Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I am considering skinning my TD with Aluminum on the sides, but canvas/TBII on the roof. My roof has enough cosmetic defects that I don't think it will look good with Aluminum and I think it may be beyond my capabilities to make it look decent. The Canvas method looks like it might be more forgiving. I do like the look of the Aluminum sides, and 4x8 sheets are much easier to get a hold of. I'm not sure how to handle the transition from the roof to the sides. Do I skin the roof first and leave a 1/2 overlap and hope its covered by the trim? Or do I trim the canvas to the edge, and cover it with the trim on the roof?
Any recommendations?
Thanks
Tom

Socal Tom wrote:I am considering skinning my TD with Aluminum on the sides, but canvas/TBII on the roof. My roof has enough cosmetic defects that I don't think it will look good with Aluminum and I think it may be beyond my capabilities to make it look decent. The Canvas method looks like it might be more forgiving. I do like the look of the Aluminum sides, and 4x8 sheets are much easier to get a hold of. I'm not sure how to handle the transition from the roof to the sides. Do I skin the roof first and leave a 1/2 overlap and hope its covered by the trim? Or do I trim the canvas to the edge, and cover it with the trim on the roof?
Any recommendations?
Thanks
Tom

I'd have to see a picture of what cosmetic defects your roof has. .040 aluminum is not like foil. It's stiff. It'll smooth the ups and downs unless you beat it with a hammer. If you have serious surface defects in your roof, canvass will mimic or even highlight them. (But include a pic!)

I float-skin the sides and leave the aluminum about a 1/4" proud and then flush it up with the router using a trim bit (put some tape on the skin to prevent scratches). You don't want a 1/2" gap. An 1/8" is fine. Your trim sits over your edges. (I float the top too).



Ignore that piece of trim in the photo unless you're using Fredrick's hatch building method.

I lost sleep over the skinning process of my first build. In relation to the rest of the process, it's damn simple.

Tony

even if you end up skinning the whole tear with aluminum, I would recomend running a "tape" of fabric along all of your seams, using the TBII to stick it on, and exterior house paint to seal the fabric. that way you will have the edges of your plywood sealed, and your joints waterproofed.
If you float the aluminum skin, you could seal the wood with TBII and thin fabric, top coated with exterior house paint, for much less than marine epoxy.

rowerwet wrote:even if you end up skinning the whole tear with aluminum, I would recommend running a "tape" of fabric along all of your seams, using the TBII to stick it on, and exterior house paint to seal the fabric. that way you will have the edges of your plywood sealed, and your joints waterproofed.
If you float the aluminum skin, you could seal the wood with TBII and thin fabric, top coated with exterior house paint, for much less than marine epoxy.

I totally agree with sealing things up. Especially the edges of plywood. I really like Rowerwet's tape and TB2 suggestion.

I use the RAKA brand epoxy and their 3 qt kit will do the job for about $70 shipped (it should cover the entire cabin exterior). Some other people on this forum have had good luck with polyurethane thinned 50/50 with mineral spirits. Anyone that's ever rebuilt a camp-trailer finds rot and/or mildew when they start pulling things apart.

Water eats camp trailers.

T