Epoxy over canvas siding?

[Porkchopexpress]

Does anyone have experience or expertise in resin and or canvas to know if building a truck camper with canvas over wood siding and roof would hold up to the elements? I was thinking maybe treating the canvas with resin or some other weather proofing?

 

[Ferball]

Poor Man's Fiberglass (pmf) is a common technique in tear drop building and descends from the old timey technique of early airplane building. It's basically applying paint over canvas. I have experimented with it building a boat, it held up just fine. I was using whatever exterior paint was discounted at Home Depot. If you use actual resin it will probably be bullet proof.

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[Porkchopexpress]

Thanks. If I try it out, I’ll post the results

 

[rruff]

Titebond 2 glue is the preferred "resin" for the canvas. Then paint over that. Look for the Tiny Teardrops forum. Foamies section I believe, where they use this directly on foam; no wood.

I did some experiments and found it wasn't nearly as strong/tough as FG and epoxy. FG and epoxy can be pretty cheap also if you know where to look for cloth and resin. The main advantage of canvas/glue is the lack of toxicity and relative easy of use. But I don't find epoxy to be that bad to work with.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

Titebond 2 glue is the preferred "resin" for the canvas. Then paint over that. Look for the Tiny Teardrops forum. Foamies section I believe, where they use this directly on foam; no wood.

I did some experiments and found it wasn't nearly as strong/tough as FG and epoxy. FG and epoxy can be pretty cheap also if you know where to look for cloth and resin. The main advantage of canvas/glue is the lack of toxicity and relative easy of use. But I don't find epoxy to be that bad to work with.

What is FG? I was thinking that if I had a solid structure with a wood frame, the canvas would just need to be waterproof and wouldn’t provide any strength so maybe just an oil based paint would be better?

 

[rruff]

Fiberglass. It's a good hard/tough/strong waterproof coating.

Is oil based paint better than latex? Still think it'd be more durable if you use Titebond + canvas and then paint. I'd suggest looking and maybe asking here: http://www.tnttt.com/viewforum.php?f=55&sid=a118c8d82bc56398983407b92470255e

 

[V-max]

Any of the fabric aircraft coatings will last outdoors for close to thirty years. Dacron polyester fabric heat shrunk with a clothes iron with coatings to keep sunlight from degrading the fabric are ceconite, stits polyfiber, stewart system, and some others.

 

[rruff]

Any of the fabric aircraft coatings will last outdoors for close to thirty years. Dacron polyester fabric heat shrunk with a clothes iron with coatings to keep sunlight from degrading the fabric are ceconite, stits polyfiber, stewart system, and some others.

Not the best for this application. That's made for minimal weight, not durability, and spanning an open frame. The OP wants a durable waterproof coating for a wood camper.

If it's going to have rocks and tree branches hitting it, FG is the way to go.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

Lots of good ideas to look into. Thanks a lot!
Ahh.. FG=fiberglass, I’m an idiot

 

[rruff]

If you do go with fiberglass, you can use polyester resin instead of epoxy. Then gelcoat for the final layer. It's just polyester resin with lots of pigment.

 

[ricardo]

Study about

Phenolic's fabrication

Wonderful stuff, super rigid, super flat, easy to work, if anything a little heavy..

 

[Ferball]

If you do go with fiberglass, you can use polyester resin instead of epoxy. Then gelcoat for the final layer. It's just polyester resin with lots of pigment.

If you are gonna go full FG you may want to look into the FG over cardboard technique. FG is plenty Rugged on it's own when done right so there is a diy fabrication process where you build your "frame" out of cardboard then lay up some FG over it to create your shell/panel. Would be lighter then FG over would.

As far as latex vs oil I think you want yo stick to latex over canvas. Because I believe some of oil based paints weather proofing properties come from soaking into the wood where latex creates a better physical barrier for protection...could be wrong as I might be thinking stain vs latex.

On a section of my canvas and paint experiment I did use some concrete floor paint and that stuff was pretty durable too.

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[rruff]

If you are gonna go full FG you may want to look into the FG over cardboard technique. FG is plenty Rugged on it's own when done right so there is a diy fabrication process where you build your "frame" out of cardboard then lay up some FG over it to create your shell/panel. Would be lighter then FG over would.

I've never heard of making a camper out of FG and cardboard. It doesn't sound very good to me . You'd need to make the FG very thick for it to be stiff. The cardboard would not make a stiff form, and would be a useless material (absorb water and fall apart) when you are finished.

Much better to build panels out of foam and layup FG on that. Very light and stiff and great insulation.

 

[Ferball]

I don't know if a camper was made out of it, but the FG over card board was just something I ran across while researching my camper build. Some of my experiments have led me to believe of you are working in foam you may not need to bother skinning it all if you are using 1.5 inch or thicker. I am planning on doing a build this summer to test that theory.

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[rruff]

No skin? I don't see how that could work for a camper. Even if it was stiff enough (and it won't be very stiff) you need a hard skin on both sides if you want it to last. Canvas and glue at a minimum! Could use thin ply on the inside.

If you want to optimize weight and resistance to penetration and impacts, there is definitely some benefit to using a hard exterior skin (FG for instance) with a somewhat softer interior layer (like plywood), and then the foam. The ply is susceptible to water though, so I left it out.