How not to build a teardrop - lessons learned the hard way

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Re: How not to build a teardrop - lessons learned the hard w

Postby Hamishe » Sat May 15, 2021 11:13 pm

#throw away receipts into a draw never to look at unless returning something
#if your shed floors not level..... plays mind games with your head when it comes to interior, trailer build etc, spend the time. my next build will sub frame to 50mm angle which will bolt directly to trailer frame
#never expect to be finished, worry about the fancy bits after camping a few times, even a basic is still more functional than a tent
#take measurements/photos of spars, skeleton, cable runs etc before skinning. incase a window addition or extra shelving in the future
#dont worry about tv or stereo. not needed in todays electronic age
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Re: How not to build a teardrop - lessons learned the hard w

Postby Mark Gunter » Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:32 pm

My only big regret so far (I’m not finished yet, so not acid-tested camping yet), has been using 1/4” ply from the big box for roof and front on my standy. I used 1/2” Baltic birch for exterior walls and intended to use 1/4” Baltic birch for roof and front … but I bought less expensive ply for my interior, thought it looked great, and told myself it would be fine for exterior roof and front, after all, it was to receive a water-shedding PMF skin. All I needed was the substrate to build my skin on.

What I failed to consider was that the inferior plywood would buckle and get wavy in some areas after being exposed to the moisture in wood glue and latex paint! Of course, the canvas skin served to trap the moisture against the outer veneer of the plywood and slow its evaporation, resulting in a couple of bad wavy areas, and a bunch of small buckled areas where the veneer of the plywood was laid over knotholes in the inner plies!

Fortunately, no air bubbles beneath the canvas and these unsightly areas seem stable, but they are ugly to my eyes. Completely avoidable by spending a little more on Baltic birch.

Another mistake was washing the canvas before installing. Better to install unwashed and allow for a little shrinkage IMHO
I'm a happy man, I love my life!

My Gunter Li’l Standy build journal:
https://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=75291
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Re: How not to build a teardrop - lessons learned the hard w

Postby KCG » Thu Aug 10, 2023 10:56 pm

I've lurked long enough that I feel I must contribute. I started building this spring after looking at other peoples work for over a year, and needed to contribute a cautionary tale. My structure is 1 inch extruded styrofoam skined on the inside with 1/8 plywood and on the outside with a layer of glass/epoxy resin. This was a good structure and I am happy with it BUT I chose to fill the glass weave finish with a 2 part undercoater/primer (interlux epoxy primecoat) rather than multiple coats of epoxy resin. This was an "off label" use of the product and it can't really be blamed for the result. The solvents in the product blew through the epoxy/glass layer and badly attacked the underlying styrofoam, causing to buboes (bubbling/delamination) to form in what was to be a yacht-like finish. It was bad enough on the top (where the epoxy wet-up may have been less rich) that I had to strip the glass layer off, back-fill with a trowel grade epoxy filler, and re-glass the top. It worked out (I guess) but my baby has the complexion of a potato.
I'd show a picture, but its beyond me.
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Re: How not to build a teardrop - lessons learned the hard w

Postby tony.latham » Fri Aug 11, 2023 12:12 pm

but my baby has the complexion of a potato.


Good grief. What a tragedy. :thumbdown:

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Re: How not to build a teardrop - lessons learned the hard w

Postby Pmullen503 » Fri Aug 11, 2023 3:32 pm

KCG wrote:......... The solvents in the product blew through the epoxy/glass layer and badly attacked the underlying styrofoam, causing to buboes (bubbling/delamination) to form in what was to be a yacht-like finish. ......


Ouch! Thin epoxy/cloth can be waterproof and still not vapor proof. Not to water vapor and certainly not to organic vapors. I once did a mold plug with 4 layers of 6 oz cloth and used a bit of automobile glazing putty to fill some small imperfections. Weeks later when I was ready to lay up the mold I found ripples much larger than the imperfections I had filled. Lesson learned!
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Re: How not to build a teardrop - lessons learned the hard w

Postby Bezoar » Mon Aug 14, 2023 10:55 pm

My biggest regret was to not listen to Tony's advice about how much easier it is to epoxy horizontal surfaces - I had to do a lot of sanding of drips/runs :x on my vertical walls while the roof that nobody will see looked great!
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Re: How not to build a teardrop - lessons learned the hard w

Postby woodslanding » Thu Sep 07, 2023 8:45 pm

Here are some things I learned on my foam/fiberglass/epoxy build.

Sure is easier to get your FG saturated if you epoxy the surface before you lay it down. If for some reason you have no choice but to do a vertical layup, this will improve your odds somewhat.

Cut foam with a hot wire. It's so easy to make one yourself, and makes so much better cuts than any kind of saw. I made a hot wire attachment for my table saw, so I can use the fence for straight cuts.

Use Foam Fusion Styro-goo adhesive, and you can cut right through the adhesive with a wire, can't do that with any other glue. Plus it sticks incredibly well.

Next time, I'll cut my window openings out of wood, embed them in the foam and attach the windows to that. Getting the shape right in the foam was tough, plywood just doesn't move around as much. Plus my foam was too thick, so I had to taper around the windows. Looks cool, I guess, but way too much work.

Installed the windows (salvaged from an old topper) in upside down. Oops. There are drainage slots in the tracks, and without them the tracks fill up with water and overflow inside. Make sure you know which way is up if you use sliding glass windows.

Next time, I'll try polycarbonate for windows. The glass windows I used weigh more than the topper!

I'll also use some wood framing, so I have something to screw into to mount things.

Also, I guessed at the angle I wanted for the front (to match the back of the cab) and it wasn't quite accurate.... and I neglected to measure the height of my garage door. So I had to make some adjustments to the design midway. What a pain! Just know, every hour spent designing, measuring and drafting will save five hours of labor later.

But then... you have to start sometime!

cheers,
-eric
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