screwball48
Explorer
I take that as a complement. Thank you sir. I would liken that to William Ruger saying he would help me mount a scope on a rifle. If I am able to build one I will guarantee lots of pictures.
"TrailTop" modular trailer topper building components
- Thread starter jscherb
- Start date
I take that as a complement. Thank you sir. I would liken that to William Ruger saying he would help me mount a scope on a rifle. If I am able to build one I will guarantee lots of pictures.
I consider myself to have moderate DIY skills and this looks like it would be so much fun to put together. Please put me down as interested in the Trail Dog 10.
I rarely comment in forums as I tend to lurk and read everything, but I wanted to chime in and say this looks awesome. Thank you for designing something this cool. My MasterCard is standing by.....
I rarely comment in forums as I tend to lurk and read everything, but I wanted to chime in and say this looks awesome. Thank you for designing something this cool. My MasterCard is standing by.....
jscherb
Expedition Leader
You may have noticed that I never painted the TrailTop cover for the yellow trailer. In all the photos the fiberglass is still white, and the plywood center panel is sort of off-white, but that's because plywood I bought was pre-primed.
Painting it hasn't been important to finishing the proof-of-concept build so far, but lately I've been needing the garage space so I've wanted to leave it outside overnight. But I don't want to leave the unprotected wood outside, so I've been thinking I should either remove the cover or paint it.
I've been thinking of doing a proof-of-concept on the painting too - I'm intrigued by the modern "deck coating" products on the market - Olympic Rescue It, Rustolem Restore and Home Depot's Behr Deckover are a few of the type. All of these are thick, water-based acrylics that apply with a roller or brush and leave a textured finish, not unlike automotive bedliner products. The manufacturers say they're good for up to 10 years on a deck. Online reviews are not quite so glowing, with many saying their decks are peeling after the first winter. It's hard to believe these products would still be on the market if they were as bad as some of the reviews say, so I think it's worth some testing. A trailer top would probably have less abuse than a deck; after all a trailer could be garaged or covered with a tarp outside in the winter, so these products could work better on a trailer than on old, mildewed, pressure-treated, contaminated decks.
These products are about 1/3 to 1/4 the price of automotive bedliner, and they're tintable at no extra cost, so if it worked well on a trailer it could be a cost-effective, attractive and easy-to-apply finish.
The other day I was in Lowes and on their "mis-tint" table there was a gallon of Olympic Rescue It, tinted in a chocolate brown, which would go nicely with the yellow trailer and the tan tilt-up canvas, and it was at a cheep mis-tint price, so I bought it to experiment with.
I made up a plywood and a fiberglass test panel. I primed half of each with epoxy primer, which sticks to everything, and I'm brushing the recommended two coats of Rescue It on. The reason for the primer is that I suspect there may be an adhesion issue between the acrylic and the fiberglass, so the epoxy should provide a better base for the acrylic to adhere to.
I'll let these dry over the long weekend, the Rescue It instructions say to wait 48 hours, and then I'll see how it's sticking.
Painting it hasn't been important to finishing the proof-of-concept build so far, but lately I've been needing the garage space so I've wanted to leave it outside overnight. But I don't want to leave the unprotected wood outside, so I've been thinking I should either remove the cover or paint it.
I've been thinking of doing a proof-of-concept on the painting too - I'm intrigued by the modern "deck coating" products on the market - Olympic Rescue It, Rustolem Restore and Home Depot's Behr Deckover are a few of the type. All of these are thick, water-based acrylics that apply with a roller or brush and leave a textured finish, not unlike automotive bedliner products. The manufacturers say they're good for up to 10 years on a deck. Online reviews are not quite so glowing, with many saying their decks are peeling after the first winter. It's hard to believe these products would still be on the market if they were as bad as some of the reviews say, so I think it's worth some testing. A trailer top would probably have less abuse than a deck; after all a trailer could be garaged or covered with a tarp outside in the winter, so these products could work better on a trailer than on old, mildewed, pressure-treated, contaminated decks.
These products are about 1/3 to 1/4 the price of automotive bedliner, and they're tintable at no extra cost, so if it worked well on a trailer it could be a cost-effective, attractive and easy-to-apply finish.
The other day I was in Lowes and on their "mis-tint" table there was a gallon of Olympic Rescue It, tinted in a chocolate brown, which would go nicely with the yellow trailer and the tan tilt-up canvas, and it was at a cheep mis-tint price, so I bought it to experiment with.
I made up a plywood and a fiberglass test panel. I primed half of each with epoxy primer, which sticks to everything, and I'm brushing the recommended two coats of Rescue It on. The reason for the primer is that I suspect there may be an adhesion issue between the acrylic and the fiberglass, so the epoxy should provide a better base for the acrylic to adhere to.
I'll let these dry over the long weekend, the Rescue It instructions say to wait 48 hours, and then I'll see how it's sticking.
Anarchy Joe
Observer
#2 #3 #9 and # 12.. for sure.. Hell they are all sweet.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
A few weeks back I posted about one new TrailTop component idea for making toppers for military trailers. I posted it in my military trailer thread: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...y-style-Trailer-Tub-Kit?p=1644373#post1644373 I didn't post it in this thread because it was specifically about military-style trailers, so follow the link for more info. Here's a military trailer chuck wagon concept using the new part.
jonnyquest
Adventurer
What's a "son & law"?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Before the long weekend I posted about testing Olympic RescueIt deck coating. I left it to dry all weekend and this morning I tried a scratch test to see how it adheres.
The panel at left is plywood. Part of it I primed, you can see the gray sticking out, and part of it came with a thin wash of primer from the store. I wasn't able to scratch the coating off anywhere.
The panel at right is fiberglass. Where I primed, I wasn't able to scratch off the coating. Where I applied the coating to bare fiberglass, I was able to scratch it off.
There are some brush marks on both samples, I expect when applied with a roller the finish would be very uniform.
I'm very impressed with the hardness and toughness of the finish. Based on this quick test, I plan to finish the TrailTop hard cover with it. I'll use some filler on any gaps that exist between the plywood and the fiberglass parts, and then I'll do two coats of primer followed by two coats of RescueIt. It'll be about two weeks before I can get to it, when I do it I'll post photos.
The panel at left is plywood. Part of it I primed, you can see the gray sticking out, and part of it came with a thin wash of primer from the store. I wasn't able to scratch the coating off anywhere.
The panel at right is fiberglass. Where I primed, I wasn't able to scratch off the coating. Where I applied the coating to bare fiberglass, I was able to scratch it off.
There are some brush marks on both samples, I expect when applied with a roller the finish would be very uniform.
I'm very impressed with the hardness and toughness of the finish. Based on this quick test, I plan to finish the TrailTop hard cover with it. I'll use some filler on any gaps that exist between the plywood and the fiberglass parts, and then I'll do two coats of primer followed by two coats of RescueIt. It'll be about two weeks before I can get to it, when I do it I'll post photos.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
You're welcome, but I haven't really finished testing it yet, so far I've only applied it to some test panels and the results of that were positive enough for me to commit to doing the entire trailer top in it. I think it'll be fine over the long haul, but that's my long term test
.Also if you're applying it to anything other than bare wood (metal, fiberglass, etc.), it will need a good primer to ensure adhesion. I used epoxy primer for the test and it was excellent, but I haven't tested any other primers yet.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Someone on another forum asked me if TrailTop parts could be used to build a topper for a pop-up camper where the pop-up canvas or mechanism was shot. Here's what I suggested; I drew on his photo, which was of the doorless side, there would be a door on the other side. Also there could be a traditional teardrop galley in the back.
Someone on another forum asked me if TrailTop parts could be used to build a topper for a pop-up camper where the pop-up canvas or mechanism was shot. Here's what I suggested; I drew on his photo, which was of the doorless side, there would be a door on the other side. Also there could be a traditional teardrop galley in the back.
That's a cool idea! I always see cheap popups for sale, but not a huge fan of soft sides, best of both worlds.