Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

dakippen wrote:So, after a coat of epoxy, then 4/5 layers of spar urethane on top of mahogany plywood - I am done. Now would it be prudent to add some final coat, say a Johnson wood wax, to add that last additional layer of protection?

• Would I be considered out-of-line to suggest bed-liner? Just kidding, it would be a crime to cover that woodgrain, especially after the epoxy work. At one point, in my TTT build, after using the poly "mix" and multiple follow-up coats of Minwax polyurethane, I was tempted to leave it with woodgrain showing. I liked the look, but knew the Texas sun would destroy it rather quickly, so I stuck to my original plans to paint over the poly with silo paint and tractor paint, formulated for high UV resistance.
• good looking poly'd plywood
• reflective, durable silo paint on hatch (also front slope,roof,ceiling)
• tractor paint (Massey-Harris gray) on trailer walls (interior also)
• I had a twenty minute talk with a Rustoleum paint tech that was introducing a new UV resistant enamel spray at Home Depot, I asked him straight out if the clear enamel would last as long in sunlight as the silo and tractor paints would. He said no, that the pigments in the other coatings were better for that (I give bolts on my TTT's roof a good coating of the clear every year, as waterproofing , anyway).
• My wife wanted some outdoor UV treatment for some tables and chairs we kept on the porch (as decor, not for use), so she used some of this product

• 

  UV resistant outdoor furniture wax.PNG (105.6 KiB) Viewed 1873 times

  which might've worked, but she neglected their upkeep, and the UV (or other weather) destroyed the finish in three years.
• Automotive finishes are constantly in the sun, and paint companies and car wax companies have been dealing with UV damage to car finishes for a long time, so I researched auto waxes. My hobby used to be cars, trucks, and racing; though my vehicles were highly functional, they were not babied like the show cars many of my friends had. They mostly all swore by Meguiars waxes. I just used whatever caught my fancy, on the rare occasions I waxed them. But, even Meguiars says that wax only slows down the UV effects, not stops them.

• Meguiars wrote:Some waxes do contain UV-protection agents, but the amount of protection that a microscopically thin layer of wax can provide is limited
  The primary goal of a wax is to protect the top layers of paint that contain UV-protection agents from the paint manufacture. If you wash and wax your car regularly, your paint will be protected and you should suffer no major UV damage over the normal course of the life of the car.
  
  Don't be fooled by some companies that lead you to believe that it is the UV protection in a wax that protects your car's finish from fading and failure, this is dishonest and simply not true. Taking care of the paint you presently have will go further to protect your finish than relying on protection supplied by a liquid you pour out of a bottle, or a wax you scoop out of a can. UV protection in a car wax formula is only an extra-dose of preventative maintenance, not the end-all, cure-all that some companies would lead you to believe.
  
  UV protection for paint is much different from UV blocking ingredients for human skin. The two formulas are nothing alike and work in drastically different ways. There is no correlation between the ratings applied to the different levels of sun blocking protection for products intended for use on human skin and the ingredients available for use in an automotive wax formula. Sad to say, much of what you see advertised about the protective qualities of most car care products on the market today is simply over-exaggerated hype used to separate you from your hard earned dollars.

• I think that a good coat of wax isn't a bad idea, used for running the initial interference against the elements, but probably not as useful as keeping it clean, and covered (by car cover, tarp, or in a garage). Good work, and good luck.

working on it wrote:

dakippen wrote:So, after a coat of epoxy, then 4/5 layers of spar urethane on top of mahogany plywood - I am done. Now would it be prudent to add some final coat, say a Johnson wood wax, to add that last additional layer of protection?