Fiberglass M416/M100 Military-style Trailer Tub Kit
- Thread starter jscherb
- Start date
screwball48
Explorer
Toss a quarter between ACU and OD. The mexican army has too bright of a green color to it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
jscherb
Expedition Leader
It is a little bright, but my wife told me I should do Mexican Army because the color matches the color of the tub best.
Can you orient the material so that the stripe effect is horizontal? Just looks a bit odd to me. Agree on the color match. An alternative would be to go with a tan or black-based camo for more of a contrast.
Captain K-man
Adventurer
My vote is for the Mex. army.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I oriented it that way to make the long run of the fabric long enough to span the entire tub without a seam in the middle. Because the fabric is only 60" wide and the tub is 72" long, if I orient it the other way there will have to be vertical seam in the middle of the tub. That seam can be at the middle bow, so it won't look too bad, but I did mock it up that way on purpose to see how the pattern looked if it were oriented vertically.
Some camo patterns, like Woodland, look very bad if they're oriented "the wrong way", but I don't think ACU or the Mexican camo look too bad that way. Probably only "camo experts" would notice?
jscherb
Expedition Leader
According to all the people I've heard from, here's where the covered wagon canvas choices stand:
Olive drab: 10 votes
Mexican camo: 8 votes (including my wife)
ACU: 1 vote
At this point I'm leaning towards olive drab, although I haven't ruled out Mexican camo yet.
I've got two small samples (4" square) of different solid greens coming in, probably will be here Monday.
Decision soon .
Olive drab: 10 votes
Mexican camo: 8 votes (including my wife)
ACU: 1 vote
At this point I'm leaning towards olive drab, although I haven't ruled out Mexican camo yet.
I've got two small samples (4" square) of different solid greens coming in, probably will be here Monday.
Decision soon .
screwball48
Explorer
I know in my household that my wife counts as two votes. You may be closer to 9 votes for the mexican camo.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
ihatemybike
Explorer
One more vote for OD.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
So for those who voted for olive drab... today I received the two small samples of Sunbrella outdoor acrylic fabric I ordered. They're pictured on the trailer top along with the original large Cordura nylon olive drab sample I've shown before. The lighter sample isn't very far off the original. The darker one is probably too dark.
The tally so far:
Olive drab: 14 votes
Mexican camo: 9 votes
ACU: 1 vote
The tally so far:
Olive drab: 14 votes
Mexican camo: 9 votes
ACU: 1 vote
jscherb
Expedition Leader
The current vote tally has the olive drab being the favorite, so that's what I'll go with.
Olive drab: 15 votes
Mexican camo: 10 votes
ACU: 1 vote
Now the question is whether to go with the first fabric (the large sample I draped over the covered wagon framework as a mockup), or the second fabric (the small sample). Both are almost exactly the same color (the dark green small sample is ruled out), but they're different fabrics.
The large sample is coated Cordura, which is a nylon fabric and has a very water-resistant urethane coating. It's fairly inexpensive, I can buy 10 yards for about $75 with shipping. It's als extremely strong and tear-resistant.
The small sample is Sunbrella fabric, which is acrylic and has a water-resistant impregnation on it that probably needs to be renewed every few years or so. Sunbrella is also a very strong fabric, although perhaps slightly less strong than Cordura.
The downside of the Cordura is that nylon fabrics can stretch a bit over time, and nylon is a little less resistant to UV exposure than acrylic. Probably the Cordura wouldn't stretch enough to affect the fit, but I do plan to tailor it fairly tightly, so I don't really want any stretch happening over time. The downside of the Sunbrella is mainly the price - 10 yards of it would cost about $220 (Sailrite is offering free shipping through May 5).
I'll probably go with the more expensive Sunbrella, although I can put off the decision until just before the free shipping expires
.
Olive drab: 15 votes
Mexican camo: 10 votes
ACU: 1 vote
Now the question is whether to go with the first fabric (the large sample I draped over the covered wagon framework as a mockup), or the second fabric (the small sample). Both are almost exactly the same color (the dark green small sample is ruled out), but they're different fabrics.
The large sample is coated Cordura, which is a nylon fabric and has a very water-resistant urethane coating. It's fairly inexpensive, I can buy 10 yards for about $75 with shipping. It's als extremely strong and tear-resistant.
The small sample is Sunbrella fabric, which is acrylic and has a water-resistant impregnation on it that probably needs to be renewed every few years or so. Sunbrella is also a very strong fabric, although perhaps slightly less strong than Cordura.
The downside of the Cordura is that nylon fabrics can stretch a bit over time, and nylon is a little less resistant to UV exposure than acrylic. Probably the Cordura wouldn't stretch enough to affect the fit, but I do plan to tailor it fairly tightly, so I don't really want any stretch happening over time. The downside of the Sunbrella is mainly the price - 10 yards of it would cost about $220 (Sailrite is offering free shipping through May 5).
I'll probably go with the more expensive Sunbrella, although I can put off the decision until just before the free shipping expires
.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I was the Elkhart, Indiana area yesterday, so I visited Bontrager's Surplus (http://bontragers.com/) and picked up a 36"-wide x about 24" high cargo hatch for $20:
A few weeks ago when I was at Bontragers I picked up 4 smaller hatches for the chuck wagon project I'm planning for later this year, and on the way home I realized I could use a hatch for the back, above the tailgate. I'll cut off the bottom and relocate the latches, so it will look something like this:
Cutting off a hatch like this will be a very easy way to make a weathertight locking hatch for above the tailgate, and the width perfectly matches the tailgate width.
A few weeks ago when I was at Bontragers I picked up 4 smaller hatches for the chuck wagon project I'm planning for later this year, and on the way home I realized I could use a hatch for the back, above the tailgate. I'll cut off the bottom and relocate the latches, so it will look something like this:
Cutting off a hatch like this will be a very easy way to make a weathertight locking hatch for above the tailgate, and the width perfectly matches the tailgate width.
What tire pressure do you run? The first photo there looks like only the inner tread lugs are touching pavement. I'm wondering myself what PSI to run when my trailer is complete... overinflate to have less rolling resistance sounds good, but would hinder the braking performance.