Looking at a project. A guy built a small "Canned Ham" camper trailer (in 2013) but for some reason covered it with a thin lauan plywood (3/16th?) and then coated it with polyurethane. He's figured out that the plywood doesn't withstand the weather very well at all and has since put 2-3 more coats of polyurethane on it trying to keep it shedding water instead of soaking it up. Any reason why I couldn't screw tin directly to this (of course screwing into the 2X2 interior supports)? Would water condense between the tin and the plywood?
- Thread starter dhermesc
- Start date
Steve@Advance
Well-known Member
Don't see why you couldn't, that's the way most are built, metal over plywood or Styrofoam. Might look at the way a factory job is done, get some ideas on how to trim it around the edges, pick up some aluminum trim from a camper supply. Just keep in mind it will be seeing 70+ MPH wind.
He has some tin flat tin (no ridges) glued to the roof but it does not extend over the sides front or back. I'm not too worried about weight - he claims that as it stands it weighs in at 940 pounds total (interior is stripped). Being an enclosure of 13' X 7' standing 6.5' tall how much can the tin weigh? According to my calculations about 214 pounds.
I was thinking more along the lines of real rubber roofing. It comes in rolls of varying lengths. I've worked with it before and it is not hard to install.
Just find a roofing company in your area and they will probably sell you whatever size you need off of a leftover roll they may have sitting around.
That way it will be one sheet with no seams.
Just find a roofing company in your area and they will probably sell you whatever size you need off of a leftover roll they may have sitting around.
That way it will be one sheet with no seams.
Russ from MN
Well-known Member
- Location
- Bemidji MN
I used real rubber roofing for a deer stand/ fish house, glued onto plywood. I used to load it on a trailer and move it 100 miles between deer hunting and the lake, works great.
Gary from Muleshoe
Well-known Member
Just a thought and curious for a project of my own. Would elastomeric roof coating work in this situation or over treated plywood? My project is stationary.
MarkB_MI
Well-known Member
- Location
- Motown USA
I would not put any time or money into salvaging this failed project. It sounds like he cut so many corners you would be better off starting from scratch.
It's possible to make strong, watertight structures from plywood. They're called "boats" and I've made one myself. But you don't make them out of lauan, 2x2s and polyurethane varnish. You use marine plywood and epoxy resin. Marine plywood has no voids where water can collect; it is not cheap. If the builder hasn't been able to fix the leaks, that lauan is already disintegrating inside. And I would assume he got the rest of his materials at Home Depot, so he probably didn't use any corrosion-resistant fasteners.
As for the polyurethane finish, there are very few urethane varnishes that are suitable for exterior use. Those that will stand up to the weather are very expensive, upwards of 50 bucks a quart.
That said, you have nothing to lose but a few hours of your time and and a few hundred bucks worth of aluminum and screws. Good luck.
It's possible to make strong, watertight structures from plywood. They're called "boats" and I've made one myself. But you don't make them out of lauan, 2x2s and polyurethane varnish. You use marine plywood and epoxy resin. Marine plywood has no voids where water can collect; it is not cheap. If the builder hasn't been able to fix the leaks, that lauan is already disintegrating inside. And I would assume he got the rest of his materials at Home Depot, so he probably didn't use any corrosion-resistant fasteners.
As for the polyurethane finish, there are very few urethane varnishes that are suitable for exterior use. Those that will stand up to the weather are very expensive, upwards of 50 bucks a quart.
That said, you have nothing to lose but a few hours of your time and and a few hundred bucks worth of aluminum and screws. Good luck.
Frank (N.Mi.)
Member
Most of these are not UV resistant and will break down if left uncovered.
Blackhole49
Well-known Member
- Location
- White Lake MI
Not sure how it would work with treated wood, but on my old Starcraft popup campers, the aluminum was glued directly to the thin lauan plywood.
Part Time Pete
Well-known Member
- Location
- Leatherstocking Region NY
Unless there's something between the 2x2's to screw to, you might want to put down some 1x4 purlins to fasten the metal to.
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