On not giving up when you are a total failure

[eggsalad]

I'm 50. I don't have much hair left, and I've just torn the rest of my hair out. How do you not quit after failure upon failure?

I skinned my roof with Coroplast. In the Vegas heat, it ballooned 6" above the sub-roof, and within 6 months it died of UV failure.

Okay, I tried and failed. If at first you don't succeed...

So I tried skinning my roof with .025" 5052 aluminum, I looked here on the forums for tips. I cut it 1/4" shy of the roof dimensions, and I floated it.

Guess what? It, likewise has ballooned 6" above the sub-roof. Stretched the aluminum.

Now what? I'm tired of wasting money on this heap. I'm about to grind off the VIN, take the plate off, and tow it to a back alley someplace.

How do I go on?

[SLUG36]

how about using canvas?? maybe thicker aluminum? I assume you want to keep things light. how about some 1/4" plywood and a exterior coating? here in South East Texas, we have some brutal sun too. Colorplast, FRP, Vinyl and the like last no time in the sun. even though we have high humidity, the sub-tropic climate is brutal.
another idea would be 1/8" ply coated with epoxy.

when you are not camping, do you have your camper covered?? maybe storing it with a protective shield over the roof help alleviate the problem with material expansion.

[working on it]

Not really a failure, but a bad choice of materials. Coroplast, as most plastics are, is greatly affected by heat, and the resultant thermal expansion.

• for Coroplast, the Coefficient of Linear Thermal Expansion is
• -30 degrees C to 0 degrees C 12
• 0 degrees C to 30 degrees C 14
• 10 to 30 degrees C to 60 degrees C 21

Compare the numbers in red to this table:

therma_movement.gif (23.12 KiB) Viewed 1149 times

Given the heat of a Las Vegas (or Texas) direct sun on the flat plastic, or even aluminum sheet (also with a high coefficient number, there was inevitable expansion. If you note the high coefficient number for tin, 23, you'll appreciate why the term "tin-canning" is coined for this phenomenon. Also in the table, I see that a flat roofing surface of Titanium (C.O.E. of 8.4) would be ideal for your application, if not for the great cost. If you could replace your roof with a corrugated steel panel ($10 at Home Depot, for example), C.O.E. of 11.7 or so, as used by at least one other forum member, the expansion would be minimal. And when it rains, the sound is wonderful....

96x2.75 corrugated steel panel.jpg (13.5 KiB) Viewed 1149 times

[mezmo]

By all means, Checkout the canvas and glue and paint covering
method that is best discussed in the Foamie section. It's an old-
time proven method, pretty low tech too, in the great scheme
of things. It's been used on several plywood sheathed TDs, as well
as on the Foamies.
Here are a couple sample links:

Rowerwet's:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=45468&hilit=painted+canv
as
DesertMouse/now/DesertMoose:
viewtopic.php?f=50&t=45718

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[citylights]

. If you could replace your roof with a corrugated steel panel ($10 at Home Depot, for example), C.O.E. of 11.7 or so, as used by at least one other forum member, the expansion would be minimal. And when it rains, the sound is wonderful....

96x2.75 corrugated steel panel.jpg

Nice!

[tonyj]

Reminds me of a story about Thomas Edison (details are most likely wrong, but you'll get the idea):

Edison remarked to a reporter that he had tried 2,000 variations that didn't work before he discovered the tungsten filament to create a light bulb. "Don't you feel, at some level, to be a failure with so many attempts before finding the solution?" the reporter asked.

"Not at all," said Edison. "I now know 2,000 ways how NOT to make a ight bulb. How many people can say that?"

You may need to change your expectations based on your material choice. Aluminum will expand in the heat and bubble and move, but it returns to flat once it cools. I live in south Texas, where it is pretty hot. The flat sides of my trailer bubble out in the heat of the day, and I expect it to do so. That's one reason to float the aluminum instead of glueing it in place. It moves. It's okay. It's supposed to do that.

If you expect "flat", try fiberglass or a woody.

And at 50, stop pulling your hair out. By 60, you'll be on first name basis with every hair.

[kd8cgo]

Failure - sounds like an opportunity to me! Put a luggage rack and a cargo carrier, or a solar panel or two, or both... they will keep the direct sun off, and give you some extra space or juice! There are a million ways to think about things, no sense getting down about it! Just one more reason to make it better, faster, or stronger... well maybe not faster....

[doug hodder]

I have a similar issue on my Scotty Clone. I used .025 on the roof. It will wrinkle up in the high heat, not 6' however, but does come back to shape when it cools down. On my latest build and on my teardrops that are aluminum tops, I use .040 on the roof. The heat distortion is undetectable. I regularly have 100+ degree days in the summer. My top skins do have some 1" x 1/8" strap running crosswise on them to secure the roof to the structure cross members so that it doesn't completely "float". If you use 1 large piece the whole sheet will want to expand and contract as one piece. I typically do the roof on a standie in 3 pieces so they are independent a teardrop can be done in 1 piece. Just what I've experienced. Others experience may vary. Doug

[Colin_R6]

Spray-on Truck liner perhaps? They can do all sorts of colors now too!

[ctstaas]

Mr. Eggsalad, I was fortunate to work as an iron worker on the Getty museum in SoCal for years building railing and it had to be perfect. Some pieces needed to be worked two or three times until they were perfect. It was physically and emotionally difficult the first time though and the second time was brutal. The end result makes it worth it. If you want something done right it might take additional effort. If you want something done right, do it yourself. 90 % would not meet your expectation and the 10% who will, will charge big bucks. Stop kicking yourself. Were you born with the ability to do things perfect, one off? Remember the first time you did ______? Pretty funny looking back a long time afterwards. And when your done you can share with the rest of us so we wont fall face first because you'll be the expert at that point. Thank you in advance.
Enjoy, Chris

[GuitarPhotog]

The 0.050 aluminum of my teardrop exhibits only slight oil-canning even when the surface temperature exceeds 140F. Since my teardrop is root beer brown, it doesn't take a very hot day to get the surface above 120F.

Thicker is better.

As for Coroplast, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. Usually it will fail through UV degradation in a few months.

<Chas>

[JuneBug]

You're not a failure; you materials are failing. Sounds like simple paint or canvas, then paint will do the trick. Do understand how brutal the heat can be in that part of the country, though. Don't give up!

[migal0412]

G'day

We have similar problems with heat Downunder where temperatures can be extremely hot especially outback. There is an Aussie product specially developed to overcome some of the problems mentioned here, to put it in simple terms ... it works!

http://thermoshield.com.au/thermoshield/

Surely the good old USA cannot be so far behind us Aussies that a similar product is not available over there.

Good luck
Mike

[lrrowe]

Interesting stuff. I quickly looked a the site and wondered about the applications on top of cargo trailers given their size. But I get the impression it is pricey, not practical for small jobs and maybe is not a DIY project. Here again, that is my impression from a quick pass at it, nothing in the site stated that directly.

I wonder if anyone can find an equivalent option here in the states.

[migal0412]

Interesting stuff. I quickly looked a the site and wondered about the applications on top of cargo trailers given their size. But I get the impression it is pricey, not practical for small jobs and maybe is not a DIY project. Here again, that is my impression from a quick pass at it, nothing in the site stated that directly.

Nothing could be further from the truth, it's quite inexpensive (at least here in Australia) and very easy for just about anyone to apply either by brush or roller. I have used it a couple of times with terrific results and can certainly recommend it on a teardrop roof.

To give you some idea of it's effectiveness I was working under an iron roof in mid summer with over 100 deg temperature and the heat in the shed was almost unbearable when a friend called by. He advised painting the roof with thermashield which would cool my work area down.

I went ahead and ordered some and had about half the roof painted and went down to have a break. The difference in temperature under the painted and unpainted sides was amazing. The iron under the unpainted side was too hot to touch but on the painted side the iron was relatively cool. This sold me on the product and since then have done the roof of my motorhome and will be doing my teardrop when it's finished.

The only downside I am aware of is the finish, it has a feel much like sandpaper but this can be overcome with one or two top coats of normal exterior water based paint.

Mike

PS When I ordered my thermashield the company asked the exact dimensions of the area I was applying it to and sent me the correct amount for 2 coats without any wastage.