Peeling Plywood Problems

[DonC]

I bought a 90% finished TD last year which the owner had built the year before. He was a carpenter by trade and did a very nice job building it. He painted the top and front with "Duralite White Elastmeric Roof Coating" and told me it would last a very long time and I wouldn't even have to cover the TD during the winter. Believing those two comments were my first two mistakes!

Now that the winter rains are over here in California, I decided it was time to do some work on it before taking it out. The other day I noticed sections of the roof looked like the wood is peeling up. But if he painted the top with roofing paint and used waterproof plywood (?)... how could that be?

In any case, it now needs fixing. I showed a couple of pictures to someone at a local boating store and was told to, "Rip the roof off and start over again with waterproof plywood." I'm fairly handy with woodworking, but I don't know if I'm ready to tackle rebuilding my teardrops roof.

I'm hoping to keep what I've got and repair the damage, if that's possible. My first thought was to fill all the gaps with something (epoxy maybe?) where the wood is peeling up. When it's dry, sand down all the high spots and then put some kind of protective coating on it and finally a good quality paint over that. Does that sound logical?

Another option I just thought of would be to some kind of skin over the whole thing. The only problem is weight. My TD already weighs 1,000 pounds empty and I only have a 4 cylinder pick-up truck to pull it with, so adding an additional item to the roof is a lot of additional weight.

I don't have garage space to put my TD in, but I will be covering it somehow in the future to hopefully prevent this from happening again.

Thanks in advance.

Don

PS - Because of the shadows, the pics look worse then they really are.

[madjack]

Don, thanks for those pics...your experience is why I absolutely hate paints, etc. for exterior finishes on a TD...regardless of others favorable experiences...right now, other than a complete rebuild, using epoxy to fix is about your only option and to doit properly, you will havvta sand off all the coating presently on the tear...seal with epoxy and use a urethane based paint over that...not an easy task but the only one that will work properly....skinning with AL sheets will work as well and will cost you around 300 bucks(or more depending upon cost/availability in your area)...it will add around 100#s to your camper...sorry I don't have an easy fix for ya...............
madjack

[tsmartin]

My first guess would be either the plywood the builder of the TD used was not a good grade or poor finish. I would think long term. Do you fix the spots to have it happen somewere else. It would not fun to fix it and still have a leak. The finish is only as good as the material it is on. I dont think a new roof skin would add but 20-30 lbs max. If you dont have a garage what about a tarp to cover it when not in use. I hope this helps

[Wimperdink]

I would sand it down smooth, apply a layer of epoxy, and fiberglass the top and repaint as madjack suggested. Its not going to be easy but its easier than replacing the top and it should be just fine from that point fwd.

[len19070]

Your experience is why I absolutely hate paints, etc. for exterior finishes on a TD...regardless of others favorable experiences

AMEN

Happy Trails

Len

[elmo]

I had the same thing happen to mine...not as bad, but did what MJ said. If that didn't turn out the way I was hoping for I was going to look into a vinly top....light and cheaper than aluminum, but so far so good!!

Good Luck!!

[Steve_Cox]

Your experience is why I absolutely hate paints, etc. for exterior finishes on a TD...regardless of others favorable experiences

All teardrops require maintenance. Paints, etc for exterior finish require lots of maintenance. In some cases they can look really nice, but you can't just leave them to weather. That's why there are so few of the oldies left. My rule for stuff I build with wood is 1. Keep the water out, and 2. If water does get in, make sure whatever the water can get to that is made of wood is encapsulated in epoxy.

Don,

No matter what you decide to do for a finish, I would seal it all with CPES and fill the cracks with thickened epoxy after you get the roofcoat off it.

[DonC]

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions. It's going to take some work to fix it, but I think once I'm done, it will be better than it ever was when I bought it.

I also thought about adding a vinyl top after I made the plywood repairs. But there's plenty of time for me to think about that. I'll try to remember to take pictures as the work progresses.

Don