The Dashaway

[BeCeejed]

That's encouraging. so, in a few years, may need to clean, lightly sand to provide a bonding surface, and repaint top coat. That's definitely something! Two examples of long-term outside storage with canvas and painted coating, and surviving very well. I feel a lot more confident in that method.

Will look at that list in greater detail when I get home, thanks for pointing me to some data!

[rowerwet]

Rowerwet, Since surfing the forums after posting this thread I have investigated your siggy links already and am tentatively planning on implementing Wiley Windows and actually already ordered the 2Liter shower a few hours ago because that is just a fabulous thing for a person to have. The dog doesn't like baths unless is with warm water and a shower like nozzle, and the current living arrangement prevents me from bathing her in the tub, so we've been settling for warm water in a bucket and sponge scrubs. I think she will be very happy when it comes in, and it will be our super light sand-cleaning tool for road trips! =>

I haven't decided on the exterior coating yet though your thread is in my "Trailer Resources" Bookmark folder. I have to admit I'm a little new to all these concepts so when people start throwing out Epoxies and Resins and Urethanes I have to google-translate stuff so I get the vocab words, and then try to understand the concept they're trying to explain on top of it. Gonna need a little more cogitation before I'm ready to pick one of those things.

My main concern is this thing is going to be out in the sun basically all the time. During construction I can use my grandfather's barn because he won't be keeping any cows this year, so it will be covered for painting coats and gluing things. It can't be stored there permanently, and once its done its probably off to an RV Storage lot when its not on the road and none of the ones I looked at will have covers.

When you paint a porch with porch paint and gloss every few years you have to sand it and repaint it. People on the forums are talking about cracking in resin/epoxy/whatever coats on Woodies because of stretching/shrinkage from temperature change. I'm really leaning towards a foamie which wouldn't have that - but I imagine that simply from continuous UV Exposure the coat will eventually need to be replaced. You can't go sanding canvas, can you?

you can sand the canvas, it isn't a fabric anymore really, it has now become a composite material, just like fiberglass cloth and epoxy when put together and cured become a composite. If you have filled the weave of the canvas with paint it is now a composite and the cotton threads have become more like a wood fiber since they soaked up the paint. Sanding the canvas has come up as one way to make a smooth finish with coarse canvas (drop cloth), I believe it has been tried but don't know where to point for pictures or posts.

When you imagine the coat on your Teardrop will need to be replaced, how would you go about doing it?
I expect a light scuffing with a scotch brite pad could be used to clean off any surface dirt, otherwise I expect to just paint over the top coat with another layer (I have plans to paint the tear bright yellow)

On a side note, I figure I'm going to make a canvas cover for the Dashaway (the fold up kind) for when its storing, so THAT can get UV ruined and then replaced without damaging the actual water-sealing/structural exterior. Still, 3 daysish a week at the Beach has me concerned. I'd like to operate under the assumption that the exterior is going to need to be refinished at some point in the future - and know that its doable and doesn't risk damaging the structure of the teardrop while I'm at it.

So you've left your canvas-covered Teardrop out in the elements for a long time: in your thread, you posted a status update in January (2014) and started the thread in 2011. That's an impressive track record for the coat! Still makes me wonder about repairability though. I think based on that, its probably good enough for my use, but understanding your tools inside and out helps make the project they're used on all the better/stronger. How WOULD you go about re-coating the teardrop?

I haul boats on the roof for camping trips. Our first trip involved first driving from ME to central PA to drop the kids at the inlaws (500 miles), the driving all the way back to the PA/NJ border to go camping. the kayak on the roof was strapped down onto those foam "canoe blocks" sold at most stores. I expected the nylon straps and canoe blocks to have scuffed up the paint from all the chaffing of over 1,200 miles of highway driving. After we go home I gave everything a good look over and found no chaffing or even a spot to show where the canoe blocks sat on the tear roof.
I would repair any damage to the painted canvas the same way I repair damage to a fiberglass coated wood item. Using a paint eater http://www.homedepot.com/p/Wagner-4-1-2 ... /202102612 I would removed the damaged area and feather the edges out to a nice taper, so there won't be a big buldge under the repair section, then paint on a patch to cover the hole.
The paint eater is great for refinishing projects, unlike sand paper, the scotch brite disc it uses won't touch the wood surface, but will remove all paint and fiberglass/epoxy. I use mine to refinish plywood boats, and end up with a bare wood surface again, where I can still read my pencil lines from construction, just like they were never painted.

I was gonna PM this kind of question to you but you so conveniently popped up in my own design/build thread! Like I said, I imagine if the paint ever does start wearing, you probably can't just paint over it, and you can't sand away the worn gloss and coat over the canvas like you would with wood, in order to redo it.

I think you can just paint over, but unless you want a color change, or scrape it up good on a tree or rocks, the finish will be much tougher than house paint alone, and many times tougher than you car paint, and won't need to be redone for years and years. Unlike plain old house paint, you actually have a composite layer of canvas and paint, the fabric keeps the paint from cracking and peeling, and the paint keeps the fabric from getting wet or being damaged by UV/weather. if the surface color wore off and exposed the filler color(s) (great place to use ugly exterior opps paint colors) a quick scuff up with scotch brite pads/the paint eater should give it some tooth

...or can you? The stuff is Tightbonded (II) and then saturated. THEN colored as desired with gloss exterior/rough-wear type paint. I've helped perform home maintenance, I don't always understand the science behind it.

...I told myself I wasn't gonna use Smilies but these things are addictive.

smilies are fun just like camping! (and building for me!)
I think of my links as the "cheapskate list"

[rowerwet]

I covered my tear by painting the canvas onto the wood, (no TBII on my tear anywhere), I think this is an easier way to do it, but more expensive. (I give the breakdown on costs in my instructable linked in the Painted canvas thread) When I did the Instructable, I tried the TBII, then paint method. It is much harder to keep the fabric smooth, at least with a thin stretchy fabric. from reading other build threads, I find others having to get help to lay the fabric on smooth using TBII, as it tends to be a "one shot to get it right" type of deal.
Using paint as the glue layer you get the whole drying time of the paint to work any issues out. While exterior paint is more expensive than TBII, oops exterior paint is cheaper than TBII, however finding enough of it at the right time may be an issue for some. I live in an area where I can visit 25 or more paint departments and stores within a half hours drive (six home centers are on my way home from work, and they do more business and make more mistakes)
Of course if you make a foamie, your choices are TBII and Glidden Gripper, based on my own testing. I found both glues stuck fabric to perforated foam (look for the "Now look what you made me do" thread) so well it tore the fabric when I tried to pull it off. However getting Glidden Gripper marked down is not very likely.
Whatever you choose share pictures (remember "pictures or it didn't happen!") and let us all know the details, none of us knows everything, we can all help, and watching others build threads is almost as good as doing it ourselves