Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

1/16 "or 1/8" thick foam to seal around teardrop doors. It is a wood-on wood construction with no T molding. Door is simply cut out of 3/4 inch birch walls, with a wood stop installed around interior for it to rest against when closed. Allows small bit of water in in certains situations (wind speed, volume of rain, direction-- who knows). Tried the 3/16" from Lowes, too thick for door to close. Cant seem to find the thin stuff. Plus the foam tape did not stick very well to the wood door stop anyway. Trying to avoid total redo of door to allow for T molding with a simpler solution.

Would appreciate any help on where to get the thin stuff, thanks.

Try McMaster-Carr.com. That's where I got the gaskets for mine.
Great service from them over the years.

Sam

I used a product called Weatherstrip Tape by Super-stik that I found at a local car parts store (O'Reilly's). It is described as 3/16" X 3/4" but it is very soft and compressed to less than 1/16" on the tailgate of my weekender. I didn't leave any space for weatherstripping when I hinged the tailgate, but it compressed enough to allow my barrel bolts to latch on the inside without any additional adjustment.
Note that the tailgate is the short vertical section at the rear. I used a larger D type seal (also from O'Reilly's) on the sides of the hatch.

Check with Grant. He has hatch seal that goes down to 1/16 inch, IIRC it is double-D, and the price he quoted me (a little while back) was better then anything suitable from McMaster-Carr.

Some foam weather stripping intended for home use seems to me to be open cell foam, better suited for draft prevention than a water tight seal; cheap crappy stuff.

Following are just some thoughts re: getting seals to stick to wood. Not a lot of practical experience, just the $.02 that I have gathered over the years.
First, the wood has to be sealed or painted. Don't expect the peel-n-stick stuff to stick to raw wood (forgive me if I have not given you enough credit to figure that one out for yourself, but there are many people out there watching with all different skill levels, and I like to try and help everyone, not just the OP'er). The rougher the surface the less contact between glue and wood. The more sanding dust and softer grains, the less integrity for the glue bond.

Second, don't stretch it too much while laying it down. This can put shear stress on the glue bond and will work against optimum adhesion, me thinks.

Third, don't be afraid to use supplemental glue (like rubber cement or contact adhesive) to get a better bond. 3M makes an automotive weather strip adhesive in black, but be careful, it can get messy.

Fourth, a few carefully placed staples to pin down critical areas (like corners) could be effective so long as they don't squash the seal enough to breach the "line" of the seal. 'P' or double-D shaped seal profiles are great for this because they provide an area for staples to go away from the sealing beads.

Hope this helps some.

Thanks guys, McMasters had it in 1/8 inch, ordered it and will give a try. Will probably have to totally redo it with T molding at some point, but hate to have to cut on the doors to get it to fit, so will try this first.

KC, I am big time amateur (bought homemade trailer already built and have done some mods to it), so your advice is greatly appreciated. The wood that stops the door does have a coat of spar on it. I will probably need to add some additonal adhesive to get it to stick.