My Epiphany - Sanding - Sanding - Sanding

[parnold]

Paul, I'd contribute a couple of bucks if you come mow my lawn (I'm too busy building to take the time ).

Thanks for the chuckle on the PB&J.

I did my lawn when I got home Friday night. Not enough light left to really accomplish anything on the trailer. I love PBJ sandwiches actually, with a tall cold glass of milk. Traveling alone, my menu can sometimes be very simple, and basically I am really cheap. I spent my life saying I wouldn't be as cheap as my father (thank goodness he doesn't know about this web site or he might read this), but I am just as cheap (frugal is the word he uses) as him. Funny thing is, my oldest son, has taken cheap to a whole new level. He won't even carry cash on him, because the temptation to spend it may get to him.

KC, hopefully we'll meet sometime in the near future, as next year I plan on trying to make one of the New England area gatherings. I've already met a couple people from your neck of the woods from the Tearjerkers group. I am very intrigued by the foamy concept, but afraid to try it myself so I'd love to see what you've created.

[KCStudly]

I'm sure we will hook up sooner or later. The wife might not be much into camping, but I at least will want to enjoy the fruits of my labor. I haven't looked into the local Tearjerkers scene much yet. I have been single mindedly focused on returning to Poet Creek. I am worrying more and more that I will not be ready in time for our already applied for vacation time. Tick tock tick tock.

Slow's gathering is right in the middle of our planned time up in the mountains, but I would still consider packing up and making the trip for a couple of days to join in the fun and have an opportunity to rub elbows with other TD connoisseurs.

[parnold]

I had a productive weekend, but ran into a few problems. First, and most frustrating was that my roof spars were not adequate. Fortunately I realized this before I started attaching the roof, so a fix was fairly easy. My spars were made of 3/4 cabinet grade plywood, cut to about 1 1/4, and then two nailed and glued together. TOO FLEXIBLE!!!! I solved the problem by attaching a 1 x 2 to each one of those with nails and glue. I should have used 2 x 2's from the start. I was trying to gain every possible bit of headroom I could. I wasted hours of time making those stupid spars, and then a couple more hours fixing them. I also had a problem in that the front wall bowed slightly from the force of the luan. Because of this... well.. the pics tell the story.

Some things work out exactly as planned!



Because of the bowed front spar, when I mated the center seams up, I got this result. It's not the end of the world, it will be covered with fiberglass cloth and resin and filler, but I'll probably have to fashion some type of trim to cover the imperfection.



Here's a shot down the left side of the trailer. I have not trimmed the overhang on the back half of the trailer yet.



A couple inside shots.





And a front shot.. damn this thing looks big. I'm already looking into mirror extensions for my car!

[Oldragbaggers]

Thank goodness for fiberlass and epoxy. It's amazing what you can fix. When all is said and done the only person who will know about those imperfections will be you. (Well, and all of us.....) But no one else, right??

Paul, I spent all of last weekend and yesterday recovering from a bad day, so I can feel your pain. But it's all fixed now, and soon yours will be too. Take heart. You're really going to have an awesome BIG trailer.

[S. Heisley]

Thank goodness for fiberlass and epoxy. It's amazing what you can fix. When all is said and done the only person who will know about those imperfections will be you. (Well, and all of us.....) But no one else, right??

...What Becky said.
Paul, you're doing great. It's all going to come out good in the end.

[Woodstramp]

parnold,

I really like the design you came up with. Also, that interior panelling is going to be sharp

[parnold]

No pictures, just a brief update. I finished the exterior skin over the weekend, only had a couple pieces left and needed to add a little support. Since it was so hot today, I decided to get out the polyester resin and the foam roller, and resin all the joints on the trailer will I will be adding cloth tape. Odd thing happened, after 8 hours or so, the resin is still tacky on the trailer, but the tray, mixing cup, and the roller all cured within what I would consider normal time. I am applying the resin over cheap luan, or underlayment, whatever you want to call it, but it is the same stuff I used on trailer #1 and I didn't have this issue that I remember. I'm not sure what I'll do if it doesn't harden within a day or so. I guess I'll try a very small patch and put another layer on and see what happens.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

And a front shot.. damn this thing looks big. I'm already looking into mirror extensions for my car!

That's a mighty fine fifth-wheel RV you're building!

[Oldragbaggers]

Hi Paul,
I was just wondering whether you checked your resin this morning and if it had kicked properly or not. I'm no stranger to resin problems, but I haven't encountered that one. I'm hoping you got up this morning and found that it had cured overnight and all is right with the world.

[parnold]

Sad to say it is still sticky this morning. I have plenty of wood scraps to test things with. I used a scale that is accurate to 1/10th of a gram, so I'm confident that the mix ratio was dead on. One ounce of hardener for one gallon of resin, or 1/128th. I measured 384 grams or resin and added 3 grams of hardener.

Well, I just read the tech data sheet, and it appears that the product is 64 to 1. The damn hardener is a 2oz tube, not 1 oz. So I'll have to try a small test area, and put down some resin that is at the correct ratio and see what happens. They don't have an emoticon to show how stupid I feel.

[StandUpGuy]

I think I have read somewhere about spraying a "kick" onto a resin surface to harden it. I know in model making I had a spray kick to harden the glue. I am not sure about epoxy but with polyester resin the thining agent is acetone. I am wondering if hardener thinned with acetone and sprayed from an aerosol bottle would set it for you.

[parnold]

I have a call into the tech rep. I sell almost 2 million dollars of their product every year, so they should be getting back to me soon. I'm sure I'm not the first idiot to screw things up. I applied a very thin coat rolled on with a foam roller, this was just supposed to give the cloth tape a better chance at not having the resin sucked out of it by the dry wood surface. My fingers are crossed.

[Oldragbaggers]

I probably don't need to tell you this, but I will anyway..... Whatever you do, don't lay any cloth on that resin until you get it to cure good. If you do it will stick and if any wrinkles catch in it when you lay it down, you will never get it straightened out. The more you pull and tug to try and get the wrinkles out the more the cloth will stretch and the worse it will get. And I am sure I don't need to tell you how I know this. Grrrrr......

I hope the tech rep calls with a simple answer to your dilemma. I thought about you several times today and wondered how things worked out.

[parnold]

The tech rep had no good news for me at all. He said if it doesn't dry/harden it has to be removed, either chemically or mechanically. So scrape, sand, or use chemicals that could very easily cause delamination if used in excess. By the time I got home tonight, all but a few spots had dried completely. I'm going to wait it out a couple more days before I do anything drastic. I'll go over all of it with some 120 grit sandpaper I got at work for free, then soak the tape and lay it down. I'm planning on working with about three foot long pieces at a time. I'm feeling more confident tonight than I was this morning, especially remembering that the resin in the pan, on the roller, and in the mixing cup did cure, and most of the resin that is on the trailer was absorbed by the wood. My fingers are crossed.

[Oldragbaggers]

I think that it is reassuring that most of it has dried/cured and that the stuff in the pot kicked. Maybe with the heat from this hot weather it will do what it needs to do in time. My fingers are crossed for you too!!