Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Okay, I am not going to use Aluminum on the exterior of my teardrop and want to paint it some combination of Crimson and Cream, or a deep red and a light cream color.

I don't have my plans handy, left them up at work, but what kind of wood or something, would I use on the roof that is bendable, durable for the weather, paintable and I'm making 5' wide so I would have to peice it somehow, right?

As always, cost is a factor....


thanks ===julie

Julie, For the top of mine I used a simple sheet of Luan and glued and screwed it down. Where the joints are I used bondo automotive putty. That was also used on the screw heads. Sanded down smooth and used zinsser primer. It is oil based and is a sealer primer. After 2 coats (less than a gallon) I sanded smooth and painted the roof with barn and fence paint found at Lowe's. It is oil based and when put on with a foam roller it came out shiney and streakless.
As for worries about water. I caulked the side edges with clear paintable silicon.
Worked for me. check out my gallery or www for pics of the finished product..
Hope this helps.

Julie ,did you read my post to your question on FRP in the thread about FRP? Have you changed your mind already???? Oh silly me, of course you did, that goes on all the time when dealing with teardrop builders , does'nt it??? Oh well keep on builin!!!

Julie I will say that FRP is a JOY to work with , It cuts very easy, it bends even easier , drills & glues & screws very easy too!
Easy to wash when dirty too.

Hi Julie,
I used 2 layers of 1/8" luan screwed to the frame. The curve, is a garage door track frame, and the luan bent to it faily well. I bolted it in the back with 3/8 and some metal stapping then painted everything bright red. Used Ace Hardware Hi Gloss Red. On the lengthwise seam I used the plastic weather stripping from the door also painted red, blends in well.
Gerry

Hardin Valley Magic wrote: For the top of mine I used a simple sheet of Luan and glued and screwed it down. Where the joints are I used bondo automotive putty. That was also used on the screw heads. Sanded down smooth and used zinsser primer. It is oil based and is a sealer primer.

That sounds good to me... so is your's 5' wide also? Did you have a seam running long ways across the top and then about a 1' wide piece to finish it, and the use bondo on those seams?

That's what I'm picturing.

Thanks!!!

Mine is actually 49 3/16" wide. So there for i had to run the luan across it. I ended up with 2 1/2 pieces for the top. The seams run across it.
The putty that I used was sold at a local automotive parts store (Advance Auto). It was in a red and white tube can't think of the name right now. Just used a spreader to skim it across the seams and where the screws pulled down a dip in the luan. Feathered it back about 1 1/2" - 2 1/2". away from each.
Hope that helps.

Julie...you can always use baltic birch ply...comes in 5x5 sheets in 1/8" thick ...just make a good butt joint on the material and if you want...put some glass cloth tape and epoxy on it...epoxy on the rest of the exterior can be sanded down to a car like finish and top coated...not necessary, but you probably could get by with a good quality urethane to seal it up...Doug

Julie,

Check out the thread below regarding using latex paint for boats:

http://tnttt.com/viewto ... highlight=

I brushed on a very thinned coat of epoxy on my 6mm Luan plywood homebuilt sailboat then painted it with 100% latex exterior primer and color. The finish is nice, it is waterproof and the thinned epoxy gets into the Luan fibers and helps bind them making it a little stronger. I am going to do the same with 6mm Luan for the roof of my camper but I purposely don't have any tight bends in my design.

Ed

I too am painting my tear.
If you take your time you can make the seam not visible.
It's just lots of sanding!
Here is the first shot after a little bit of bondo to fill the holes.....


After the side trim is installed and a little more smoothing of the bondo...



And after two coats of oil based primer.........



I used oil primer on everything and will be using oil finish paint as well.
It takes a bit for it to dry even here in Florida where the weather has been in the 60's to 70's. If temps are lower expect longer drying times.
Latex paint would probably dry quicker.
The two seams that I have are not visible now. Time will tell how the hold up to the weather and travel.
Hope this helps.

Walter

Walter, Very nice!!

Julie, you could also add some strength with a strip of fiberglass tape and epoxy resin. a little messier and leaves a slightly raised seam that you can then smooth over to a less noticeable bulge with the Bondo. I did this and if you look close you can see the seams but I decided it was worth the extra strength. After two coats primer and three finish coats of oil base it's a little less noticable but still won't be as good as Walter's.

Julie here is the final product. sorry no pics of it before primer and paint. Sorry.

From those articles on latex paint, it sounds like my decision to use eurothane for sealing the plywood, a good latex primer over that, and latex acrylic house paint for the finish will work. That's a lot of painting, but I'll be spraying and it will go quickly...I'd say 2-3 days work.

Hardin Valley Magic wrote:Julie here is the final product. sorry no pics of it before primer and paint. Sorry.

Did I read right that your roof is painted? It looks like a sheet of aluminum. Dang good job!!!

Yup, it sure is barn and fence paint from Lowe's alum in color.