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Oldsoldier · 02-11-2022, 09:19 AM

Anyone who hasn’t heard of this never restored a vintage camper. I also buy epoxy by the gallon as well as fiberglass mat as needed. I’m currently restoring a 1946 Spartan Manor, so wood “repair” is a must. An excellent source is Total Boat: they specialize in materiel for builds and repairs. This Spartan had Consoweld flooring: a material many people regard as “indestructible”….which it definitely ain’t. You may think fixing a slide floor is tough, but try replacing the ENTIRE floor of a 33’ long trailer, by yourself! I had just finished doing that on our 1950 Spartan Royal Mansion, so didn’t want to do it again when I started the Manor. There were multiple places where water had delaminated the floor to the point you could see the ground. The worst repairs required fiberglass mat and even some aluminum flashing embedded to keep the epoxy inside. Multiple pours; overlapped, expanding edges; and starting out with slightly bevelled edges will help ensure you have room for repairs to “grow”. Total Boat sells a suite of epoxies, gel coat, mat in different strand types/weaves, wood preservation stuff, etc. they have their own training videos on youtube. A good guy to watch is an independent Airstream restoration specialist who is on youtube as “Millers Garage”; Ian Miller by name, and pro by game. He’s good, even if he is from Texas! One video focuses on prepping plywood to replace an entire floor. Plywood edges are the weakest link in a floor; sealing them is a must; and we all know if you have a camper [and those of us with four campers know it even moreso], it’s going to become water damaged. If over four years old, you have damage even if you don’t know it.
1946 Spartan Manor [25’ long; 26’ long now after lengthening the tongue]
1950 Spartan Royal Mansion [33’ long]
1964 Fireball Meteor named Derel [short for Derelict; in Mar/Apr issue 2021 of Vintage Camper Trailer Magazine]. 16’ long.
2018 Keystone Montana High Country 31re
2017 Ford F250
Note: that makes 101 feet of camper if connected in daisychain.

02-11-2022, 09:19 AM	#16
Oldsoldier Established Member Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ozark Posts: 27 M.O.C. #20018	Epoxy repairs to wood [and other stuff] Anyone who hasn’t heard of this never restored a vintage camper. I also buy epoxy by the gallon as well as fiberglass mat as needed. I’m currently restoring a 1946 Spartan Manor, so wood “repair” is a must. An excellent source is Total Boat: they specialize in materiel for builds and repairs. This Spartan had Consoweld flooring: a material many people regard as “indestructible”….which it definitely ain’t. You may think fixing a slide floor is tough, but try replacing the ENTIRE floor of a 33’ long trailer, by yourself! I had just finished doing that on our 1950 Spartan Royal Mansion, so didn’t want to do it again when I started the Manor. There were multiple places where water had delaminated the floor to the point you could see the ground. The worst repairs required fiberglass mat and even some aluminum flashing embedded to keep the epoxy inside. Multiple pours; overlapped, expanding edges; and starting out with slightly bevelled edges will help ensure you have room for repairs to “grow”. Total Boat sells a suite of epoxies, gel coat, mat in different strand types/weaves, wood preservation stuff, etc. they have their own training videos on youtube. A good guy to watch is an independent Airstream restoration specialist who is on youtube as “Millers Garage”; Ian Miller by name, and pro by game. He’s good, even if he is from Texas! One video focuses on prepping plywood to replace an entire floor. Plywood edges are the weakest link in a floor; sealing them is a must; and we all know if you have a camper [and those of us with four campers know it even moreso], it’s going to become water damaged. If over four years old, you have damage even if you don’t know it. 1946 Spartan Manor [25’ long; 26’ long now after lengthening the tongue] 1950 Spartan Royal Mansion [33’ long] 1964 Fireball Meteor named Derel [short for Derelict; in Mar/Apr issue 2021 of Vintage Camper Trailer Magazine]. 16’ long. 2018 Keystone Montana High Country 31re 2017 Ford F250 Note: that makes 101 feet of camper if connected in daisychain.