Vintage aircraft construction style ..

[teardrop_focus]

Idaho Robert

We just bought a 36 Kaycraft Kampster. It was originally covered in fabric with some type of coating.

Welcome to T&TTT!

Some if not all of the orginal Kaykrafts were covered in "leatherette"... or, vinyl, naugahyde, whatever one calls it. As I recall, these early vinyls (as well as modern boat vinyl used in powerboat upholstery) had a fabric backing. Perhaps this is what you're seeing the remnants of.

Pottercounty

I would be curious to find out how it would behave in a 25 +knot cross wind...

If the teardrop in question has it's center of gravity in a reasonable position, crosswinds should prove to be little concern. Keeping your heaviest camping gear packed low should be every teardrop trailer owner's goal.

Granted, this means a design that has the cabin floor as near to the wheel's spindle height as possible. Dropping the battery mounting through the floor would aid a lower CG as well. Don't put a 60-lb A/C unit up high in the galley bulkhead... that sort of thing.

Having a fabric top on a teardrop would assist in achieving a lower CG, therefore a more stable trailer.

[glassice]

When I was a kid we build boats from wood and get Canvas from JC Penney's and linseed oil then after it dry and shrank paint with expy paint they hold up for 5 are 6 years and never let water in

[GPW]

This is all Most encouraging !!!!

[doris s.]

What if a builder could use modern tenting material-rip stop material? The modern tents that I have are very water tight. The trick would be how to secure it. I would screen the roof first then add the tenting and secure it with turn buckles so I could be removed on hot summer evenings and replaced when needed.

Doris

[GPW]

that's a COOL idea ...

[IASCOTT]

Back in the day airplane were covered in linen or grade A cotton. The fabric was glued to the frame using nitrate dopes. Then the fabric was dampened with water to start the initial shrinking. Then the fabric was treated with a fungicide. Then clear shrinking butyrate dope is sprayed or brushed on to continue the shrinking of the fabric. Once desired tautness is gotten which is usually 3 to 4 coats which fills and seals the weave. Then you switch over to non tautening butyrate dope which you mix in silver powder this is you UV protection. It takes 2 to 4 sprayed coat to achieve a no light penetration on the fabric. Then you go to spraying colored butyrate dope for the final finish.

Scott

[IASCOTT]

If I was going to do a fabric covered tear I would use dacron fabric which you can shrink with an iron. For the finish I would go with the Stewart System. It's a water base glue and finish. It isn't hazardous and doesn't stink up the shop. I am currently using this system of a Piper Cub and I so far I like it better than the other fabric covering system I have used.

http://www.stewartsystems.aero/

Scott

[Lesbest]

Your WWI fighters were covered with Irish linen-- both sides used it because it worked so well.

Les

[Prem]

Les's tag reads

Music is like chocolate.......you can't really enjoy it unless the rappers are gone.

OMSDD! That is SO right on!

Prem

[schaney]

Along the same lines, here is the frame for a fabric covered camp trailer I've been playing with. The cover will be some type of PVC or urethane coated fabric.



I've also been looking at Geodesic Airolite Boats building methods as a way to do a soft sided camper.

[WesGrimes]

I thought about doing that with my cabin frame

[GPW]

Lots of covering material options... Sorta' take your pick !!! Old School Linen , or the new synthetics ...
Shaney , I was impressed with the Cargo Pod , but that metal frame is something else ...
Wes , that egg crate has got to be STRONG eh ! Perfect for a fabric covering ... are those plywood formers ???
You guys are Amazing !!!

[WesGrimes]

Wes , that egg crate has got to be STRONG eh ! Perfect for a fabric covering ... are those plywood formers ???

I built it out of 1cm sheating (The cheap stuff...) so it is strong, but could be better if better quality plywood was used...
The only problem I had was that it was prone to twising and bending until I put the plywood skin on it. A fabric cover might have done the same for it also. My original intention was to build a plug to pull a fiberglass mold off of, so weight was not the objective. Now that I am using it as the cabin, I might have tried covering it with fleece and fiberglassing the cloth. There are lots of videos on youtube of people doing this to make subwoofer speaker enclosures for cars.

[Corwin C]

+1 on using the dacron rather than the cotton/linen. I had to learn how to work with both in college (haven't done any since.) If I remember correctly the dacron was much cleaner, easier, the end result looked the same. Also, I believe that the dacron is more fire resistant. If you build with the natural fibers and use butyrate, aluminum powder and nitrate on them, please keep it away from any flame source. I would hate to see someone loose a lot of hard work in a puff of smoke (literally ... they burn that fast) or even worse, get hurt.

[GPW]

It'd be like another Hindenburg !!! NO Smoking !!! Caution cooking ... maybe electric hotplate ? No open flames... Just like an old plane eh ? We'd best use more fire resistant materials...

Being an old plane guy , you know , you can add a layer of fiberglass on top of a light fabric for a tough finish, the canvas "look" with fiberglass durability... Adds extra weight though ...