New wood sealing rot doctor or Raka?

[jp03]

Since my baltic birch is now an issue of to narrow, plan on using standard 1/4 birch on TTT. Hope it bends for outer and inner roof. Question I am having is; Since this plywood is not outdoor stuff, I think the rot doctor CPES would make sealing it quick and easy. Will other expoxy like Raka stuff adhere to it? Thinking I will still need to tape and epoxy the edges. Second question; Rot doctor uniflex 255 paint recommends two coats, at $180 / 100 sq ft coverage. I am looking at 350 sq ft to cover! OR should i just use Raka epoxy and fiber cloth to cover the roof? Then is there a paint that will adhere to the epoxy & CPES sealing? third question, do I need to seal interior and exterior with cpes? Forth ? does CPES weaken the gorilla or bonding glue?

[Arne]

I found uniflex is extremely difficult to keep clean. I wish I had take a pic of when I removed the roof vent from my tear.. The uniflex 255 under the vent was pure snow white... the rest of the tear was a very dirty white.

Others have had the same problem and I don't know why.... I did use "scrubbing bubbles" and a stiff brush on an area and that brought it back somewhat, but still not the virgin white of when I first built it....

Anyway, this time, I went with two coats of cpes on the tear and 4 coats along the wall/roof seams to seal it, and used Benjamin Moore exterior semi-gloss white as the final coat over b/m primer.... Cheaper, and easier to redo when necessary......

I also found that 2 coats of uniflex 255 still left shadows (did not completely hide underneath material)...

Uniflex is a very substantial coating... I found it very difficult to sand, so figure it would last for many years, but on no. 2, went with paint and the cpes underneath.....

just my opinion and experience.

[Esteban]

I'm sealing the plywood on my TD with Raka epoxy and fiberglass cloth. Have started rolling and brushing epoxy on the bottom of the floor over cheap Home Depot luan plywood, and on to A face quality 1/4" plywood for the side walls. It's easy and kind of fun.

Today I'll sand down the second side wall to get a smoother surface. It's necessary to sand because I stapled and glued the 1/4" plywood to the side wall frames and needed to fill in the staple divots with epoxy.

On the first wall I filled divots with a mixture of epoxy and sawdust. While that was still wet I rolled epoxy over the rest of the first side. It would have been better to let the filled divots set up then lightly sand them because the sawdust made the first side come out really rough when it set up. After maybe an hour of sanding with a ROS it came out nice and smooth.

On the second wall I filled the staple divots with a mixture of epoxy and micro balloons (no sawdust). Lightly sanded after it set up. Then I rolled a sealer coat of epoxy over the plywood which I'll lightly sand today.

This weekend I'll begin fiberglassing the sides using 3.2 oz. cloth and epoxy.

For the roof I'll use two layers of 1/8" luan covered with 6 oz. cloth for more strength. A newbie choice to be sure it's strong enough. Got some nice luan from a hardwood supplier. It's better quality than HD luan.

For the final finish I plan to paint the teardrop. Have planned to use epoxy boat paint. After reading good reviews of Rustoleum (sp?) semi-gloss latex paint in a car forum I may use it to save $$.

BTW I ordered Raka's 3 gallon epoxy kit. It looks like I'll have more than enough for a 5' x 11" teardrop including using epoxy to seal the floor bottom (a good out of the way place to practice my techniques as an epoxy newbie). When it's all done I don't expect to pay as much as it would cost to cover the outside with aluminum. And I'm more confident it'll be waterproof.

Long winded. Hope this helps. I really like how it's working out so far. Think I'll have a smooth, waterproof, good looking surface when it's all done. Reading some $50 car paint job threads has given me confidence even newbie can do a good job.

[madjack]

JP, both are fine products...CPES adds a bunch of thinners to make it penetrate better...however, all I use is the RAKA(fewer volatiles=less smell), it will penetrate sufficiently but you do need to use 2 coats to get the best results(3 if boatbuilding)...I see no need to cover the entire surface with cloth and if using edge trim, I see no need to tape edges either...a quick scuff sanding is all you need to do to use Gorilla or other urethane based glues(or just use the RAKA for gluing)...do not use a TiteBond type wood glued on already epoxied surfaces...I would use a urethane based boat paint for the outside but many have used a good quality house paint, which would probably be OK for a unit stored under cover....
madjack

p.s. I buy the 3gal Raka kit...it doesn't go bad so, if you have leftovers they can be used for all sorts of purposes later....MJ

[Esteban]

Some added thoughts on the teardrop I'm building. As Madjack says fiberglass cloth may not be necessary. It may be helpful though.

I've chosen to use it because I pieced plywood together to build sides about 53" high by 11' long. I figure the cloth will strengthen, and help hide, the plywood joints. The roof to wall edge will be rounded with a round over router bit and sealed with epoxy and fiberglass. There will be no metal edging on my teardrop. It seems nearly as easy to fiberglass the whole thing as it is to just do the edges and joints. With less filling and feathering to do to get a nice smooth surface. Sure it costs a little more. But I have little fear the plywood will check, crack, joints will fail, or leak.

A friend covered the plywood on his teardrop with epoxy garage paint. In time the plywood checked and cracked as the paint failed. He sanded the paint off down to bare wood. A pro boat builder friend of his advised him to heavily epoxy the wood, which he did by rolling on about 5 - 6 coats. I helped him as a friendly way to gain experience. He'd rounded the edges from the roof to the walls and reinforced them with fiberglass. I really like the look of the rounded over edges. I'm copying it on my TD.

Steve Frederick sells a Building a Wooden Teardrop CD that's very helpful. Even if you're not going for the full woodie look.

[jp03]

Thanks alot for the replies. Ordered the CPES for quick sealing, and plain on putting on like 4xs. May even order the Raka to add a surface coat. Using Box store plywood, lumber yards here are not very co operative. They just want to sell standard house stuff. 5 x 10 x 5 ht is my ttt. Thanks again.