Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

My camper is almost completely skinned (front/top/back). I used the same paneling material that I used for the headliner. At least the cheap paper pattern was the same. It is fairly nice 3-ply that isn't junk in the middle like lauan. I scored the pattern with 60 grit and sprayed it with water. In about 1/2 hour it pealed right off.

I was going to seal the top with polyurethane, but I got to thinking about how I sealed some of the edges of the lauan that I used for the door with diluted Tight-bond II. It dried hard and sanded nicely. What if I painted the entire roof of cheap plywood with that. Maybe it would strengthen the wood some and that stuff is waterproof. Maybe polyurethane would strengthen the wood. Whatya think?

A. Crazy idea

B. Hey, maybe he has something there

C. Polyurethane will be good enough

D. What does he think, he's building a birdhouse here?

E. Doesn't matter, cheap is as cheap does

Comments?



Ed

I think you'd be better off doing a UV resistant polyurethane on it....Titebond II only has it's qualities/specs in full strength...if you dilute it...who knows what will happen...you have that much time/effort/money into your tear...don't cut a corner...do what is going to protect it...also I noticed on the Titebond bottle that there was no info on UV....for me...I had to reglue up some Adirondack chairs that I built using it...but in all fairness, they were 3 years old....everyone has different environmental situations, adjust accordingly...just my opinion....Doug

Ed, let me heartily recommend MinWax ClearShield...it is a heavy bodied, outdoor rated polyurethane...have used it for years on outdoor projects and it has never let me down...thin it and spray several coats and forget it.......................
madjack

madjack wrote:Ed, let me heartily recommend MinWax ClearShield...it is a heavy bodied, outdoor rated polyurethane...have used it for years on outdoor projects and it has never let me down...thin it and spray several coats and forget it.......................
madjack

Madjack,

Would you do anything special with the seams in the skin? How about where the top and sides meet etc?

How about the end grain in any exposed wood?

I want to paint the top of mine, and leave the sides wood, Would here be an advantage to using the ClearShield under the paint?

My idea had been to tape and glass the seams, especially the top/side seam, then sand and put on the ClearShield on the sides and paint on the top.

Thanks.

dave

...first off, and this is just for my own taste...I would do an Al top and woodsides...one of the best examples of what I do like in an all wood TD is Steve Cox and his neighbor Woody's all wood tear...if I were going to do a glass tape job, I would epoxy the rest and shoot an auto clearcoat over it for UV protection...I have no idea how or even if you can do a paint thing over the ClearShield.....
madjack

Ed,

Titebond doesn't have any resistance to UV. I'd stick with epoxy, fiberglass or at least a UV Spar Var for the outside of your teardrop.

I would use a product like this instead:

http://www.minwax.com/products/woodmaint/hardener.cfm

Just to clarify, I will be painting over this with 1-2 coats of primer and 2 coats of latex house or porch paint. No UV worries re the Titebond. It just worked so well for my door (I was just trying to seal the edges to eliminate splintering) that I thought it might make the cheap plywood a little stronger. I could easily see painting the whole thing with diluted Titebond and then sanding to a fairly nice surface.

It was 97 degrees here on Saturday (a record for the date) so I temporarily installed the front top sheet of ply that has a major radius, pulled the camper into the sunlight and sprayed it with water periodically. Worked great. Talk about torturing plywood....

Ed

Oh! I misunderstood your intended goal. The Titebond "might" seal it, but I don't think it would actually make the wood any stronger. There are other materials designed to do that. One that I know of would be epoxy, or one of those materials designed to saturate wood to repair wood rot, for example.

On the other hand , we used Titebond as a base coat for a really nice crackle finish (decorative) , when painted over the glue would cause the surface to crackle in a most antique manner... a TD would look really retro , probably better on the interior ...You guys need to look into the many "faux" finishes that are possible ... incredible effects would really "customize" a TD...

I'd use MJ's recommendation !!!