Cheap bastards attempt at DIY fiberglass structural panels .One person in tool shed

[opp1]

Je pense que pour la première fois constructeur Peut-être le moyen le plus rapide et le moins cher de construire
.I think for the first time builder Maybe the fastest cheapest way to build with few tools a foam glass any shape .With very little maintenance .As being built out of fiberglass and foam not much to rot. it'll be insulated and very light.

After a bout of listeria back in July starting to get back to this build. Did not fell even human till the first part of September.

after watching numerous builds from Jim, Scott and the great videos from Jess and StyroMAX

Being the cheap bugger that I am I decided I wanted to try to do a build that could be done by one person as lower-cost as they can be

the difference between the previous builds I mentioned is what I use as material and the way I used it

store-bought fiberglass Skins are gel coat mat and gelcoat. Made from polyester resin With gel coat you're trying to get a bite into the bonding of the foam to gel coat. THAT A hard surface that is very smooth. so they're trying to get scratches in the gelcoat and foam to get a bond .. The skins are made with poly resin.

Please any comments are greatly appreciated and probably helpful even it is how your great-aunt makes moonshine from gardenias . Anything you think that I'm doing wrong or to do a different way please posts up


The main different is how they are trying to get there strength . They're bonding the foam to the fiberglass skin and the bond is always going to be the weakest point. so they need a higher density foam.

The way I building is stronger skins with woven materials and a deeper bond line so I can use less. density foam.

one drawback of buying pre-made skins is the weight in shipping. cheaper to ship a 5 gallon pail.

you can make the skins and then epoxy like they have and not fight the gel coat at the bounding line.
The panel in the picture took less than four hours to make and that includes making a template and drilling out 8 sheets of the foam it is ready to be glued to the pod that's with the exterior fiberglass skin the 1'' foam in interior fiberglass skin . So when I get the other 6 done we'll just have to glue up and run a bond ring around the top. Like Scoot did .Then won't have to worry about maintenance for 5 or 6 years . and if someone shoots a cannonball through it I may have to worry about fixing it in a few years as there's nothing to rot damn old-time rough neighborhood
Yes 32 ford like to put together in spare time at at 10 minutes per setting

I believe it's a bit faster than with wood and if you make a mistake so what doesn't cost anything with installation that Bridges only at the doors and windows.

 

[high-and-dry]

Well I think if your gonna keep buying buckets, you need to learn vacuum infusion.

Or start doing your own skins on a table. Make a smooth table and wax it, roll on gelcoat let cure, layout glass and put resin on it, let cure. Then peel it up. You could even do a few layers of glass then imbed polyurethane ( polyiso from home depot since you like it ) foam right in to it.

I think the fun away to do one, and if I ever do another for myself its what I am going to do. Is build the whole body from foam, like doing a foamy. Then lay glass and epoxy right on the foam. Then spend the next year fairing it out. But it would be the ultimate light weight, rot and water proof camper.

 

[opp1]

Always glad to see your input Scott . You made me want to go to the bound beam. if going to vacuum infusion. you wipe out the low cost. and making it easy. . From my experience when you start bagging large panels using poly you really need two people. even with a vacuum table with a silicone cover .Trying to make one man that some can do in there tool shed job. When we started to make carbon fiber panels decades ago .We make them on sliding glass doors or hardboard.
yes wax is very very important also adding PVA why take a chance of anything sticking. I have found that waxing over the pva we can pull 4 to 5 panels

"do a few layers of gl ass then imbed polyurethane "

.After I got sick only do things for a very short time . Found the last layer had to be Very wet before you push the foam into it but the holes are very important in the foam . So I do a gelcoat 1 and 1/2 hours later one layer of ounce and a half Matt about 2 are 3 hr later the woven and last layer of 1.5 mat then then shove the foam with weights on top of it. Then the next day the 3/4 ounce mat and a juicy layer of resin then a few hr. later woven and mat..

I'm not a fan of a smooth interior. If I was what i do is push foam in and put weights on top of it .The next day I would pull the weights off. would do a juicy layer of Mat. What makes this so strong that I can use a less density foam is a small amount of resin will run down the holes. You don't need to fill the holes up . after curing I would clear the table off. Spray gel coat on mat ,woven the filp the panel over and add weights let cure .

Not a fan of polyiso from home depot you have to fight the foil . Like to get from roofing supply houses that way you don't have to fight the foil.
this low-cost foam does not get eaten by poly. no matter what the misinform epoxy user say.
Again have stronger skins because of the woven glass than the bought one you have used and the reason for holes. Also the weak point of your build is the gel coat to foam bond. I believe StyroMAX has groves in there foam
remember this is a low-cost build by one person . A 4 x8 foot panel uses under 3 gal. of poly resin . if you lay up the glass at one time you use less resin .i think you could do a 5 x 5 by 10 square drop with less than 20 gal. I believe $100 US to ship
.

 

[jwiereng]

Then spend the next year fairing it out.

Yes. That smooth surface would take a bit of work. It would likely end up nicer than the canvas and glue/paint method lauded by the economically deficient.

 

[high-and-dry]

I used 7.5 gallons of epoxy on my build and it was thickened epoxy. I also did the bed area as a panel, so I have a 12 foot by 5.5 wide by 5.5 high box with a 6.5x5.5 bed platform all from the 7.5 gallons. Also the skin I used is only gel coat on the outside, the inner surface was mat but pretty smooth.

Styromax per Jess they say the grooves are for extra resin, but I think its for making sure they have no air bubbles because I think they use polyurethane glue.

I did most of my vacuum work alone, except putting on the top layer of glass.

 

[opp1]

ok you used 7 gal just to glue Using ploy to make the skins $. the skins you have are way weaker that is why they roll up . Not say any thing bad with the way you built . If I was not a cheap baster might do the same thing.
As far as vacuum you're using a closed cell foam and a solid fiberglass skin all your doing is crushing the foam.
Cure time on epoxy is a hell of a lot longer than poly . you say the back was smooth so that just means they're flooded with extra resin not to have mat show .wasted weight. so the same as gel coat. With diy skins and your skins are made from poly resin .So the skins are made from the same ploy resin . Just adding wovning and a bit less resin.

THE holes in the foam means you are gluing the top skin to the bottom on a grid of 80mm are so . the foam we used in high costing boats has holes in it at $400 US + a one inch 4 foot BY 8 sheet .The way you have done it you just glued to the foam. If i was to build the same as you there be angled holes to lock the foam.

Not say any thing wrong with the way you built .Much respect for the way you and others have built. fell honored you even post on this. Still have tons of questions I want to ask you.
Trying for this to be a low cost build that some can do at home.
But many times using epoxy is like using a 5 gal. bucket to fell a tea cup
Again fell honored you even post here

 

[opp1]

sorry for any misunderstanding on this . These are totally two different ways to build . the only thing they have in common is they use polyester skins ,they're called the same and glue together
I will try to break down maybe a bit boring to some. but this is for some that never built any thing
this is a small sleeper design by Mike's from tnttt.com .IT'S call Nano weekender that he drew up in 2012.
The only changes are I made front bottom half flat. and doors
I have two people that want it .One wants it 58'' wide full side bed. The other wants 36 inches wide pod . 48 inch Hub to Hub . With a 36'' clamshell tent on top.so when his hunting partner go hunting they're not real good friends

 

[opp1]

Scott you post Is build the whole body from foam, like doing a foamy. Then lay glass and epoxy right on the foam. Then spend the next year fairing it out.
I'm confused . did you use filon ? IF SO how is the bond beam holding up

 

[Peter_n_Margaret]

This body was built by a friend 12 years ago with flat sandwich panel hand laid up and vacuum bagged on a shed concrete floor.
The curves were made with foam, shaped and then glassed and dressed, inside and out.
Despite appearances, it is mechanically a Defender.

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 motorhome

 

[high-and-dry]

Scott you post Is build the whole body from foam, like doing a foamy. Then lay glass and epoxy right on the foam. Then spend the next year fairing it out.
I'm confused . did you use filon ? IF SO how is the bond beam holding up

Mine now is fiberglass skin but not filon brand, but a company in south carolina, same company jess used for his. The steel loop around the opening for the pop top is fine.

What I meant is if I ever do another for my self. Imagine just glueing and shaping foam sheets glued up into the shape and size I want. Below is a screen shot from how bruder does there. Imagine making this out of foam and then hand laying glass over it.

 

[opp1]

that a slick setup. if you access to a CNC mill you could really do some great design. look forward to seeing what you do

 

[opp1]

hard to believe got all the panels done http://tnttt.com/images/2014/nano_weekender_side_drawing.pdf

 

[opp1]

this is what the skins pulled apart look like. you can see the resin drizzle in the holes locking the inner and outer skin together .

 

[ITTOG]

How difficult was it to get the glass off? How did you get the glass off?

 

[rruff]

I think the fun away to do one, and if I ever do another for myself its what I am going to do. Is build the whole body from foam, like doing a foamy. Then lay glass and epoxy right on the foam. Then spend the next year fairing it out. But it would be the ultimate light weight, rot and water proof camper.

Ah... just forget that fairing bit... it's purely cosmetic. IMO the ideal look is nice enough to not attract cops and ugly enough to not attract thieves.

Turbothrush built a very nice looking camper with pink XPS foam and hand lay up. Some photos here: https://expeditionportal.com/forum/...r-hard-side-camper.58561/page-38#post-2814627

He used a dog brush to score the foam. I had the idea to use a spiked wallpaper roller to make many small indentations, fill them well with epoxy, then lay on the cloth before the epoxy fully cures. Should improve the bond and crushing strength of XPS a good amount.

I switched to 1.5" PVC foam, plus I have much more robust skins (>30oz cloth on each side, epoxy). Still plenty light in the grand scheme... ~1.5 lb/sq ft. Not that cheap... but at least I got most of the epoxy from Ebond before they raised their prices from ~$28/gal to $48/gal.

this is what the skins pulled apart look like. you can see the resin drizzle in the holes locking the inner and outer skin together .

That might be a better way to go... but the issue I had with that was bubbles in the holes. I was doing hand layup with XPS and epoxy at the time...

Isn't polyiso even weaker than XPS foam typically? How good is your bond between the panel and the resin?