Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Over the weekend I sanded the whole dang tear. I reepoxied all the natural wood and painted the trim. I didn't cover it because the trim was still tacky. Today, I resanded the epoxy so that I could put on the varnish and when I got to the roof, a section of my birch ply... not chinaply, had delaminated, and bubbled. This was near the fantastic fan, so I have to assume the fan leaked and water got into the ply. I probably said a few words you guys have never heard before.

So to fix it I did this. The area was about 2"x4". I cut a letter H into the delam, and very carefully lifted it up with a screwdriver. Then I mixed some clear epoxy and with a small brush covered as much area as I could between the lams. I pushed the pieces back down, covered them with wax paper, laid a board on top and clamped the heck out of it. Hopefully this will work to make it lay flat, and then I will cover it wioth more epoxy, and resand until smooth. I'll let you know how it turns out......

Micro469 wrote:Over the weekend I sanded the whole dang tear. I reepoxied all the natural wood and painted the trim. I didn't cover it because the trim was still tacky. Today, I resanded the epoxy so that I could put on the varnish and when I got to the roof, a section of my birch ply... not chinaply, had delaminated, and bubbled. This was near the fantastic fan, so I have to assume the fan leaked and water got into the ply. I probably said a few words you guys have never heard before.

So to fix it I did this. The area was about 2"x4". I cut a letter H into the delam, and very carefully lifted it up with a screwdriver. Then I mixed some clear epoxy and with a small brush covered as much area as I could between the lams. I pushed the pieces back down, covered them with wax paper, laid a board on top and clamped the heck out of it. Hopefully this will work to make it lay flat, and then I will cover it wioth more epoxy, and resand until smooth. I'll let you know how it turns out......

In times such as these, I have been known to make up some new words.

Hope your damage gets under control real soon!

Sounds like a good fix, though...I'll have to file that away for when I learn new words.

David

John, I am having the same exact problem with my roof in two different areas. I plan to do pretty much the same thing that you did. I am going to mix a little cabosil in with the epoxy to make it a bit thicker, then I am going to squeeze it in as best I can and put some heavy weights on top of it. I have a seam on the top that I should have tapped with fiberglass, and I think that is the culprit. I'll have to sand the area down and re-epoxy with some fiberglass tape across the seam. Then there will be a bit of repainting, and hopefully it will all hold together.

Let me know how your fix works out.

John--I am always up for learning new words--I overuse the ones I know.

Amy--You might want to skip the Cabosil and just use epoxy. The added filler might work as a dam to prevent the epoxy from squeezing into the fringe areas, and it might even cause a lump. Just a thought.

Sorry to hear about more problems John. Good Idea on the fix. Let us know how it turns out.

I got stung by a wasp the other day and in an instant it gave me a bad case of potty mouth. It was like being possessed.

Mk

Good thought Tony, that hadn't crossed my mind. I was thinking that straight epoxy might be too thin and would just soak into the wood. My thought was to make it a bit more "glue-like" by adding a bit of cabosil, just enough to make it a bit thicker.

It worked great! The ply is now perfectly flat, and the epoxy has completly sealed the area. Got dark too fast, came home late , so no pic. I'll post one tomorrow. You can see the cut marks, but that is to be expected.

Awesome John! I am soooooo glad to hear that it worked out great! Now I have to find time to do the same fix on mine.