Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi all. I am well into my build of a woody. What fun! I am covering the front/top with aluminum skin and the sides are oak plywood. I am gong to trim the sides with soft maple 1x3, wiht routed edges providing a quarter round and attaching to the ply with screws and Tightbond III. I am sealing all surfaces with CPES. My question relates to preventing water from getting between the plywood and maple trip. I was thinking of running a bead of Tightbond III down the center of the maple and a bead of clear silicone around the perimiter to prevent water penatration. Does this sould like a sound plan? Will I likley encounter problems when I apply my finish coates of spar varnish over the glued, screwed maple, oak plywood and possible some silicone residue where excess comes out from between the wood? Should I forget the silicone and apply the Tightbond III around the perimiter? Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Buck06,

Sound like you are building a trailer similar to mine.
I first epoxied the sealed wood trim in place.
Placed the aluminum over the top and trim and used a trim piece of aluminum edging with sealer to make it water tight.

Thanks Wolfgang. Great looking camper. I plan on covering the perimiter trim with the aluminum as you suggested, more concerned wiht the trip around windows, the door and along the bottom. In looking at your album, I am impressed with the trim piece over the door, that is a piece of work!. Did you just use epoxy to attach and seal that in place? If so, what epoxy did you use? Do you have a recommended spar varnish?

Thanks!

Buck06,

Thanks for the compliment.
I used a band saw with an angle table to get the rough shape and a hand plane to get a nice smooth finish. Epoxy is System3 and I used Minwax spar varnish. Trailer has only been out on 4 trips so far and stays in the garage the rest of the time. No problems so far. I used it because I wanted to warm color look. Took quite a few coats. I think depending on what exact look you are after, their might be easier finishes around.

Perhaps some other folks will chime in.........

Using a caulk in some places but Silicone is an issue. I put some under my hing and got a couple of small finger prints. Nothing sticks to it so I have to hope it stays water proof. Lucky me I got the 50 year stuff..

I used Spalted Maple for my trim and epoxied it. Problem is the Maple has pulled away from the wood in places. The spalting also continued and bled into the ply...Yuck.

Good luck and remember the pictures.

I think Rob49 mentioned this once, but the idea was to completely encapsulate ALL individual pieces. That means don't stop sealing just because the wood won't be exposed directly. Seal the walls completely, and seal the trim completely, THEN put them together. That way you know even if water gets in between, it isn't reaching bare wood. Made so much sense when I read it. Seal it, then put it together...

I hope that helps! How you put it together is another set of details! I used kitchen cabinet shelf liner for my trim

Auntie M is right about the silicone. It was the bane of my father's existence when he was a cabinet maker/roulette wheel maker. If he ever caught me using pledge furniture polish (it has silicone in it, or at least it used to) on furniture, my name was mud. No amount of sanding or remover would work to effectively get rid of the silicone if the piece had to be refinished. It pits new finish, if it will stick at all. No finish will stick to anything that has even smelled silicone. I would stay away from anything silicone until all the finish is complete, and you plan on never putting any finish over that area again. a marine sealant would be a better option. It is a polyurethane glue suggested by Doug Hodder we used to attach our drip rails to our woody.