Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×
 


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 08-28-2017, 06:34 PM   #11
Member
 
Unimat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Idaho Falls, ID.
Posts: 42
If you use end grain balsa that is available in backed rolls, you can sandwich it between the existing shell and a new layer of boat cloth. You will then have a very strong composite structure. There is also a plastic cellular material that does the same thing, but very expensive. The width of the material you use shouldn't make any difference as long as you saturate and bond it well.

__________________
"Anything worth doing is worth overdoing"
Unimat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-29-2017, 06:17 AM   #12
Senior Member
 
jpau00's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Fresno, CA / Dayton, OH
Posts: 202
I'd been planning on putting balsa ribs across the top, about every 24", but I am wondering if I have that wrong. Would balsa ribs provide support?

Rolls would be tough to do on my particular top.

My other thought was to steam some wood ribs like they do with boats.
jpau00 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-29-2017, 08:10 AM   #13
Member
 
Unimat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Idaho Falls, ID.
Posts: 42
IMHO balsa ribs bonded to the inside will add almost no strength.
End grain balsa comes in rolled sheets with an adhesive backer so that it can be applied to the surface without falling apart. It is very "floppy" and will conform to even very tight radii. It's strength comes when you add a second layer of glass, effectively creating a beam. The layers of glass are your chords and the balsa is the web. This may be more rigidity than you want or need.
Other options to add strength are to simply add a couple layers of glass, or rather than cover the whole inside, glass over the top of some sections of garden hose installed transversely. The hose and resin soaked glass form an "omega".These every foot or so would probably be plenty?
__________________
"Anything worth doing is worth overdoing"
Unimat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-29-2017, 05:28 PM   #14
Senior Member
 
jpau00's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Fresno, CA / Dayton, OH
Posts: 202
Thanks for the insight. It is very helpful. I've got some figuring to do.
jpau00 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2018, 09:10 PM   #15
Senior Member
 
jpau00's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Fresno, CA / Dayton, OH
Posts: 202
It has taken quite a while to get back to the van. I had been working on the insulation, but a muffin in the oven seriously puts a damper on your ability to play with toxic fumes. The little guy is out now and can be placed at a safe distance, so I am back on it.

At this point I have been prepping the top. I took off the luggage rack and sealed the holes with epoxy resin. I threw some Eternabond tape on the interior of the ceiling to be extra secure. Under one of the rack’s brackets I could see what the roof looked like once upon a time. The dark parts were a deep, shiny chocolate color. Must have been nice.

The rear top window also had a major gap. The frame has been warping and the window was only attached with sealant. For now I filled in the area with butyl tape and will caulk it too. I’ll figure out later if there is a way to attach it to the top with hardware.

My next step is to raptor liner it and prewire for solar. Just waiting on materials to arrive.
Attached Thumbnails
IMG_2316.jpg   IMG_2317.jpg   IMG_2333.jpg   IMG_2364.jpg   IMG_2362.jpg  

jpau00 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-25-2018, 09:50 PM   #16
Senior Member
 
larrie's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Oregon Ciry Oregon
Posts: 2,843
Congratulatoins I the muffin. Are you going to two tone the top again or go with a single color?
__________________
Larrie
Read detailed trip reports, see photos and videos on my travel blog, luinil.com.
Current van: 2002 Ford E350 extended body camper with Colorado Camper Van pop top and Agile Offroad 4WD conversion.
larrie is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-26-2018, 05:27 AM   #17
Senior Member
 
jpau00's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Fresno, CA / Dayton, OH
Posts: 202
I am going to try to two tone it like it currently is.
jpau00 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-26-2018, 09:31 AM   #18
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 397
Fiberglass looks really thin if you can see that much light through it.
Nrobert10 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-26-2018, 07:44 PM   #19
Senior Member
 
jpau00's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Fresno, CA / Dayton, OH
Posts: 202
It is thin in those spots. I gave a coat of epoxy resin over the entire interior and the Raptor-liner should help with that.
jpau00 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-24-2018, 08:03 PM   #20
Senior Member
 
jpau00's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Fresno, CA / Dayton, OH
Posts: 202
The weather has been very uncooperative, but I was able to get a couple of clear days to paint my roof. Granted, they were 1.5 weeks apart and I had to redo most of my masking, but it is finally done.

I went with the tintable Raptor Liner and chose colors similar to the van’s original. When I got home I looked at the tint names. The lighter color is Tan. Just Tan. So I spent 20 minutes in the car paint store agonizing over paint chips just to pick the most boring color imaginable. At least the dark brown is called Signal Brown. I had wanted something more of a sand for the top, but I can live with it. If I paint the rest, I’ll probably recolor the top.

I gave the antennae the Jetsons treatment. I like the retro look of it and I think it will be a good early warning indicator if I go under something too low without crushing the back part of the roof.

I decided to try to match the two-tone pattern that was already on there. It made masking relatively easy. I did the light part first. I had to wait a long time to get to the other color. The masking at that point turned into a hot mess, and when I finished masking the second time was of course when I realized the other case of raptor was still in the van.

I ended up having to buy another paint gun. Even though I carefully cleaned the first, it was sputtering out big globs of paint when I tried to use it for the second color.

The baby was a total trooper and put up with a day of being virtually ignored. He was inside for all the spraying bits.

It’s done and was a neat project. It looks better than before and I hope the liner will provide a little more strength and element protection.
Attached Thumbnails
IMG_2316.jpg   IMG_2462.jpg   IMG_2469.jpg   IMG_2470.jpg   IMG_2471.jpg  

IMG_2499.jpg   IMG_2500.jpg   IMG_2505.jpg   IMG_2507.jpg   IMG_2512.jpg  

jpau00 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3
Disclaimer:

This website is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sportsmobile SIP or any of its affiliates. This is an independent, unofficial site.


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:02 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.