Exterior coating

[kennyrayandersen]

Kenny Ray, if you scroll down past my pics...I listed all of the things I'm going to resin/cloth the crap out of.

I also considering cutting and installing arches to mount onto the roof and then sheet over with bendable 1/8" ply and then laying cloth and resin to the new roof.

If I get enough cloth and resin on this thing, the paint should just be to beautify right?

Sorry I missed that part, it’s just a lot of people have tried the paint only thing, and well – you know the rest of that story. I just hate to se people spend all that time and money, just to have to do it again. You don’t have to put so much fiberglass on it – just enough so that the plywood underneath doesn’t crack. The guys with the wood exteriors just use the very thin stuff, and it seems to work fine.

Besides beautifying the teardrop, the paint acts as a UV protectorant as Epoxy goes to crap under UV exposure. So actually, both are necessary. The fabric and epoxy for micro-structural reasons (doesn’t allow a crack to form) and that must be followed up with a paint that blocks the UV so that the epoxy doesn’t deteriorate. Tag team.

[foolsfortune]

Sounds good too me.

I've got another hairbrained idea as well....

(side note, it might seem like I'm taking longer to build this BOX than most of your killer looking teardrops, but in reality I hardly ever work on it, it's been "built" 3 times and I simply refuse to give up on it cause I MUST prove eh wife wrong...she says to burn it :-)

SO...in an effort to keep water off the top and make it look a little nicer and less boxy, I was considering cutting pieces of 1x4 into an arc shape and fastening them to the roof, bending plywood over them, sealing all joints and seams with resin and fiberglass cloth and THEN painting it.

Does that make any sense at all or should I stick to plan A of leaving it flat, glassing the edges and parking it angled back to move the water off?

Thanks
Mike

(p.s. diagram coming if the roof spar thing made no sense)

[kennyrayandersen]

either way will work. The key is the fiberglass, followed up with UV paint (or varnish, for the woody folk). Curved does shed water better and so would be less prone to leak due to standing water issues, but remember, a fiberglass boat can be in the water for years without leaking.

[Chris D]

How about a piece of epdm on the roof, roof edge or wrap over a couple inches and use termination bar. Comes in white cream and black. No framing required, no glass ,and no paint would be way cheaper and should last a long time.

just my take

Chris D

I have used epdm on many flat roofs with great success.

[S. Heisley]

Hi, Foolsfortune:

Doug and KennyRayAnderson are giving you some good advice which you will do well to heed. A couple things that I can add:

When you make the 'box' removable, give the bottom, and especially those bolt holes 2 or 3 coats of epoxy as they will be vulnerable to moisture.

You talk about sealing parts of the trailer (seams and edges) with fiberglass sheets. I think KennyRay is talking about putting fiberglass sheets on all of the sides and top, not just the joints and edges. Plywood that sits out in the weather is subject to delaminating on all parts of it. The fiberglass will help keep that from happening.

The picture shows what appears to be some rot by the wheel. Cut or scrape off the worst of that and seal the hole well (3 coats, if you can) with epoxy and then patch the hole appropriately. If you're going with the Rot Doctor's CPES, an inside patch followed by their 'FILLIT' on the outside will probably do the trick really well. You can get advice on the best way to do all this through their website or through the website of whichever product you decide on. I would ask for advice from the manufacturer when you purchase their product as each may work differently.

It looks like much of the wood is already showing; but, the more of the wood you can expose when you're sanding off the paint, the better the epoxy can seep down into the wood, as well as over it, to protect it. After you’ve coated the trailer with epoxy, sand it just enough to give the paint something to grasp onto. A very light sanding with 100 grit sandpaper should work okay. Wipe off the dust before painting so you get a smooth finish. (If you’re using a product that is made to bond with the epoxy you’ve put on, you may not need to do this…again, check with the manufacturer.)

With so much of the paint peeling off, maybe you’ve only put one coat of paint on your trailer, each time you’ve painted it? It’s difficult to get a good, even coat on when you only paint it once each time. The next time you paint, put at least two coats of a good exterior paint on it. If you can see your way to using a marine/boat paint (pricy), that would be even better. Paint the whole thing, let it dry, and then, paint it again.

Last but not least, (…an easy one!) store the trailer at a slight angle, maybe by raising the tongue just a tad, so water will naturally trickle off the top and have less opportunity to work its way in. Please remember to brace the wheels so your trailer doesn't move or roll. (You will still need the tarp and the air cushion area that the fellows talked about.)

As the others have said this is my opinion. What you do is your choice.

[Ageless]

but remember, a fiberglass boat can be in the water for years without leaking.

Not in WA; the rains will fill it in 3 months