#1

[KCStudly]

Good work.

Did you have any trouble with bubbles?

I made an attempt to cover the recessed area around my license plate today with bed sheet and ran into some trouble with bubbles coming up as it dried. Tried to push them back down but it didn't work. I did wet the fabric to help eliminate wrinkles, but I only glued the hatch area not the sheet, so maybe that was the difference.

[ghcoe]

No I did not have any bubbles. When I first started to glue to the wall it seemed a little too thin to just glue the body and then press the canvas into the glue. Seemed to me just not enough. So I started to glue the back of the canvas. I would brush it on till I could see that the canvas was totally covered with glue. Also, I kept the canvas damp. I think that helped to get the glue to wick into the canvas better. By gluing it this way is seemed that once I finished coating the body and the canvas it almost acted like a contact cement when I press the two wetted pieces together.

[ghcoe]

On to the door. I marked out my door frame once the glue dried.

Door marked

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I had painted glue into the door area (sizing?) so that the razor blade would make a clean cut.

Razor blade

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The cuts turned out beautiful.

[ghcoe]

After the cuts I used full strength TBII to glue the flaps back. First I would spray the flaps with water and then paint the door jamb and backside of the canvas. I would make sure to work the glue back into the area that would bend real well. Then I would roll the roller along the edge slowly folding the flap back and then finally to smooth out the flap against the jamb.

Rolling the edges

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A couple of finished photos.

Clean corners

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Threshold

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[ghcoe]

Then on to the window. The window has radiuses so I had to make some pie cuts.

Window marked out

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Radius cuts

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[ghcoe]

Now to the body edging. I use a piece of scrap flashing for my template. Just slid it along and marked it. Then the razor and same gluing technique that I used for the door and window. Turned out pretty good. The radiuses smoothed out just fine with some water and rolling.

Using a simple template

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Edge cut and glued

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Cut and glued

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[KCStudly]

Nice work.

[ghcoe]

Thanks KC.

Some shots of the finished side.

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[GPW]

Now That’s how you do NICE Straight seams !!! Looks Super GH !!!

[ghcoe]

Now That’s how you do NICE Straight seams !!! Looks Super GH !!!

Thanks. It turn out better than I had ever hoped. Now I just have to hope the rest of the canvasing turns out just as good.

[dales133]

Realy nice work.
I glued bedsheets to the roof ply on my build and trimed it off flush with the edge as to wrap the wall canvas over it so my seams on the roof.
My question is... how hard did you find it to manipulate the canvas with the dried glue around the corner and have it sit flat?
I need to wrap it around the 3mm hatch skin edge aswell witch needs to be trimed straight to finish against the outter rib,do you see any issue with dry glued canvas folding like that?
Coming along verry nicely, what colour do you plan to paint it?

[ghcoe]

In case anyone is wondering, I am using the Harbor Freight canvas drop cloth for the fabric. They sell a 12x9 Foot drop cloth and in my case was just barely enough to cover the entire body without a seam. I even had to cut the edge seems open so I could have enough to wrap around the top and ends. The area I was covering was 8'2", but I believe the canvas did shrink some. I had watered down the canvas down the night before to get some of the bad wrinkles out prior to gluing. I had to do a bit of pulling near the bottom to get the canvas to stretch enough to cover into the hatch area. I think that on the other side I am going to try to glue without pre-wetting the canvas. The bad wrinkles that were still present seemed to smooth out fine with some extra water and working them with the roller. I had absolutely no shrinking of the canvas once applied on this side though.

I bought two canvas drop cloths and found this one to be nice and uniform. There is a seam near half way on the long length, but did not pose a problem for me for this build. I will be able to do the other side of the trailer without the seam getting in the way. Two 8'2" by 4'2.5" walls for the price of $14.99 with some extra left over is not bad.

I have not looked at the other canvas drop cloth yet, but I do know that sometimes the weave is a bit off. I have seen them at the store were the weave is a little loose. I just pick through the ones there. You can only see a small portion of the cloth, but it seems so far that if what you can see looks good then the rest seems to be fine as well. Plus I figure once you take it out of the bag check it over real well and if flaws take it back and exchange it.

[ghcoe]

Realy nice work.
I glued bedsheets to the roof ply on my build and trimed it off flush with the edge as to wrap the wall canvas over it so my seams on the roof.
My question is... how hard did you find it to manipulate the canvas with the dried glue around the corner and have it sit flat? I did not try to fold or cut any canvas that was coated with full strength TBII. I diluted the TBII 3 to 1. I also misted the canvas with water where I knew I would be cutting before applying the TBII mixture. The canvas was still pretty stiff. After cutting I sprayed water on the canvas again before the final application of full strength TBII coating to the edge. This seemed to help soften up the canvas so that it could move around enough to lay flat. I just had to work it some with the roller, but eventually it smoothed out. It really was not too difficult.
I need to wrap it around the 3mm hatch skin edge aswell witch needs to be trimed straight to finish against the outter rib,do you see any issue with dry glued canvas folding like that? Not really understanding this question. If you mean that you are folding it around 3mm plywood I think it should work. I would wet it down real good and work it. The glue will get real tacky once it starts to dry. Just work with the canvas until it gets tacky enough to hold the canvas.
Coming along verry nicely, what colour do you plan to paint it?Not sure yet.

[OP827]

This is one of the cleanest canvas work I saw on this forum and your method is great, so next time you would probably use some pipe with clamps to gradually unroll the canvas down. Nice work, great progress!

[GPW]

Just like to mention bedsheets which are finely woven , when wet or glued , can become airtight ... which is why it bubbles .... trapped air ... So if you’re ironing out bubbles , best poke a small hole in the edge of the bubble so trapped air can escape and both surfaces can touch and adhere. Otherwise , trapped air between fabric and foam , is heated and expands in the sunlight and that’s what makes it “Bubble “ !!!

It would be Good for all to bookmark Georges covering pictures ... That’s How it should be Done !!!

We might suggest when sizing cloth to be cut (which as you can see from George’s pics makes the NEATEST job ever. ) , the sizing can be something like Non waterproof TB or Elmers , glue (highly thinned ) which will act as a suitable sizing for cutting and trimming the edges Neatly , but will melt and be displaced by the waterproof glue (T2) when adhered to the foam . That way the edges won’t be STIFF and can be re-wetted and worked more easily ... Just a suggestion