ideas for the skin, or at least the top to make it the best waterproof.
the first idea is using linoleum, has anyone done this?

The second idea is pretty radical. My main hobby is building and flying model aircraft. They are all covered with a plastic iron on covering named Monocoat or ultracoat.

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products/De ... ID=HANU866

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/WT ... &search=Go

this stuff is 100% waterproof, is made to sit in the sun for years, is very easy to apply and repair, and would be very very lite. It would go on over plywood. What do you think?

...skip the Linoleum, the sun/environment will kill it fairly quickly...the other stuff looks interesting...can it bond to itself...can it be had in larger than 2'x6' sheets...can it truly stand up to the environment...we will be ahppy to nominate ya to try it out and let us know......
madjack

p.s. welcome aboard............MJ

I'm an old r/c flyer and used lots of this covering, The wood surface has to be perfect.....I mean not a single bump of anykind or it will show thru. It will bond to itself, but might show the overlap as a darker stripe. I would think the biggest concern would be for road debris that might come in contact with the covering during travel. It is easily damaged. But you just iron on a patch over the damaged spot. Speaking of ironing, thats going to be alot to cover a teardrop!

I tested something similar - Vinyl for outdoor sings as a possible covering over ply - however the two material did make a bond, but the plywood vs vinyl expasion due to temp. changes broke the surface of the vinyl. It seems that large areas of ply don't match very well to thin vinyl overlays. When the sun hit the vinyl, it shrunk and pulled loose, when it cooled, it left wrinkles. Finally, I pulled it off and painted the whole thing.

2 cents worth

dan, the wood surface has to be perfect for any of the solutions you guys use on your tears. Paint, metal laminate or whatever. And yes this stuff is not real big, it comes 24"x60" but it bonds to itself almost invisible, we make all kinds of seams on our planes with no problems whatsoever. It shrinks with heat so it always stays nice and tight, and if your an old time flyer, the new stuff called ultracoat is leaps and bounds better than monocoat that used to be used. Plus if your talking fragile, if monocoat was fragile its because it is mostly used over open skeleton framework on our planes and it would be over solid plywood on the trailer. I'm also thinking it would be easy to do an awsome color scheme with this stuff.

I plan to use an EPDM rubber membrane that is intended for roofing RVs on my teardrop. It is warranted for 15 years so exposure to the sun is not a problem. The material can be bought in many sizes so it wouldn't have to be seamed. This material is also being used for a lot of commercial flat roofs, so you could possibly find some scraps at a roofing company that would be big enough for a teardrop.

Constrictor, Is that a Sig Phaser?? Built one and was learning to taxi when it "took flight". The most exciting 3 minutes of flying I ever experienced. Shame landing was so abrupt . Thought about Mono and Ultra on my first (only so far) build. Decided to maybe use on some interior projects but opted out of using for exterior covering. I was worried about application on such a large surface and avoiding wrinkles. My Cub was the largest wing I covered with Ultracoat and was afraid of the large flat areas on the trailer.

The only problem I see with something like Monokote is it's durability. The tow vehicle kicks up a lot of debris like dirt and pebbles, a typical R/C aircraft doesn't see this kind of debris for an extend period of time. Any small nick will compromise the film.

Jester wrote:Constrictor, Is that a Sig Phaser?? Built one and was learning to taxi when it "took flight". The most exciting 3 minutes of flying I ever experienced. Shame landing was so abrupt . Thought about Mono and Ultra on my first (only so far) build. Decided to maybe use on some interior projects but opted out of using for exterior covering. I was worried about application on such a large surface and avoiding wrinkles. My Cub was the largest wing I covered with Ultracoat and was afraid of the large flat areas on the trailer.

no it is a 65" yak, 8 pounds 1.10 supercharged motor, will go strait up forever.

Check out Platte Monforts site on geodesic boats. He suggests covering the ceconite fabric on his boats with Monocote. Also, discusses the over lap issue. Interesting concept. You can actually get Monocote in 25 foot rolls. Would make for an awesome color scheme.

http://www.gaboats.com/boats/

Keep us posted.

Mike
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I'm leaning towards aluminum roofing but if i was really going cheap i think ultracoat would work, of course id put a pc of diamondplate at the bottom?front for chips