frp

[Kenn]

Has anyone built a T/C using frp for the roof and siding? I plan to us use a product called Clad Tuff made by Fiber-Tech Industries. It is a fiberglass reinforced plywood that can be made as large as 120" x 58'. I plan to use bolts around the edges and glue on the steel tubing frame. I will try to add pictures of a model of my project and my 1982 Peterbilt. Any advice would help.

[mmmc101]

Kenn,
I have never used FRP on anything so I can't tell you much about it. I did some research prior to starting my project and as with any choices there are pro's and con's. I like the looks of the seamless and smooth look as opposed to alum. I chose to go with alum do to ease of installation and repair if required. FRP must be pretty good since most of the new motorhomes use it. Maybe Hawk Engineering or someone that has used it will jump in here and bring us all up to speed. Nice looking Pete! Look's like a fun project.
MMM

[Ran D. St. Clair]

Kenn,

My Stealth Camper is built with FRP and it works fine. I didn't build the FRP box though. It was already built and on the truck when I bought it. I think it is made by Supreme Corp.

It seems to me that the FRP is a pretty nice material. You can work with it using standard wood working tools. In my experience it has a very tough and long lasting finish that is impervious to most solvents (handy for cleaning grafiti or removing vinyl stickers). The fiberglass does make a lot of itchy dust when you cut it though.

I have seen complaints about it delaminating if moisture gets inside. It seems to me the solution to that is to not let moisture get inside. That's just a matter of proper caulking and well considered designs with no exposed edges, which implies the use of the proper aluminum extrusions at corners. From what I can see the through hole fasteners are also somewhat specialized to insure a proper seal.

I have seen complaints about FRP being hard to invisibly repair. It's true, if someone punches a hole in it then you can either patch just the hole, which will leave a visible seam, or you can replace an entire panel. I patched such a hole, and you can see how it turned out in the pictures in the photo gallery under keyword "stealth".

You mentioned using FRP on the roof. I am not sure if that is a good idea. The water incursion and delamination issue might be harder to mitigate on a roof, especially since there are usually antenna, AC units, and other holes through the roof that could cause problems. My truck uses a single piece sheet aluminum roof which seems to be a life time roof given proper maintenance of the caulking every few years.

Your truck model looks really nice :-)