Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Finally got a dry sunny day. This summer has been really wet, with rain happening almost every other day, including most weekends. I mentioned in another post how my epoxy was starting to peel away from the edges of my trim work
http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?t=24413&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 and it has gotten worse. Because of the weather, and inadequate covered storage , the damage has intensified to the point of being unrepairable. The epoxy on my trim has peeled back from the edges and the wood has turned black. Today is the first nice day I could work on the trailer. I took the tarp that I threw on a couple of days ago off, and my heart sank. My roof now has white spots all over where the epoxy has softened and blushed. The trim is a mess, and I'm just ready to cry.
So here is what I started to do.. On the flat pieces of the trim, I used my planer to remove the epoxy and some of the wood. didn't work... the black goes too deep. I bought a Bosch orbital sander and continued to sand the trim. I used scrapers to remove the epoxy... it came off in sheets. The wood underneath was saturated with moisture because the epoxy had split.No matter how much I sand off , the black stains persist. I had some deck bleach left over when I refinished my deck, and used that. They didn't go away. Now I think I have no choice. I will continue to sand the trim until the epoxy is removed and then prime and paint it. Probably the same color as the fenders.
The roof is repairable. A quick sand, another coat of epoxy, and the varnish or clearcoat.

Now.... What would be the best paint to use on the trim???




IT DOESN'T LOOK ANYTHING LIKE THIS NOW!!!!!

Wow, sorry to hear of your bad luck, I wish I could offer some suggestions, but you have covered everything I would have tried.

John, could you possibly stain the wood(or dye it) and kinda, sorta blend in the black streaks...ya know...like they are supposed to be there...thereby preserving the woody look...if not a dark green, marine topside paint would be a good choice....
madjack

I think on the trim a light yellow (faux wood). Jim G

Micro469 wrote: The wood underneath was saturated with moisture because the epoxy had split.

Sorry to hear of that John, but I think the moisture got under your epoxy somewhere and caused it to lift rather than the epoxy splitting and causing it to happen. What you have described is exactly what happens to a wooden boat that isn't encapsulated . I'd think it happened because the trim went on and then epoxied up the sides. Under the trim, there isn't a good epoxy coat and with a tarp left on, It held the moisture in. If all those trim corners where they mate to the side weren't sealed up well, water will get in and just sit...It's looking for a place to go so it wicks into the wood and causes the epoxy to lift.

Whatever you do, you ought to make sure that you seal up all the edges of the trim on the sides/roof with some thickened epoxy as a fillet or if you are against epoxy at this point, something needs to seal it. It's unfortunate to have happened to such a nice looking trailer. Doug

I have epoxy left over from last year, it's been sitting in my shed. The temperature during the winter was kept in the high 30's. Will this stuff still be good ? or should I buy new epoxy???
I think I'm going to paint the trim.... sounds like this could be an ongoing problem, and should be easier to fix if painted.........

The trim was put on with thickened epoxy...liberally coated so that I had squeeze out on all sides. So the back of the trim should be covered.....

The epoxy started to peel along the square edges..so I'm going to round them over this time.

I guess I was wondering why the large opaque spots on the roof. I was thinking it maybe could be related to your previous blush problems that you had, but you stripped that all off... Your trim issues are for sure caused by the sharp edges. I found that out the hard way also, I thought I eased the edges enough but in some places it needed to be taken care of. Doug

Isn't it possible to impregnate the whole teardrop? In a highpresure cabin?
With wolman salts.

There is also a possebillety, Shell made a few years ago, that is to "bake"your wood. The PLATO principe.

PS I work in wood buiseniss. If the wood is black inside and outside, Through and trhough, the wood is dammeged for the rest of its life. The only thing you can do with the wood is impregnate.

John I used spalted Maple and it has continued to spalt. Blacker and pushing out the epoxy. Somewhere my friend the wood salesman found an article where woods that are inclined to spalt under the right conditions will do so if epoxied.

Rot Doctor said treat with CPES, presumably all over it would prevent the process. You might be able to use the darkened wood to your advantage and make a faux treatment but use the CPES to harden the wood first.

Other wise you should strip it off and start over. That is what I am doing this fall. The top is getting painted or vinyl.

I hate to see yours painted. It is so beautiful

The blushing on the top of the main cabin is most likely caused by moisture inside the trailer. The constant rain environment coupled with warm summer days would push the moisture up through the roof and get trapped underneath the epoxy coating. The only way to eliminate this would be to thoroughly dry out the inside of the trailer and if possible epoxy the interior underside of the roof.

The staining of the trim boards may be caused by affixing the trim to the sides before applying the epoxy coating. Moisture is seeping underneath the coating and causing it to lift. I would remove the trim, allow to dry thoroughly and then sand. Afterwards I would coat liberally with a good long oil alkyd paint or varnish. If you go with the varnish you can add any color stain directly to the varnish and coat your trim. However, keep in mind that any clear coating (even with uv blockers) would probably need to be refinished every few years. With a paint, you can get longer life as the pigments inhibit the breakdown of the resin holding the paint together.

I work as a chemist for a coatings manufacturer, and I will check with our technical director tomorrow to see if he has any other ideas.

O.K. I spent most of Saturday and Sunday sanding down my trim. I'm so glad I bought the Bosch Orbital Sander...It was almost fun sanding again.
I got most of the trim sanded, and then ran out of paper for my palm sander. It "almost " looks good enough to re-epoxy, but the black streaks really show when I wet them out. Epoxy and varnish will give the wood a yellow color...see original pic.....but I like the real "Blond" look of the trim, so I've decided to paint. I think I'll go with a marine paint called Epiphane (I think), in an almond color.The sides will have to be resanded... the sander slipped a few times, and the roof as well...see pics below.
Then I will probably repaint my fenders to create a contrast with the trim.Hopefully it'll turn out real nice.... If not.... Anybody want to buy a trailer????









You can see where the trim has separated from the trailer. I'll have to fill this with thickened epoxy before I paint. Now I know where some of the water was coming in.....

John...I'd work it in with a squeegee and try to get as much in those trim voids as possible. An old credit card or bondo squeegees will do the trick.

This winter, I'd lay some boards on top of the trailer to keep the tarp from laying directly on the surface, and when it's a clear day, pull off the tarp and give it a chance to dry out some. It's a hassle...I had the Rocketear all last winter in the snow and rain, you have to keep it cleaned off of heavy snow. Like a wood boat, you don't want to wrap it up tightly, being wood it has to breathe. Doug

doug hodder wrote:John...I'd work it in with a squeegee and try to get as much in those trim voids as possible. An old credit card or bondo squeegees will do the trick.

This winter, I'd lay some boards on top of the trailer to keep the tarp from laying directly on the surface, and when it's a clear day, pull off the tarp and give it a chance to dry out some. It's a hassle...I had the Rocketear all last winter in the snow and rain, you have to keep it cleaned off of heavy snow. Like a wood boat, you don't want to wrap it up tightly, being wood it has to breathe. Doug

Winter's not a problem doug,I keep it in this

I just have to take half of it down every spring so i can pull the trailer out!!

OH John, I'm sooo sorry. What a PITA!!!!

I having an issued with the spar cracking and leaking around the trim on my TD. I was going to fix it with epoxy. Now, after reading your troubles Im scared. I was going to do a fillet around all the trim where it touches the skin. Guess I have to do some more research on this.

I hate that you are having these problems. Am I understanding this right? That the issue with yours is the wood trim had square edges instead of rounded edges?


Mk