Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Is there a brand of Gripper that most are using? I see a few different brands.

Gripper is a primer made by Glidden as far as I understand. Many brands of paint have been used though

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I guess I should be somewhat clearer . I read that some people use "Gripper" to help hold down canvas in some spots (overlaps , corners, etc). I realize that most any exterior house paint could be used for the final color coat. I also saw a youtube video about using Gripper and mesh screen . To strengthen corners. Any thoughts about mesh screen ?

Rusty....My take is some folks use gripper for "bedding" all the canvas instead of TB2. Seems to work well if the foam surface is scarified just a bit with sandpaper. IN either case, the outer layer of foam will separate before the bond does. The application techniques are the same - generous application, working methodically, well rollered-in.......According to those here that know such things, both Gripper & TB2 contain many of the same polymers (?)(or some such stuff), which I guess is why they call it"Gripper". According to the TB2 adherents, it has better 'bounce back' once it gets hot for self-repairing those pesky minor dents. And they say it seems to harden the canvas better. ..........
Concerning the vinyl mesh screen over foam, I too have been hoping to see some test results since viewing that video. I would've done some testing myself, but I'm spending the winter several states south of my build supplies. (Of course that's a cop-out, but the beaches, bike paths, and golf courses keep calling my name). I'll be going north in another month to resume my build. so i'll be testing it out then...........jondbar

jondbar628 wrote:Rusty....My take is some folks use gripper for "bedding" all the canvas instead of TB2. Seems to work well if the foam surface is scarified just a bit with sandpaper. IN either case, the outer layer of foam will separate before the bond does. The application techniques are the same - generous application, working methodically, well rollered-in.......According to those here that know such things, both Gripper & TB2 contain many of the same polymers (?)(or some such stuff), which I guess is why they call it"Gripper". According to the TB2 adherents, it has better 'bounce back' once it gets hot for self-repairing those pesky minor dents. And they say it seems to harden the canvas better. ..........
Concerning the vinyl mesh screen over foam, I too have been hoping to see some test results since viewing that video. I would've done some testing myself, but I'm spending the winter several states south of my build supplies. (Of course that's a cop-out, but the beaches, bike paths, and golf courses keep calling my name). I'll be going north in another month to resume my build. so i'll be testing it out then...........jondbar

Thanks for that information. I was under the impression people were using TB2 "AND" gripper, for different parts of their foamie TD builds. So it's more like your choice gripper/or TB2

I use Gripper to coat the flashing and beading before applying TBII and canvas. TBII will not bond well to the flashing by itself but does bond well to Gripper.

I'll offer some of my observations from my build. The TBII and canvas is harder than the gripper, especially when there are 2 layers like corners and overlaps.

I did a test of TBII vs. gripper for gluing canvas to foam and they both would peel off once it got started. It would pull away a very thin layer of foam with it. The foam had been sanded with 80 grit paper first. The canvas withTBII soaked in was noticeably harder than the gripper.

I think the idea of harder being better can only go so far as long as foam is the only thing in the middle of the sandwich. Some flexibility is good or else the skin would crack or break and fail. I think others have expressed the same thoughts here just worded differently.

The way to brace spans of a flexible wall of canvas and foam (for me that is) is to attach ledgers or window frames or cabinets, benches every so often so that there are no really large areas of un braced walls or ceiling. I know others have ribs inside the walls/ceiling or other framing schemes.


When I canvassed mine I sanded the foam all over with 80 grit using a random orbital sander and it really didn't scuff it as much as I would have liked. I mean it's sticking fine but I read somewhere on this forum that someone scored the foam with a handsaw which seems like a good quick way to get some substantial tooth to the foam. Of course you'd have to try it to see how it goes, you wouldn't want little nits sticking up everywhere.

I glued the unwashed canvas on the foam with a good thick rolled on layer of full strength TBII. Didn't have any shrinking except inside on the concave curves of the ceiling. After that dried I rolled on 2 thick layers of gripper on top of the canvas and went over the seams with a brush several times to get them to be less visible. Oh, after each coat of gripper I went over it with a hot iron to smush as much texture down as I could. The iron helped some with the seams too, but not as much as I had hoped for.
After the gripper 2 layers of exterior housepaint and then painted designs over that.

So, for me this begs the question. If Gripper is a better gripper, would it be best for bonding two layers of canvas together? That's question #1. I want to bond the canvas to the sides of stringers, so that I can embed a set in, embedded bond, in a depression so that the surface is flat after the top layer goes on. It's a way of bonding the stingers to the foam. Others here have reported good results with Gripper and canvas. So question no two is would it be a good idea to soak the canvas in Gripper before applying it?

Rusty.......I doubt if you'll find too many that have used only one type of glue for their build. I'm ready to skin with PMF when I return north to finish my foamie build, and so far I've used TB2 for some wood-to-wood applications, Liquid Nails for other wood-to-wood applications, Gripper for ALL wood-to-foam, and Gorilla Glue for all foam-to-foam...........I too have tried during my build to find the "best" of this or that. A lotta things will work (including the TB2 vs Gripper for PMF). A few won't. It's Ford vs Chevy; they'll both get you there in the end result. But don't buy a Yugo. ...... I've decided the key is meticulous preparation and application, whichever you choose as your "vehicle".........OK, my soapbox is getting wobbly - I'm done...........jondbar

All comes down to what you’re using it for ... We use Gripper as a Primer , what it was designed for , and for some specific glue jobs , laminating foam to foam , although it takes ages to dry /cure... We prefer to glue the canvas to the foam or wood with TB2, then the canvas “sized" with a very thin 25% -75% glue to water mix to thoroughly saturate/waterproof all the canvas fibers with glue , then the gripper applied as a primer ... then good paint ... It’s what works for us ...

Ps ... on the FoamStream we experimented with using Gripper and TB2 to attach the canvas .... in the gripper areas we had some lifting and bubbling which required peeling the canvas up and applying TB2 ... The TB2 areas ar still stuck fast after almost 3 years outside now .