Aluminium or Paint or Fiberglass Skins?

[Design on the fly]

Hi I'm new to this project and have got the bug to build a 4x8 Benroy.
I have the HF trailer and basic plans. have not desided on how to skin it.
I'm leaning on Fiberglass anyone have any tips or suggestions?
Also Tips and suggestions on bending plywood for the ceiling would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

[pete.wilson]

Hey

Along with his question, where does one buy Filon? What type of paint should you use if you want to paint Filon? What kind of paint over plywood? Should the ply be sealed before primer/paint?

Pete Wilson

[AmyH]

I am planning to paint the roof of my tear with marine paint (from George Kirby Jr., back in Maine). I am going to seal the plywood first with epoxy, then prime it with Interlux Pre-Kote (which has some leveling characteristics, for spots I might miss during prep), and then put two to three coats of the marine paint on. The folks at Kirby paints have been incredibly helpful in answering all of my questions related to compatibility of different products (West System epoxy, Interlux Pre-Kote). Also, I am using Famowood to fill in the staple holes and clean up the edges where the ply meets the sides. After the roof is painted, I plan to put aluminum trim on. The sides are wood, and they have been fiberglassed and epoxied. They will be finished off with 3-5 coats of marine varnish.

If you take a look at the Generic Benroy plans that Mike put together, he recommends using Fill-It to fill in nail/staple holes, CPES epoxy to coat the wood (it soaks into the wood to provide really great protection) and then paint with Uniflex 255. You can get all of this through Rot Doctor. Seems like a great method if you want to paint. I already had West System epoxy in my shop, so I am going with it.

[Tiki Dude]

To prevent plywood cracking over time I suggest putting on a layer of 2-6oz. fiberglass sheathing cloth with epoxy. Then epoxy primer it and marine paint it. This is good for years of weather protection.


Chris
http://retrosurflounge.blogspot.com/

[Ron Dickey]

I painted mine with house paint semi glossy on the sides and Glossy on the top ( exerior paint ) only time will tell but I know one thing it was a lot cheeper.

Ron D.

[Dee Bee]

Fiberglass can add unexpected weight/expense and certainly extra time in construction. I went with exterior grade house paint. I touch it up annually and store the Td under a tarp from weather. Seems to be working well.

Dee Bee

[BaerClaw]

this stuff looks good i think i will try this stuff or deck paint on my build this spring! both are good with UV light.

http://www.westernwooddoctor.com/manowar.htm

[Randy G]

Hello, I built a benroy and used fiberglass on the top, photos in the album, I bought the fiberglass from the local RV store, they let me use the glue from the shop at no extra expense. I like it.

[Ken A Hood]

You could always start off by painting it, and see how it holds up. The in the future, you could always cover it with aluminum/filon.

I think this is what I'm going to do, once I get going. Going to see what's out there (paint wise) just so I can get camping, and later on (after saving for it...) cover it with aluminum/filon

[schaney]

For plywood camping trailers I like Durabak as an exterior finish. You have the option of a smooth or textured finish. If you're using it over Fir I would first seal it with CPES to reduce to chance of checking over time. Over marine grade Okoume I use it directly on bare wood with great results.

Good luck with your Teardrop.

[Steve F]

I painted mine, first with a two part epoxy resin, the initial coats soaked in and further coats built up a skin. Then I painted over the top with an epoxy paint, like rustoleum. It turned out looking pretty good and should be tough when fully cured (about 7 days to get good and hard)

Cheers
Steve

[bgordon]

Hi,

Steve Frederick, a teardrop master on this forum, uses fiberglass to cover his woodies.

By the way, I also thought fiberglass was very heavy. In actual fact it is about four to five times as heavy as plywood, but because you use such a thin weave of fiberglass, and little resin, it really is not heavy AT ALL! As a matter of fact, one sheet of masonite will weigh MUCH more than a simple layer of fiberglass covering.

Remember that homebuilt aircraft, which HAS to be very light, is often built from fiberglass.

If you paste it on real good, it will be heavy, but if you are weight conscious, it will give you a better strength to weight ratio than plywood!

[Esteban]

I question the conventional wisdom that fiberglass is heavy.

I'll be fiberglassing the sides, hatch and roof of a 5x11 teardrop. My order from Raka just arrived. The total UPS shipping weight was 43 lbs for 3 gallons of epoxy, 16 yds. of 60" fiberglass cloth, several brushes, a dozen roller covers, 3 pumps, a half dozen mixing cups, a lb. of glass beads, plus the shipping boxes.

Two weeks ago I helped a friend epoxy a teardrop about the same size as the one I'm building. He used less than 1-1/2 gallons of epoxy, using no cloth, to cover it on the top and sides with 5 coats of epoxy - so I'll probably have plenty of epoxy left over when I'm done with mine.

I googled "fiberglass weight" and found a boat builders chart which showed that the weight per square yard of expoxied fiberglass cloth is, as a rule of thumb, double the weight of the cloth alone.

If that's true, for the roof where I'll use 6 oz. cloth, it'll weigh about 12 oz. per square yard. Said another way it's 3/4 of a pound per square yard. On the sides I'll use 3.2 oz. cloth so they'll be even lighter per square yard.

The weight of the epoxy and fiberglass outer skin on my 5x11 teardrop trailer will weigh well under 43 lbs. when it's done. It may only weigh about 15 - 20 lbs.

That seems much, much lighter than aluminum, the traditional covering for teardrop trailers. It'll cost less too.

[Ken J]

I would like to know the step by step process of covering the teardrop with fiberglass - its something I want to do, but don't know how....

Ken J.

[Esteban]

I would like to know the step by step process of covering the teardrop with fiberglass - its something I want to do, but don't know how....

Ken, I bought Steve Fredericks' Building A Wooden Teardrop Trailer CD for $50. He demonstrates, step by step, how to do it. Steve favors building woodies. His Gallery has pictures of his beautifully built custom trailers.

Joanne built the Desert Dawg. On her website she documents, very well, all the steps of building her camping trailer that she fiberglassed and painted.

Doug Hodder linked to helpful online epoxy users manuals. It's a sticky in the Teardrop Construction Tips & Techniques page.

I'm a newbie to fiberglassing and building a teardrop. I'll share information and photos as I build mine, too. Skinning it with fiberglass appeals to me partly because it frees me to build a teardrop a little wider than 5'. Aluminum wider than 5' is difficult to find. It should be very waterproof with little worry for leaks or rot when it's done. After it's fiberglassed I plan to paint it. Probably with epoxy boat paint. I believe it'll cost less and be much lighter than using an aluminum skin. We'll see.