Hi from Saltspring Island on the west coast of Canada. I have been thinking about a td for the past year. The idea is to build an ultra light td to tow behind our ev and do a 3 month trip from coast to coast ( and back again hopefully). Want to keep it super light and low to help with range but will keep the traditional td look. I have reviewed a lot from this forum already but some of the posts are rather old which in some cases would be good if the writers could let us / me know how things have held up. Plan on using almost all foam with as little wood or other structural material as possible. Exterior will be pmf or fiberglass or .03 aluminum sheet glued directly to foam. Interior formica and door skin again glued directly. My concerns are as follows
Pmf seems easier to work with then fiberglass but will it hold up glued directly and in our humid wet climate. Also what kind of impact resistance does it have.
Fiberglass costly and looks messy. Glue seems to jump out of the tube on to me at the best of time so this could be a nightmare
Aluminum how to glue especially with its expansion. I have built a 39 ft offshore sailboat out of aluminum and know how much it expands and contracts.
I have seen Lucy's utube on her td build for a vespa where she tests glues. She really likes the foam fusion unfortunately I can't easily get it here but will if it's the thing to use. I have tested epoxy with silica and that seems to bond foam to foam very well but will it stay that way ie go brittle. Have also tested 3m super 77 and it works well on aluminum and door skin but seems to stay tacky and enough force will pull layers apart. So to review
1. Pmf directly to foam
A. Does it work and is it long-term ?
B impact resistant ?
2. Aluminum how to stick it and do I have to worry about expansion on a 8 ft length?
3 Epoxy will it stay stuck to foam and not go brittle both as a foam to foam joint and an exterior cover with fiberglass?
Well that's more then enough for now if anyone reads this thanks inadvance and thanks for this forum and to all the contributors for their ideas and suggestions cheers