Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I've seen where folks have preglued bedsheets to the interior of their foamies before assembling, but has anydone canvassed the outside as well? This would cut way down on my construction time, and I plan to put at least 1-2 layers of fiberglass tape over all major connection points (ie -roof to body, body to floor, etc).

Current plan is buy panels early next week, cut them out, and shoot for starting assembly next weekend. This will be primarily a cargo trailer, so I may just go witn one internal bulkhead from floor to roof about 2 feet from the rear for now before putting in shelves.

Also plan to use Glidden Grabber instead of T2 for practically all gluing of the canvas and foam joints. Any problem with this?

Thanks!

-John

Swank , pre gluing the canvas really works well , everything flat is much easier ... once you get it assembled , then you can add the “reinforcing strips" on the outside ...

So no problem then if I don't overlap both the side and top canvas on the initial pass then, correct? Cause if that's the case, I'm gonna be in hog heaven

I figure the fiberglass is going to be at least as strong as the canvas overlapping would be, and far simplier to make neat and to deal with overall. Probably a double layer at the floor/side connection, and single layer at the roof. Sound OK?

Sounds Great to me ... JMHO ... I believe we even determined that the little bits of fabric that would be in between the joins would actually make them Stronger ... so that’s cool too ...
Ps. I actually used the standard 4” wide FG tape (on a roll ) to cover my seams on my first Foamie , glued with T2 over the canvas ... That worked , no problem , and left a neater seam too ...

What are your thoughts about omitting the stringers altogether? I'm not going to be climbing on top on this, and it's only 48" wide with a 1.5" foam roof. I've even been playing with putting them in AFTER skinning the interior of the roof (ie, I wouldn't be cutting notches in the sides for the stringers, just gluing them to the roof and canvassing/fiberglass taping over them with a liberal amount of T2, Glidden Grabber, or just latex.

If I end up going the overkill route and putting a layer of fiberglass over the roof canvass, I know I'm going to bag dealing with stringer altogether. Hell, I might omit the roof canvas and just use 3oz fiberglass instead for that. Simple and strong (enough) = good in my eyes.

Mine has no stringers , or wood reinforcing at all ... just a foam box ... a little framing around the door and window is all ... many ways to "skin these cats" , do what You think is best !!! You’ve seem what we’ve all done ... Pick what You like, what’s comfortable for you to do ....

There have never been any rules here... just suggestions and examples ...

GPW wrote: Ps. I actually used the standard 4” wide FG tape (on a roll ) to cover my seams on my first Foamie , glued with T2 over the canvas ... That worked , no problem , and left a neater seam too ...

So did you use fiberglass cloth and used TB 2 in stead of epoxy? If not, I was thinking about doing that instead if using canvas. Do you think this would work and be just as good as using canvas?

Basically , fiberglass is a fabric and glues well with T2 ... Just everybody has been Trained (programmed - brainwashed) to use resin with Fiberglass ... A “tradition” ... just like the Old timers that traditionally covered their canvas with White Lead...
Not that we follow traditions around here , or we’d all have wooden trailers ...

so it seems that most use one application of canvas for the skin, would one layer of fiberglass be enough?? My gut tells me that two layers of fiberglass cloth is needed but I don't have any experience with these materials and don't have time to do tests and will have a limited build time.

Since there are no rules here , it’s probably Best to follow your Gut feelings .. Worst you could do is “overbuild” and that’s Not a bad thing ... Common practice among the wood trailer builders ...
If it was me and planned on using two layers of glass cloth all over , I’d use the epoxy resin to take advantage of the maximum strength of the “system” ... That would make the Best job !!! For using just the FG tape for reinforcing , the T2 and Paint works fine ...

... Just everybody has been Trained (programmed - brainwashed) to use resin with Fiberglass ...

Brainwashed...lol. Just like everyone's been brainwashed that steering their car is easier with a wheel than a lever?
Hehe...just giving you the gears...


Seriously though, your layup will depend entirely on the weight of the glass cloth you choose.
FWIW, I'm using two layers ('units') of 6oz cloth on the outside. I could go with a single unit of 12oz, but breaking that overall weight into two units lets me lay it up with the thread directions of each unit crossing each other. That's much, much stronger than just applying a heavier weight (given the same weave).

As GPW's evac trailer shows, you can use other products with the glass. All of the engineering that's gone into it, though, has been for use with styrene or epoxy resins. If one were to stick with an adhesive that had similar viscosity and film tension to those resins, it should work passably well.

bmiracle2 wrote:so it seems that most use one application of canvas for the skin, would one layer of fiberglass be enough?? My gut tells me that two layers of fiberglass cloth is needed but I don't have any experience with these materials and don't have time to do tests and will have a limited build time.

FWIW, I built the Road Foamie with one layer of 6 oz fiberglass and epoxy and it seems plenty strong to me. Can't imagine what a second layer would do except add some weight. I'm not trying for bullet proof or anything like that either. If someone took a hammer to my trailer it would definitely damage the skin, same to be said for aluminum, FRP or many other builds.

I'm just trying for sturdy and weather resistant

“ I'm just trying for sturdy and weather resistant “ ...me too Plus something to haul the Beer ...

Yup, definitely gotta haul beer!!

Quick update. Things are going pretty much according to plan. Working on the hatch and doors over the next week, and should be rolling by next weekend. Thanks for everything!