Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am close to staining the sides and doors before I start to assemble the TD. I was thinking of using Cabot oil base stain and Cabot spar varnish interior/exterior & marine durability ultimate UV protection. Would this give the 3/4 inch plywood sides and doors a protective durable finish?
Thanks Ron and Margaret

exterior; temporarily.... plan on redoing ever year or two. especially if stored outside.

Arne wrote:exterior; temporarily.... plan on redoing ever year or two. especially if stored outside.

...yep +1...plan on between 3 to 6 coats to begin with, with sanding/additional coats in the future as needed...
madjack

What they said. I find Cabot is a good product and the right price. That said, I hate varnish because of the drying time (mostly) and find it too yellow for my taste. I used Emtek over epoxy. If you're interested, search the threads for Emtek.

Thanks for the replies. I plan on storing it either in the garage or under roof on the side of our storage shed. The next question is will glue stick to the varnish when we finally start to assemble the sides to the bare floor and roof spars?
Ron and Margaret

That wouldn't be my choice. Leave interior surfaces bare until assembled; then apply finish

Arne wrote:exterior; temporarily.... plan on redoing ever year or two. especially if stored outside.

Let me tell ya. THAT'S the TRUTH! If you don't re treat it every year it will go to hell.

I sealed with varnish, and yes it'll have to be redone before long, esp on oak which tends to turn ugly gray-black within the grain.

However, a few of these strategic "shortcuts" enabled me to actually finish the project rather than stalling out for an extended period...which I tend to do with big projects.

Scooter wrote:
However, a few of these strategic "shortcuts" enabled me to actually finish the project rather than stalling out for an extended period...which I tend to do with big projects.

HAHAHA! That sounds like me and what I'm dealing with now.

Ron51 wrote:Thanks for the replies. I plan on storing it either in the garage or under roof on the side of our storage shed. The next question is will glue stick to the varnish when we finally start to assemble the sides to the bare floor and roof spars?
Ron and Margaret

...wood glues such as TiteBond will not...urethane based construction adhesives such a PLPremium will but not as good...this is a pretty good spot for such as GorillaGlue....as always, read and follow manufacturers directions...........
madjack

Back to the first question. The varnish will look great with enough coats. But the points of failure will be at the plywood endgrain if moisture, even from humidity gets to it. I'd seal the edges of all plywood with several coats of epoxy.

Hey Steve,

When ya say epoxy, would that be thickened or just thin epoxy?
by thickened I mean mix up as fairing putty.

Chris D

Chris D wrote:Hey Steve,

When ya say epoxy, would that be thickened or just thin epoxy?
by thickened I mean mix up as fairing putty.

Chris D

For plywood endgrain coating I use regular West Epoxy not thickened. It takes about 3 coats to fill in completely. I use thickened epoxy, same brand for gluing. Often using wood flour as the thickening agent. I save sander dust from my orbital sander, and have dust or "flour" from several different types of wood for that use. I've also used CPES as well, it goes on easy and will waterproof plywood with 3 coats. I epoxy glue my trim on trailer projects mostly to make it all waterproof. Often it just gets clamped in place til the epoxy cures. Screw holes are another place that seem to absorb moisture. After years hanging around boat yards, you get to see all kinds of wood damage in different stages, from varnish just starting to fail to hardwoods that have turned to pulp and can be removed by the handful. Dry-rot is just rot that has temporarily dried out.

Ok Steve,
Thanks. I read someplace you can use epoxy unthickened as a penatrating sealer, like cpes. Is this true? And next Question. If I plan on using spar varnish as a uv finish can I first paint the sides with unthickened epoxy sand and then finish with spar.

Chris D