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Yes I am against overlap on the sides, mainly because of the hassle of fairing the overlap, though it can be done to varnish standard.
Derek,
I am planning on CNC cutting / designing my own box, but I understand your question. The answer depends on whether the circumference of the bottom is the same as the top. If the box is tapered andngets a lot smaller at the top, darts only at the top might not be enough. The answer is to just try to wrap the cloth as you state with push pins to hold it up. Even if some conical shape changes the weave direction to bias, you would be fine. I like your method a lot, and if I could get it wrapped wrinkle free dry, I would do exactly what you have described. I’m with you on this.
Yeah, I finally figured out that the holes could be for lights; after I made overhead provision for Hella dome lights (glued in 12mm okoume discs with grooves routed for wires). They look like stretched out pierced ears to me. I can say that they have nothing to do with the hinges, though they certainly strengthen the shell at the upper door hinge – a very good thing if someone hangs on the door. I can say that CLC’s lights are mounted on the bulkhead, not in the door sill.
I believe you are not correct about rust and encapsulated stainless fasteners. This is ,I admit a complicated and controversial subject. It has to do with activated or passivated stainless. Rust by definition is oxidation and requires oxygen. First I will say that I simply prefer working with stainless, but have buried sheetrock screws in centerboards that spent years at a time immersed in sea water then uncovered them years later while rebuilding the centerboards – and found zero corrosion. Most sources discussing stainless corrosion refer to “crevice” corrosion (which is why exposed stainless gets polished) and corrosion that occurs in a half buried fastener right at the point of air/ epoxy interface. This is the corrosion I worried about 25 years ago when ” potting in” stainless fastener u bolts using Gougeon Bros epoxy per their method. I just sold the boat 3 months ago and the u bolts have not as yet corroded despite a life around seawater (electrolyte promotes galvanic corrosion). The make a long story short I don’t worry about burying any metal in wood epoxy. I do so because its a pain in the neck to fill the holes they leave. The buried fasteners do not contribute at all to the strength of a wood epoxy structure. I do use and remove sheetrock screws in cold molding. As in the teardrop floor, they are merely for clamping.
I went out to look at my assembled trailex and determined that I have 19″ of road clearance from the bottom of the teardrop. That’s enough to go under it in a creeper and drill through temporary risers that are 3″ x @8″ x 3/4″ with 3/8″ holes just enough to mark the camper bottom hole locations; then slide the camper back about 4″ and drill 1/2″ holes through the. marked camper bottom, then epoxy fill them; then slide the camper back in place and drill the final 3/8″ holes through the temporary risers; finally put the real risers and pads in and bolt the camper down. I am planning on painting the bottom in the next few days (not of all worried about drilling the holes after painting).
I have a serious question for John about the riser location. The hymnal says to locate them 4″-6″ in from the inside of the side rails. My Trailex came with them located EXACTLY 10.75″ in from the rails and the front diagonal ones located exactly in line with the rest and all tightly torqued down all to factory pencil marks – as though their engineer feels strongly that that’s exactly where they need to be. Who’s right??? I’m inclined to go with the Trailex location, but will see what John says before I make up my mind.
Yup. I got a better idea. Get small blocks of 3/4″ plywood and drill them on a drill press to make “temporary risers”. Insert them to drill the holes (drilling right through them into the trailer bottom. I am at the same stage you are. The teardrop is upside down and I don’t want to put it on the trailer, then turn it over again. That’s a big hassle with an big risk of dropping/ damage. As it is I rolled the shell carefully on a thick carpet to get it upside down. My trailer is too far together for me to be inclined to disassemble down to a manageable section to lay on the camper. So this is how I may drill fill drill my holes: Put teardrop on trailer to mark holes. Elevate the teardrop somewhat on blocks (on the floor), roll trailer forward a little bit; drill the oversize holes while laying under the teardrop; fill the holes; roll the trailer back in position and lower the teardrop in place and redrill the holes. Even though I got the big wheels, the may not be enough room to crawl under there, so I may have to elevate the trailer and the teardrop somewhat to do this. I like your method theoretically, so maybe I can beg enough muscle to set the whole trailer on the upside down teardrop – if the hatch bezel/roof can take the combined weight????? But I am worried about retorquing the trailer assembly bolts to remove the tongue to reduce weight.
I think nobody who ordered a Trailex got risers. When I insisted I didn’t have any CLC looked into it and and said ” we know you don’t have risers and we’re sorry we took so long to tell you” They said they’ll send me a set with pads. The correct ones are STARBOARD, not wood. I think that they thought Trailex was going to make them.
Oops: everywhere I wrote “#2 panel”, I really meant #3 panel; but hopefully the reader would know what I meant about not forcing things out of shape while installing the lower gutter.
Since my last post a thought occured to me: When I put my transom in tomorrow I will try putting one drop of EZbond on each end corner of the glass tape before wetting it out with epoxy on the table. I should have the end of the glass tape <span style=”line-height: 1.5;”>hanging over the edge of the table to do this because EZbond will stick to 4mm plastic. I’ll report on the results.</span>
Yes the cross weave ends of 3″ tape just want to unravel. Its a big pain in the butt. Thatsnone reason I’ve always hated 3″ 9oz tape and have made my own biaxial tape for many of my projects. This is how I deal with it: stroke very lightly with the squeegee across the tape at the ends trying not to start the unweaving process. Likewise when rolling the tape up, try not to handle the very end. When unrolling over the fillet don’t smooth with your trailing hand pinky over the ends. Use very light strokes, the glass just wants to fall in place. If you do get a strand unweaving gently coax it out over the flat floor or panel and leave it be, then once cured go back with a file and file it off the flat surface. If you can get it to sort of stand up above the surface that makes it even easier to file away after cure. Don’t leave the strand over the end of the tape or in the fillet where it will be hard as granite to sand out
I did notice some movement in the doors when they were cutout. So when I was about half way through the cutting out process, the already cut edge would either spring in or out about 1/2″. Am I correct in assuming the strap will correct any misalignment, or will the stiffener “bake in” any angle issue from springback?? I do read and will heed the warning about not CAUSING any angle changes with the stiffener.
Hmmm. Now that I am actually doing it, I suggest wiring the bezel to the roof using the predrilled cnc holes, not the CA glue. Wiring each side tightly is all that is needed and will get rid of the gap created by spring back when the hatch opening is cut out. Push the wires against the bezel sides and fillet over them and glass over soft fillets will be my approach. I don’t believe that lead weights on a board would be enough to bring the bezel sides into tight contact with the roof ,but I did not want weights in the way of glassing the bezel immediately after filleting.
The yellow plastic squeegee is sold in autoparts supply stores for spreading Bondo. They plastic,flexible, about 4″x3″. Cured epoxy can be removed from them by flexing them and shaving it off with a utility knife blade. You can make all sorts of fillet tools out of them; far better than sticks and infinitely reusable (lie for 25 years of boatbuilding. I am still using the same batch of squeegees I purchased in 1990. Even devotees of foam rollers and boatbuilding will admit that squeegees, bar none, are the single best way to wet out glass on surfaces. I assure you they are the best way also to wet out glass tape on a plastic covered table prior to unrolling the tape in place on the boat (or teardrop. Applying downward pressure while moving the squeegee is THE way to get the air out of the fiberglass. Stippling motions with a chip brush are childsplay in comparison. What roller devotees like about rollers is that they spread out the epoxy quickly in a smooth thin even coat. However they entrain air and are far from ideal in wetting out dry cloth on dry wood. If you use then you must still get the air out- using a squeegee aggressively; simply tipping with a foam brush just doesn’t cut it/isn’t aggressive enough/ leaves glass floating on epoxy. I have no trouble spreading epoxy out evenly, thinly, and quickly with squeegees. At first its like plowing snow in a parking lot, then its a wiping motion with downward pressure, then its a scrubbing action with more downward pressure until you get a uniform translucent textured glass surface with no epoxy pools on the surface. Look at the surface at an angle to see those shiny reflecting pools and go back and squegee them with downward pressure towards the still unwet glass. The one function where rollers excel is applying thin final epoxy coats to already cured wet out vertical or overhead surfaces – but at great expense in wasted epoxy and expensive nonreusable rollers. And if it is a lengthy job the stuff starts to cure n the roller and in the pan. Ultimately the for peels of the cardboard roller and or leaves “tracks” in your job where the for seams were in the roller. The tampon style rollers available at Lowest are a partial answer to this issue. All that said, I have refined my squeegee skills to do even these jobs, even overhead!
I purchased a 120 watt rigid solar panel system from GO POWER (available through Defender Industries). The panels fold into a carry case and can be set up at any angle up to 15 ft from the teardrop which will allow the teardrop to be under a shady tree while the solar panels are in the hot sun. If I am needing to charge while under way I can either strap them to the teardrop roofracks (though I’dnrather have a kayak or two up there) or in the bed of my pickup. These panels have an integral charge regulator to protect the battery. I am still cogitatingnon the best way to get the cord into the teardrop to the battery. Am debating between a pass throung as on the prototype or some sort of hard wired plugin jack in the transom.
