takesiteasy
Adventurer
Like others here, I am hoping this is just a minor hiccup. This build is one of my favorites. I hope you stick with it and things work out.
POD: Homebuilt foam core fiberglass skin pop-up camper build thread
- Thread starter pods8
- Start date
Overland Hadley
on a journey
Might have to wait a couple months for strong sun. sigh
turbothrush
Member
Fixing these specific areas I'm not too overwhelmed by (whether I did it from the front or back) the issue would be if its happening all over (or repeatedly).
What is odd to me, though I haven't ping'd him again lately is homeskillet didn't report any issues and I don't think he heavily roughed the surface up. He used foamular 150 where as I used 600 (not sure if there are different/more blowing gases in that or as noted maybe just a fluke here). Yeah the more/deeper key action you use the better I'd think.
Next Mon-Wend is supposed to be 60 and sunny, we can get strong sun here over the winter. It won't be the true test (100ish temps and summer sun will do that) but if strong winter sun with 60s causes trouble then I know I have a problem. If it at least causes the surface to get rather hot to the touch and everything holds then it boosts my confidence back up some.
What is odd to me, though I haven't ping'd him again lately is homeskillet didn't report any issues and I don't think he heavily roughed the surface up. He used foamular 150 where as I used 600 (not sure if there are different/more blowing gases in that or as noted maybe just a fluke here). Yeah the more/deeper key action you use the better I'd think.
Next Mon-Wend is supposed to be 60 and sunny, we can get strong sun here over the winter. It won't be the true test (100ish temps and summer sun will do that) but if strong winter sun with 60s causes trouble then I know I have a problem. If it at least causes the surface to get rather hot to the touch and everything holds then it boosts my confidence back up some.
Overland Hadley
on a journey
Beautiful! Let us know how it goes.
Wiser minds flagged that grey can actually heat up quite a bit (I knew it would get hotter but didn't realize how much), I masked off the grey with some white paper and shoved the front of the camper out into the sun at noon yesterday since it was 65F out and blue sky. I left a small patch of grey exposed where it had already delaminated to compare temperature difference. My improvised surface temperature reading was taping the sensing tip of a decent instantish read kitchen thermometer against the surface with packing tape and letting it stabilize. The white surface was 25-30F over ambient, however the grey was 55-60F over ambient (this was a small 2"x6" strip that was unmasked a larger area may get hotter yet). Needless to say the white had no issues since the structure has been in 90-100F ambient temps before.
So this definately means the grey has got to go, unclear still how the white would fair in 100+F full summer sun (I can't really test that out at this point).
I don't know if the issue is the XPS out gassing or just if the epoxy is hitting its glass transition temperature for an ambient cured epoxy and when softened is lifting in spots have have some internal stresses. If the latter I also don't know if exposure to increasingly warmer temps in the sun prior to a full tilt really hot summer day will raise the glass transition temperature or not. I do know there are post cure heat treatment schedules for a given epoxy mixture, I just don't know how ever increasing warmer temps that don't correspond to that schedule will affect it.
So long story short, there is optimism once again but the grey of the top half will need to be painted over in white (which will also cover the spots where I'll drill holes and inject epoxy into these delaminations.
Need to stain/top coat that kitchen table first and get it out of the way.
So this definately means the grey has got to go, unclear still how the white would fair in 100+F full summer sun (I can't really test that out at this point).
I don't know if the issue is the XPS out gassing or just if the epoxy is hitting its glass transition temperature for an ambient cured epoxy and when softened is lifting in spots have have some internal stresses. If the latter I also don't know if exposure to increasingly warmer temps in the sun prior to a full tilt really hot summer day will raise the glass transition temperature or not. I do know there are post cure heat treatment schedules for a given epoxy mixture, I just don't know how ever increasing warmer temps that don't correspond to that schedule will affect it.
So long story short, there is optimism once again but the grey of the top half will need to be painted over in white (which will also cover the spots where I'll drill holes and inject epoxy into these delaminations.
Need to stain/top coat that kitchen table first and get it out of the way.
Got that other project wrapped up and sanded down/repainted the grey sides of the top half white over the weekend. I miss the two tone look but hopefully this will hold up. I'll move it out of the garage later today I think and see what the sun has to say about it. Bonus I'll have unobstructed access to the bottom half to finish off the door frame and move onto fairing/painting that (assuming the top doesn't self destruct in the sun).
brianjwilson
Some sort of lost...
Glad to see this moving forward!
Had a couple high 70s sunny days and the roof handled it fine, getting more reassurances...
Anyways glued the door jamb in and I'm working on shaping the door frame a bit more and will give it a thin glass layer. Door catches need a bit of massaging still and the flip walls need to be cleaned up a bit (last glass layer was just rough trimmed previously). Main other thing I'm trying to iron out is to punch the penetrations for the water drain/sink drain/AC power and DC power. Then its moving onto fairing/painting the exterior.
Polling for opinions/ideas on a couple things. First off the AC power in, I was thinking of putting that in that wood blocking midway up the jack bracket below (I believe that is what I put it there for...), not completely ideal being below (but a bit to the side) of the water fill. However AC really is just to juice up the batteries at home and I can just unplug it if I need to add water if I want to be extra safe. Anyone see any issue before things get cut? My other wonder is any simplistic ideas for punching the DC wires out the front of the camper (close to the front window) without spending $50 on a marine bulkhead fitting? The cab should shield much of the driving forces but want to play it safe. I was thinking maybe make provisions for a mounting plate to mount some wire glands to (should allow other options too).
Anyways glued the door jamb in and I'm working on shaping the door frame a bit more and will give it a thin glass layer. Door catches need a bit of massaging still and the flip walls need to be cleaned up a bit (last glass layer was just rough trimmed previously). Main other thing I'm trying to iron out is to punch the penetrations for the water drain/sink drain/AC power and DC power. Then its moving onto fairing/painting the exterior.
Polling for opinions/ideas on a couple things. First off the AC power in, I was thinking of putting that in that wood blocking midway up the jack bracket below (I believe that is what I put it there for...), not completely ideal being below (but a bit to the side) of the water fill. However AC really is just to juice up the batteries at home and I can just unplug it if I need to add water if I want to be extra safe. Anyone see any issue before things get cut? My other wonder is any simplistic ideas for punching the DC wires out the front of the camper (close to the front window) without spending $50 on a marine bulkhead fitting? The cab should shield much of the driving forces but want to play it safe. I was thinking maybe make provisions for a mounting plate to mount some wire glands to (should allow other options too).
Boonie Buster
Observer
Update 8 (101hrs in):
I say put both water drains through the wood block if you can or use the block to tie in a brace for the second water connection to be just to the right of the block in the foam. Then run DC ran out the front as you said and have the AC connection in the opening above the white bucket in the pic above (or is that reserved for something else i missed?) or just above the wood block (same brace setup as second water drain). How many DC wires do you plan on running through the front? I feel you'd want to make that connection point as simple to disconnect as possible (ie. 2 plugs versus 3-5 wire gland connections)
1 plug for truck lights (turn/brake signals)
1 plug for camper power
You may have already seen this, or have a plan similar, but just came across this:
http://www.where-rv-now.com/Notes/Amp/2003Diagram.html
Arm Chair QB out! :victory:
The opening above the bucket is the furnace exhaust, and then the propane compartment. Up in the front corner I have a bit of a dead zone at the front of the water tank I wanted to utilize fit most the connections in there (DC may actually go to passenger side front). The water drains were likely going to be in that rectangle along the bottom, the square above is what I was thinking for the AC input.
DC I was just planning on running two wires for the battery connection and I could pass them through a single 2 hole wire gland. I was leaning towards wanting to use an Anderson powerpole set vs something like a trolling motor plug, thus the desire to pass wires through (still stewing). The camper won't obscure the tail lights or clearance lights on the bed so I didn't put any lighting on it to keep things simpler.
DC I was just planning on running two wires for the battery connection and I could pass them through a single 2 hole wire gland. I was leaning towards wanting to use an Anderson powerpole set vs something like a trolling motor plug, thus the desire to pass wires through (still stewing). The camper won't obscure the tail lights or clearance lights on the bed so I didn't put any lighting on it to keep things simpler.
FYI the shell as-is is up for grabs if anyone wants it: https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/project-foam-core-flatbed-shell-up-for-grabs.193382/
BradK
New member
They use them to fair boat hulls too. They call them "torture boards" for good reason. If they are flexible they work on curves, If they are stiff they work on the flat.
ben2go
Adventurer
Flexible sanding boards come in all kinds of lengths. They are common in boat building. Use light pressure on the ends where your hands are or it will cut deep into the area you're sanding.
https://www.amazon.com/flexible-san...cl-20&linkId=cb94a4717e10e5c994253b363a716050
https://www.amazon.com/flexible-san...cl-20&linkId=cb94a4717e10e5c994253b363a716050