Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

My roof started to check, or split. the epoxy cracked and water started to stain the top. In one place the ply separated ..(again), and also cause the epoxy to split. So I decided to fix those spots, and then realized after sanding them down that the color of the patch would never blend in with the rest of the roof......So......I sanded the whole dang thing.





If I just coat it with epoxy again and then Spar varnish, I stand a 99% chance of having to do this again... and the veneer on the top is not very thick. I want to cover it with fiberglass, but my fiberglassing skills are not up to par,as I found out trying to fiberglass a side of a box. Doing a whole roof and making it look good is going to be a real challenge.

Also, it's getting colder up here, and the lack of a garage-heated worshop is not helping matters.
So my thought is this..... Put on 2 or 3 coats of CPES and pack her up for the winter... practice my fiberglassing skills (or lack thereof) during the winter, and then give it a light sand in the spring and fiberglass the roof. Does this sound alright? Anybody have any better suggestions?

I suppose I could always drive to Alaska and get Juneaudave to do it for me..........


Oh Yeah, I also took the box off the front, and guess what??? I can now pick up the toungue and move it by myself!!!

John,

2 coats of CPES will make it water resistant. 3 coats should make it waterproof.

Really sorry to see you having problems with your beautiful trailer. What do you think caused the problem? Knowing that will be beneficial in preventing a re-occurrence.

Now that my woody teardrop is in Minnesota should I be worried? It does live in an unheated garage.

maybe an aluminum skin?

Gosh, I wish I were there to help...but then again...your a pretty capable guy!!!!

Steve_Cox wrote:John,

2 coats of CPES will make it water resistant. 3 coats should make it waterproof.

Really sorry to see you having problems with your beautiful trailer. What do you think caused the problem? Knowing that will be beneficial in preventing a re-occurrence.

Now that my woody teardrop is in Minnesota should I be worried? It does live in an unheated garage.

The roof is made of 1/8 baltic birch. Not exactly an exterior plywood. I figure with the sun beating down on it. and temperature changes the wood expanded and contracted under the epoxy causing the epoxy to crack. I never did put CPES on it, I'm hoping that will seal it enough to stop the cracking. If it survives this winte, I'm going to fiberglass it as an added protection. Time is running out this year.....

Please hurry and get it done, you have such a great teardrop, i'd hate to see it get wasted.

John

Steve_Cox wrote:John,

2 coats of CPES will make it water resistant. 3 coats should make it waterproof.

Really sorry to see you having problems with your beautiful trailer. What do you think caused the problem? Knowing that will be beneficial in preventing a re-occurrence.

Now that my woody teardrop is in Minnesota should I be worried? It does live in an unheated garage.

Wouldn't 3 coats of CPES make fiberglassing redundant? If it penetrates the wood and then encapsulates it that should prevent the problem in itself - if I understand CPES' characteristics properly?

Ontario where John is has a VERY humid climate I would suspect that may be part of the problem.

So I finally got every thing sanded off. I removed the vent and coated the roof with CPES. It soaked in right away and was dry in two hours. Recoated it.... and wouldn't you know it, it started to rain. Put the Firstup over the Tear and hope for the best. It looks like it could still use a few more coats. Hope it doesn't rain tomorrow......

John- why don't you get a hold of Steve Frederick? I'm sure he could give you a quick tutorial on the fine art of fiberglassing.

I think the fiberglass is like re-bar in concrete. It's necessary to hold everything together fighting the expansion and contraction due to humidity and temperature changes (pretty extreme in your environment and mine.)

Even if the epoxy (CPES or other) is 100% impermeable to water vapor (not sure that it is - few coatings are) you're going to have the wood "breathe" through the back side. Even if the back side doesn't see liquid water it's going to see water vapor. And I doubt that any of us are building trailers with every surface of every piece of wood coated in epoxy.

It's getting cooler but you have time to get some fiberglass on that thing. You can get "fast" curing epoxies that will cure up down into the 40's F, just slowly.

Eric