Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

First off I want to apologize for posting my question in the wrong area. With that said.. how is everyone today? It is sunny and a nice breeze here in Baltimore. My question is.. has anyone used a quality wood seal and simply painted over it? I tend to over think things OFTEN. I have been tossing ideas around and that is one of many. My other one is.. if I decide to cover it in fiber glass, does anyone know a distributor that is reasonably priced? Notice my over thinking, simple to labor intensive.

Hi, I have deleted the other post you put up. As the author of said post, you have the ability to go in and delete it, provided no one has posted a reply.
Cheers
Paul

Jerry, a lot of people seal their wood with a variety of things like; epoxy (without the fiberglass cloth), CPES (penetrating epoxy), thinned varnish, and I'm sure some others I'm not thinking of at the moment. Let me stress that not everyone (probably not even the majority) covers their teardrop with fiberglass cloth like I did mine. I'm happy I did it. If I built another one I would do it again (but with lighter weight cloth), but it certainly isn't the only way to get waterproofing on your wood.

Using a lighter weight cloth will save you some money on resin and hardener (and that's the expensive part). The heavier the weight of the cloth, the more epoxy is will take to wet it out and the more fill coats it will take to smooth out the weave pattern.

I get my epoxy resin/hardener and cloth from Raka. I have seen recommendations here for MAS and also for Aeromarine. All of those are going to be cheaper than going to West Marine and buying the West System (although I used West exclusively for many years and it is good stuff.) You'll save yourself a little time and work by picking a non-blushing hardener, otherwise you may end up needing to clean the blush off before you apply your finishes.

I hope that's helpful.

When I did the escape hatch, I covered it in CPES, and then painted it with oil based porch and floor paint.

I had delamination within a year.

I blame it on the baltic birch.

Here's a couple photos...






My current build, which is very similar to the escape hatch, has fiberglass and resin on the roof, covering all the plywood edges. I'm still up in the air if I should cover the edges where the hatch touches the sides with fiberglass and resin, or just resin.

Mike...

Mike...

I sealed my plywood weekender with CPES and painted it with Rustoleum over Zinsser primer. I also glassed all the corners with 4" fiberglass tape and epoxy. I used Smith's Fill-it for all the little cracks and blemishes. We've been camping for about eight months now in all kinds of weather and lots of miles and the paint job is holding up really well.

Thank you Miss Becky, I kinda figured with the sailing background you have, that was the incentive for the fiberglass work. Although I like the idea, my pocket has a different opinion. @ Mike.. I see what ya mean with the edging coming apart. That was a concern of mine as well. I had already given thought to glassing the edges. I was trolling through the X-II build, I noticed Zach sealed and primer/painted his rig. which looks awesome by the way. After some thought and reading, I think I've made my choice. I'm gonna seal the heck out of it, glass the edges and prime, prime it some more, and paint it.
I would like to thank you all, those that return answers to me and those that have builds on here that I can read up on. In one way or another, you all have helped me a great deal.
Jerry S.

I originally used CPES and marine varnish and ended up with leaking and water damage within a couple of years. I know have used Raka Epoxy and a camo cloth to seal it. I would recommend using a fiberglass epoxy (with or without cloth). It's more expensive but it will be done right the first time.

http://www.raka.com/

I love that camo covering!! Very cool idea. I have seen lots of fabrics (Realtree has some great ones) that would make an awesome covering combined with resin. Very expensive compared to actual fiberglass cloth though.

Oldragbaggers wrote:I love that camo covering!! Very cool idea. I have seen lots of fabrics (Realtree has some great ones) that would make an awesome covering combined with resin. Very expensive compared to actual fiberglass cloth though.

More expensive and harder to keep the air bubbles out from under the cloth. If I didn't have some VISIBLE damage, I would have just clear coated with the resin.

Hi. Wondering what thickness of fiberglass Becky would recommend. I'm new and thinking of following your lead- 1/8 skins both inside and out with maybe 1 inch frame/foam insulation with fiberglass to keep it tough, light and waterproof. The fiberglass intrigues me. I'm a sewist - making competition Irish dresses and I think I would be comfortable working with it. And sounds like it would make a good base for a fun paint job! Bottom line... I only want to do this once. While I don't see a lot of rain or damp, when I do it seems to always be sideways!!! So building more like a boat makes sense to me.

I used Baltic Birch for my sides. I put down 2 or 3 layers of CPES and then painted it. Three coats of primer and five coats of Valspar Supreme Acrylic Enamel.

It's been 4 years and no problems so far. Most people look at it and think it's fiberglass, they usually can't believe it's painted wood

Planovet, that is one slick and beee-oooo-tiful paint job.

Oh my. I want shiny.

mikeschn's post with the pictures of the ply delaminating got me rattled. I've been planning on the CPES + enamel + no trim route, but now that doesn't look so good. What do you think happened to mikeschn's baltic birch? Was this a wood problem, a lack of trim, paint or sealer problem?

Oldragbaggers wrote:Planovet, that is one slick and beee-oooo-tiful paint job.

Thank you. A lot of work went into that. I guess that's why it's still holding up after 4 years of use.

As far as Mike's delamination, I have no idea. I have not seen it in person.

I used CPES before I primed and painted, paying special attention to the exposed edges. The paint I used is actually a trailer paint. I wanted the color of the sides to exactly match the trailer so I used the same paint they used to paint the trailer. It comes with a hardener that makes it glossier and dry harder and faster.

When I painted it, I had no idea if it would hold up or not. But it's a very different paint from the porch and floor paint that Mike used. Apples and oranges...

To make a long story short, you CAN paint a teardrop and have good results.