jscherb
Expedition Leader
I'm putting one of the test samples below outside and plan to leave it out all winter.
"TrailTop" modular trailer topper building components
- Thread starter jscherb
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I'm putting one of the test samples below outside and plan to leave it out all winter.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
For a while now I've had this idea that it would be cool to make diamondplate sheets in fiberglass. The sheets would be completly compatible with things like the fiberglass TrailTop components, and would probably even be lighter than aluminum diamondplate. Today I ran across a brand-new 4x8 sheet of aluminum diamondplate at a price I couldn't resist, so I grabbed it.
I'm thinking I'll make a mold of it, then I can make diamondplate sheets in fiberglass from that mold. I could make sheets very thin, to be a skin bonded with contact cement to say, 1/4" plywood, or I could mold them thick enough to be stand alone panels without being bonded to plywood.
I've got a bunch of ideas for things I could make with fiberglass diamondplate sheet material. For example, it might be cool to make something like the TrailTop TrailDog design in fiberglass diamondplate. It could be painted silver to really simulate diamondplate, or some other solid color, or even camo.
I'm thinking I'll make a mold of it, then I can make diamondplate sheets in fiberglass from that mold. I could make sheets very thin, to be a skin bonded with contact cement to say, 1/4" plywood, or I could mold them thick enough to be stand alone panels without being bonded to plywood.
I've got a bunch of ideas for things I could make with fiberglass diamondplate sheet material. For example, it might be cool to make something like the TrailTop TrailDog design in fiberglass diamondplate. It could be painted silver to really simulate diamondplate, or some other solid color, or even camo.
southernraised
Member
Is any of your teardrop style models close to be produced for sale?? I love all of them but really like your trailing!!!
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Weight would depend on how thick I make the fiberglass. If I make it thin to be a skin bonded to thin plywood (I'm thinking 5mm Lauan), the combination would be of course slightly heavier than wood alone, although if you we doing wood alone you probably would use something a little thicker and heavier than 5mm. If I made the sheets thick enough to not require wood behind them, then they'd be lighter than wood alone.
Insulation could easily be bonded to fiberglass sheet, there are lots of different construction adhesives at the Home Center that would work fine.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I don't know if any of the designs or parts I've shown in this thread will ever make it to production. I just design and build this stuff as a hobby - if any of it is going to get to production some company/person is going to have to sign up to market these designs. I can arrange for the manufacturing of the fiberglass components because I've got a relationship with a fiberglass manufacturing company that's interested, but I have no interest in marketing anything myself.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I think it would be cool to use the fiberglass diamondplate along with the TrailTop square corners to make a military trailer hard cover/tent platform. I've shown it painted aluminum color in this concept drawing, but it could be olive drab or any other color...
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jscherb
Expedition Leader
Here's a concept I drew back in March. At the time I was thinking it would use real aluminum diamondplate for the sides, but now the idea would be to use the fiberglass diamondplate sheets I plan to mold. This one is toy hauler for small-medium toys, it's got an opening ramp on the back. Also supports a roof top tent.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I've been thinking it might be fun to actually build a proof-of-concept diamondplate TrailDog shell, so I'm working on a few of the design details. What's shown here is a 9' long, 4' high cabin on a heavy-duty Harbor Freight frame. As drawn, the cabin is 4' wide so it fits between the tires on the stock HF axle, but it could be wider if either the axle were swapped for a longer one or inner fenderwells we put in the sides.
Even though it's 9' long, 4x8 sheets would be used for the side panels; there's one small joint near the upper corner of the door. The door is a unit I found on eBay. Side panels could be either plywood, plywood skinned with diamondplate fiberglass sheets like I described the other day, actual 0.042" aluminum diamondplate bonded to the plywood underlayment with contact cement, or perhaps a plywood/FRP panel sandwich using FRP panels from the home center. 4 4x8 sheets are all that's needed to do the skin.
The only modification to the HF frame is that I've moved the axle back 2'. On the stock HF frame it's centered, which gets in the way of having a decent-sized door on the side, but also limits the departure angle for trail use; with the axle moved back the departure angle is a respectable 40 degrees. This one's drawn with 32" tires, to match typical tires on an off-road Jeep or similar vehicle.
Here's an xray view, it's got space inside typical of a teardrop-style camper. The galley is a teardrop-type, with a hatch in the back. Floor space for the mattress would be about 7 1/2' long x 4' wide, so a little narrower than a standard full sized mattress, but a bit longer.
Even though it's 9' long, 4x8 sheets would be used for the side panels; there's one small joint near the upper corner of the door. The door is a unit I found on eBay. Side panels could be either plywood, plywood skinned with diamondplate fiberglass sheets like I described the other day, actual 0.042" aluminum diamondplate bonded to the plywood underlayment with contact cement, or perhaps a plywood/FRP panel sandwich using FRP panels from the home center. 4 4x8 sheets are all that's needed to do the skin.
The only modification to the HF frame is that I've moved the axle back 2'. On the stock HF frame it's centered, which gets in the way of having a decent-sized door on the side, but also limits the departure angle for trail use; with the axle moved back the departure angle is a respectable 40 degrees. This one's drawn with 32" tires, to match typical tires on an off-road Jeep or similar vehicle.
Here's an xray view, it's got space inside typical of a teardrop-style camper. The galley is a teardrop-type, with a hatch in the back. Floor space for the mattress would be about 7 1/2' long x 4' wide, so a little narrower than a standard full sized mattress, but a bit longer.
FWIW, I know fiberglass diamond plate is nothing new. My '01 Donzi (boat) used it in the engine compartment, though I swapped it out for polished aluminum for more bling. I have no idea if Donzi made the stuff in-house, but I'd assume not.
Not taking anything away from what you're doing - it's very impressive work. But the product may already be available.
Not taking anything away from what you're doing - it's very impressive work. But the product may already be available.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I have come across a few suppliers, but based on their pricing and the cost of shipping, I can mold my own for 1/4 - 1/3 of what it would cost me to get it commercially. Plus, I can mold it to whatever thickness I need, say 1/16" thick to serve as a skin to be bonded to a plyood core, or even 1/4" thick to serve as standalone structural panels. And if I need it molded in any particular color I can tint my gelcoat and resin. So for my use, molding it myself makes the most sense.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
The other day I wrote that I was thinking of making a mold to make fiberglass diamondplate, and I showed a 4x8 sheet of aluminum diamondplate I picked up to use for making the mold. Before doing the complete 4x8 sheet (that's a big mold to make), I made a small test mold. Here's a 1'x3' piece of fiberglass diamondplate out of that mold. I made this test piece as a thin skin to be bonded to 1/4" plywood, which I'll do next.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Here's a sample bonded to a piece of 1/4" plywood with contact cement; it's sitting on top of an unbonded piece for comparison:
Here it is matched up to a piece of TrailTop straight rail:
Alternatively, I could have bonded the plywood to the fiberglass during the molding process, but I wanted to test bonding after molding with contact cement. The contact cement bonding works very well.
Here it is matched up to a piece of TrailTop straight rail:
Alternatively, I could have bonded the plywood to the fiberglass during the molding process, but I wanted to test bonding after molding with contact cement. The contact cement bonding works very well.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
I shot the test pieces of fiberglass diamondplate with one coat of rattle-can aluminum paint. In the first photo they're sitting in front of the full sheet of aluminum diamondplate.
I'll bet if I shot the samples with automotive clear coat they'd be hard to tell apart from the real thing
.
One other thought - I've bonded the thin fiberglass diamondplate to 1/4" plywood for this small test, but instead of plywood, you could bond it to say, 3/4" rigid foam insulation to make a fiberglass-skinned "foamie" camper. And unlike thin aluminum diamond plate in that application, the fiberglass skin wouldn't be prone to dings and dents like aluminum-skinned foam would be. A fiberglass/foam sandwich would be quite rigid and durable.
I'll bet if I shot the samples with automotive clear coat they'd be hard to tell apart from the real thing
.One other thought - I've bonded the thin fiberglass diamondplate to 1/4" plywood for this small test, but instead of plywood, you could bond it to say, 3/4" rigid foam insulation to make a fiberglass-skinned "foamie" camper. And unlike thin aluminum diamond plate in that application, the fiberglass skin wouldn't be prone to dings and dents like aluminum-skinned foam would be. A fiberglass/foam sandwich would be quite rigid and durable.