Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[GPW]

Finally got a little time ... will be doing the glue and fabric test today !!! Will report back with the results asap...

[GPW]

Speaking of thrifty alternatives .... found this ... on sale .... could be Handy ??? http://www.harborfreight.com/merchandis ... 66563.html

[laursand]

Hey guys-

Have been away for a while with a move and switching to full-time work, bleh!, but have been doing a lot of what you're talking about on my build. I'm starting with wood, not foam, but similar, I think.

On a tip from Steve (I think) during Caseydog's build, I got an article from Wooden Boat magazine about canvasing boat decks. It sounded like a cool idea for waterproofing/sealing my teardrop, and I thought the texture would be kind of cool, too.

Following the article, we glued the canvas on with Titebond II...


then painted it with diluted TitebondII...


sanded and painted with exterior house paint...


I love the look, just now need to find the time to finish the trim, hang the doors...


Not exactly the same, but thought I'd share. Will be looking forward to the tests!

Laurie

[GPW]

L, That sure does look really NICE !!!! I'll bet it's Strong and waterproof too ... Old school stuff worked for many many years ... well tested...

[laursand]

Thanks, GPW. The article said that they would find these old rotted out boats, but that under the canvas deck the wood would look brand new...we can only hope!

Laurie

[Larry C]

Thanks, GPW. The article said that they would find these old rotted out boats, but that under the canvas deck the wood would look brand new...we can only hope!

Laurie

While attending The New York State Fair a few weeks ago, I was checking out a display of old horse drawn carriages and sleighs. One especially caught my eye.
It was a box on skis, it looked about the size of a small teardrop. It was a mailman's horse drawn sled. It was an enclosed box that had a sliding window in the front and holes for the reins. There was a single door in the side. (I think).
Anyway.... The construction used was very light framing spaced about a foot apart with thin strips attached to the framing with spaces between, kind of like lattice in a plaster wall. The whole thing was covered with canvas and had several coat of paint on it. The skin looked original and was in excellent shape. This sleigh was from the 1800's
Don't know how they sealed the canvas, but I think canvas cover boats used some heavy lead based coating. Is the latex paint suppose to stick well to the Titebond 2? It sure looks great, hope it holds up.

Larry C

[Juneaudave]

Nice Laurie!!! I bet that will work great!!!

[GPW]

Just FYI, we did an immersion test , not by choice, during Katrina , where my friends guitar shop/factory got flooded for a month ... none of his guitars came apart/ unglued after being totally immersed in nasty water,muck, and who knows what else for that time .. His glue , Titebond II.. that speaks volumes for it's water resistance...
Also being an Artist , I've used diluted Titebond II to " size" my canvases for painting .. Oil or acrylics stick just fine to it ...

[S. Heisley]

Your teardrop is looking really good, Laurie!

[laursand]

Thanks, everyone! Didn't intend to hijack the thread, just so excited to hear someone else talking about using canvas.

Great to hear about the old sled and the guitars with the Titebond II - it bodes well!

Laurie

[GPW]

Not to mention all the old time trailers, which were canvas covered in the past , plus thousands of vintage aircraft that were "fabric" covered... Worked for them ...

[JuneBug]

As I recall, the original FolBot (folding kayak) design was canvas over a wood frame. The company goes back to 1933. Looks like they have updated to various coated nylon fabrics over an aluminum frame.

http://www.folbot.com/kayaks/

[bravebluemice]

I'd like to know more about the canvassing Laurie did.

When you glued down the canvas, was it just edges, or did you roll on the glue?

And what was the dilution in and how much?

I was going to epoxy until I saw this, and I must say it turned out beautiful!

~BBM

[laursand]

Thanks, BBM!

I actually brushed straight Titebond II onto the entire wood surface before canvasing. The glue was so thick it was hard to roll. The canvas just went on like a piece of wallpaper-kind of fun, but we had to be careful not to be off or slanted at all with 8 feet to unroll! Definitely a two-person job!

We let it dry for a couple of days, then painted (rolled this time!) with about 2/3 Titebond II to 1/3 water. Really soaked it! When it dried it was truly so rough and hard that I scraped myself rubbing up against it. Then sanded and painted.

Hope this answers your questions!

Laurie

[Postal_Dave]

GPW was talking about doing some experiments here is what I did and found out.
I took 2 cardboard boxes and basically painted the inside of them with Titebond II. In Box A, I then took a piece of Jersey type fabric and lined the inside of that box with that and then coated it with some more Titebond II. Box B, I didn't line.
It took several days for the Titebond II to dry, the fabric in Box A took almost 4 days.
I ended up giving both boxes a week for the Titebond II to dry and then I Primed them with Zinser 123, oil based primer. It usually takes that primer 2 hours to dry, but on top of that glue, it took another 3 days. I ended up giving that 4 days total before painting.
I painted the inside of the boxes then with Kilz Casual Colors Interior/Exterior Latex white paint. It took 2 days to completely dry. The lined box, Box A, got only 1 coat of paint but Box B got two coats of paint.
Sunday evening I placed both boxes outside and put 1 gallon of water in each. As of Wednesday morning, except for some evaporation, both boxes are still holding the water without problems or leaks.

The Titebond II sealed the openings in the Box B and is holding the paint. I think the glue would hold the paint a little better if I would have sanded the glue a little after it dried. In Box A, the Titebond II made the fabric rigid and water tight.
I'll put a couple of picture in my profile of the boxes shortly.