Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

My wife is a huge fan of all things vintage. She regularly does her hair up PinUp styles, her entire wardrobe, her motorcycle paint job, work trailer... you get the idea. One of her summertime gigs for business is at a vintage trailer rally. She loves them. My current foamie plan is a canned ham style standee. I had a painfully labor intensive idea to help with the overall look, fit n finish. Following George’s lead on using the pizza cutter to create nice tight creases on his trim, what about a very shallow groove cut with a hot wire, on say 8-10” centers. Clean them up quickly with a folded piece of sandpaper, then roll the canvas into them. Create the appearance of horizontal metal siding. Done with care, it would look great, allow a little more forgiveness when painting stripes, etc.

When the canvas shrinks it will pull out of any negative space leaving an air bubble. Air bubbles are bad.

I suppose you could pre-shrink the canvas by washing and drying it. Definitely test that before trying on a trailer.

Actually, if I am thinking this the same way you are, might be a very interesting design concept.

So my thinking is this. Take a skill saw and cut channels into the side of the trailer. This would make a 1/8 wide channel which the canvas can then be forced into with a pizza cutter. Is this what you where thinking?

This would be great for a test.

So my thinking is this, if it works like planned, could make for a stronger canvas bond to the surface. The only drawback would be if you had to do repair work at a later date since the canvas will be glued down good in the channels.

KC true the canvas would shrink, but if the canvas was pushed far enough into the channel (which would not have to be too far) I don't see this being a problem. I could only see air getting into the channel, but not under the canvas. I would not preshrink the canvas though. I think the shrinking would make this system that much tighter and have a great result. Again, I think this is worth a test.

Example drawing.

IMO solution in search of a problem.

Is the pull-away force really an issue?

Wrapping around the edges seems to have proven sufficient IRL so far, right?

Doing this would defeat the original main purpose (afaik), where the glued canvas is adding lots of **tensile** strength which the foam lacks.

John61CT wrote:IMO solution in search of a problem.

Is the pull-away force really an issue?

Wrapping around the edges seems to have proven sufficient IRL so far, right?

Doing this would defeat the original main purpose (afaik), where the glued canvas is adding lots of **tensile** strength which the foam lacks.

You are only adding grooves for the canvas to be pushed into for a pattern. The canvas, once pushed into the groove would be saturated with glue. This being said, the fold of canvas inside the groove would now be glued together and become one solid piece. You would still have the strength across the surface of the foam like before (since we know that canvas glues to canvas quite well). Except now you have cleats that will be imbedded in the foam and in my opinion would make for a stronger surface bond. But, like I said, it would be harder to do repairs at a later date.

Also edges might be a bit more complex too...

My experience was with the slight depression in my rear hatch bustle where my license plate will be recessed. I did a small test with PMF in this area and no matter what I tried I could not get the fabric to mold from a relatively flat surface, over an outside radius, down a short slope, over an inside radius and onto the license plate flat. IIRC I was using 10oz duck and TB2.

The canvas does not behave at all like fiberglass cloth and epoxy. The TB2 is not nearly as tacky... until it is, where as epoxy is pretty thick and sticky from the get go until it starts to kick. The cotton weave is tighter and does not slip as much as the 6oz FG cloth I've been using.

The slitting idea is interesting on paper (figurative paper), but my reaction is that: 1) If the canvas bonds so tightly to itself and fits the slot so well, aside from looking very difficult to install, would there even be enough of a line to create the desired visual effect after it has been primed and painted with final coatings?, and 2) interrupting the fibers will affect tensile strength.

KCStudly wrote:The slitting idea is interesting on paper (figurative paper), but my reaction is that: 1) If the canvas bonds so tightly to itself and fits the slot so well, aside from looking very difficult to install, would there even be enough of a line to create the desired visual effect after it has been primed and painted with final coatings?, and 2) interrupting the fibers will affect tensile strength.

Good points KC that is why I suggested a test. Could work good...could work bad....We don't know till someone does a test. I for one do not have time to do such test right now. Also, what works for me may not work for others. I see that all the time.

Another concern would be as it dried would the seem stay uniformed? Test, test, test....

Another option for the design would be to just air brush the seam on. I think it would be simple enough to make a optical effect and easier to do than this technique, if it worked. Would just have to set the tip so you get a nice feather and run lines down the side. You could, if you wanted, take a thin brush and run a black strip down the middle of the feathering.