Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

My local FRP dealer wants alittle more then 1/2 the cost to ship 12ft.sheets of UV safe FRP. So the question is , can you paint the regular FRP? Will it stick?
Will the paint protect the interier grade FRP from the Sun? Has anyone used the regular interier grade ( non UV safe) on the outside of their trailer?
I'm thinking that the paint will save it from the Sun but I'm not sure.

Thanks

Yes you can and several on here have done it with success (just ask caseydog). Proper prep is the key.

Here is an article to help: http://www.ehow.com/how_6552715_paint-frp-panels.html

This is from crane plastics web site

http://www.cranecomposites.com/PDFs/6439_ibs_tech.pdf

In 2007 I found in a salvage yard rolls of FRP that were 6'8" inches tall. The rolls of FRP came from a shower enclosure manufacturer that went bust.
I bought enough to do the exterior side walls and roof and the interior side walls and floor for $ 108.00 dollars plus tax. The regional manager for Sherwin Williams suggested I put on a base coat of Krylon Fusion paint. This paint is designed for plastics. It comes in spray cans. My wife did not care for any of the colors they had so we did a base coat of their green. The Sherwin Williams guy said that any of their exterior latex paint would now adhere to Krylon fusion paint.
We have pulled our 5 X 10 teardrop over 23000 miles and have had no problems. I did add a new coat of the original latex paint I used in May of 2010. I simply used a high grade roller. While I am not an expert painter, many people have asked me what or how I spray painted my TD. I simply rolled it on.
Good Luck
Larry

Hello folks. I am deep into my build. Haven't posted much but sure have read and learned a lot here. I built my tear using standard frp for the exterior. I turned the pebbled side in and used the smooth side for the exterior. I came across an ideal for finishing and protecting the frp. I will be covering mine with adhesive backed sign vinyl. The stuff is easy to apply, comes in a large selection of colors, provides weather and uv protection and, best of all, is fairly inexpensive. The material I am using has a 5 year exposure guarantee. I figure it will take me many years to rack up 5 years of exposure. I am testing several pieces while I am completing my build. So far I am very pleased with what I am seeing.

Just waned to offer an alternative since I have gotten so many useful tips from the creative folks on this site that have helped me with my project.

Here is the link to the supplier I used.
http://www.specialty-graphics.com/4200_ ... Vinyl.html

A roll 4 ft. wide and 10 yds long is a little over $50. More than enough to do both sides of most teardrops. A couple of smaller widths rolls will provide some custom striping as well.

I hope someone else can find this useful.

jsb - This sounds interesting. Got any pics of that vinyl on the teardrop yet? I bet it will look slick. If I can get over the price of the frp ($26 for a 4x8) I would probably like to do something like this. That is the Home Depot price, is that about what you paid for yours?

Now you did it DudKC. I had to go update my photo album. Oh well, been meaning to anyway.

Yep, this is the big box stuff. I think I paid about $30 a sheet for it but only needed 3 sheets to do my sidewalls. Here is a picture of the door. This is the first section I have covered with the vinyl. If you look closely you should be able to see the slight color difference between the door and the adjacent wall which is still bare FRP. I decided to go with a base color of white and then use some other colors later once I decide on a theme.



Here is another picture showing several tests going on at once. I am considering using the FRP for the roof as well. Not sure yet. Also tested annealing an old piece of aluminum angle I had laying arond. Turned out to be easier than I expected and worked pretty well.

I had some yellow vinyl so I stuck a piece on here just to see how it behaved on a curved surface. Simple curves are easy. I apply it like window film, a squirt bottle and a squeegee.

You could probably go by a local sign shop and ask for some scrap pieces to experiment with.

I have a friend who runs his own vinyl shop. I am hoping to get some extensive help from him if we go this route. Looks good though.

jsb, you are a genius!!! I'd been thinking about using the home depot stuff but was hesitant becuz I didn't want a white TD and painting it just doesn't sound like it will work all that well. I will definitely be using that idea. . One other question, though. Did you use the channels that HD sells to join your sheets? I'm thinking if you seam the sheets of frp closely enough and then put the vinyl over, you should be weather tight. I won't have to mess with the channels and it will provide a cleaner look, IMO. Any opinion?

ata - Not an expert at all, but for what it's worth, I was thinking the same thing. Get the seams tight, vinyl over them, you should be good. Interested to hear other thoughts on it though.

It would be difficult to keep the joint from showing through. Hotrod Magazine Used vinyl instead of painting a car just to display the option. They found that the vinyl settled into the sanding scratches on the quick bodywork they did. The edges of the two pieces of FRP could also act as a shear when vibration and thermal expansion come in to play. I would bet the joint would be the first place the vinyl would fail.

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100245890/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Are these the channels you're talking about? I wonder about water getting in there, it also says recommended for indoor use. So, no vinyl, (looks like) no moulding, what now?

DudKC wrote:http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100245890/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Are these the channels you're talking about? I wonder about water getting in there, it also says recommended for indoor use. So, no vinyl, (looks like) no moulding, what now?

Yes, those or something real similar. I'm ok with the indoor use thing. The vinyl will provide UV resistance I'm mostly worried about the vinyl "bubbling" up around those channels, that's why I was hoping that I could get away from using them, but the butt seams between sheets of frp might be the downfall of the whole idea.

Not giving up on it yet, just got to give it some more thought and hopefully jsb has some more real life experience to share

I'm kinda scratchin' both ends at the moment

I would think twice on those channels. I used them on my tear, and after the first summer they started to curl up and shrunk. I don't think they hold up well to summer heat. I would look into something more durable.
Hate to see you go through the trouble fitting that stuff, only to have to re-do it, like me

this is a good thread Thannks for all the advice