Black Foam Lining in Scamp

[J.J. Diegel]

Here's a picture. Is it insulation?

Click Here

[Dave Chatham]

Okay, I'll take this one, the clock must be off a bit your post has a time of 7-- pm today and I am posting this at 5-- pm edst! The black foam stuff is a product called ensolite. It was made by Goodyear or somebody like that for astronaut type use and was about and inch thinck IIRC. The good news is you can just glue that piece back on, bad news is, they don't make it anymore. Yes it is the insulation.

( damn, I am still a rectangle with an X)

(That's better, found my pix)

[Donna D.]

Originally posted by Dave Chatham@Nov 13 2005, 03:17 PM
Okay, I'll take this one, the clock must be off a bit your post has a time of 7-- pm today and I am posting this at 5-- pm edst!

Dave, I think everyone's clock is off...it's one of those things being worked on.

I know my postings are all over the clock...

Thanks for your patience folks

[Pete Dumbleton]

It's also called Elephant Skin to differentiate it from the current carpeting plus Reflectix (aka RatFur) that Scamp now uses. Elephant Skin is also found on many of the older Canadian eggs.

[Lizbeth]

I glued all mine back in place with construction adhesive. Scrubed it several times with several different cleaner, 409 Spay cleaner seemed to work the best followed by a dilute bleach solution. Then rinsed with water. I'm the crazy chick who hosed out the whole trailer. Hey it was summer and it worked!

Then I filled the cracks with white paintable caulking, it took several "layers", on the last layer I textured it a little bit with a scrap of the ensolite I dampened with water and pressed into the skined caulking.

I then painted it white with Zinsser Perma White paint, two coats. It was tons of work but it looks really, really good.

The paint;
http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?ProductID=33

[Brian B-P]

Yes, I belive that this is Ensolite, the classic insulating lining material for molded fiberglass trailers. Most of the 17' Bolers seem to have a less dense soft plastic yellow foam with a thin very flexible suface layer, but the earlier/smaller Bolers and early Scamps have the dense black Ensolite with a durable surface layer. I'm suprised this is in a 1988 model, since someone at Scamp told me that they switched to aluminized plastic bubble insulation (currently Reflectix) covered by fabric ("ratfur") in 1987.

Ensolite is normally used in quite thin sheets - about 3/8" seems to be common, but its not easy to measure foam, and the stuff in my Boler is very soft and probably never was the same thickness as the black version. Benny K. has both 13' and 17' Bolers, and thus an interior in each kind of foam - he confirmed that they are different types.

Ensolite is still a current brand name, no longer with Uniroyal, but it's hard to find.

For small detached areas not at a seam (like a bubble), many owners report success reattaching it with glue using a syringe to inject it through the foam. For larger areas, spray cement is the usual preference. 3M Hi-Strength 90 was recommended to one owner by 3M customer service, and that's also what I chose just reading the labels in the store. It has noxious fumes, so lots of ventilation is required, and only a single coat is required to hold the lighter foam in my Boler 1700 quite securely. 3M's Spray 70 adhesive might work well, and is apparently less noxious.

Covering the seams is a whole technical speciality of its own, normally involving some sort of tape (the original Boler method) or trim (apparently used in other brands). I have no idea what was done in Scamps.

[Brian B-P]

Originally posted by Dave Chatham@Nov 13 2005, 04:17 PM
Okay, I'll take this one, the clock must be off a bit your post has a time of 7-- pm today and I am posting this at 5-- pm edst!
...

Anyone whose time zone setting was lost in the database attacks should go to "My Controls" and check their Board Settings for the right time zone. I think that the default is GMT (Greewich Mean Time, or UTC), which would be 4 to 8 hours ahead of the desired time zone for North America. It is showing mine almost correctly (and I didn't have to reset it), but it is one hour fast.

[Brian B-P]

Originally posted by Lizbeth+Nov 13 2005, 06:49 PM-->

Typical construction adhesive is usually intended for solid surfaces, rather than foam or other thin sheet materials; I would expect it to be difficult to get the glue spread thinly or evenly enough - but apparently with more effort and patience than I have it would work. Some spray glues are intended for foam.

<!--QuoteBegin-Lizbeth@Nov 13 2005, 06:49 PM
[b]I then painted it white with Zinsser Perma White paint, two coats...

In addition to the specific Zinser brand, the common recommendation is to use a urethane-modified enamel paint, a type which is known as Melamine in Canada and the U.K. (but apparently not in the U.S.).

[J.J. Diegel]

Originally posted by Brian B-P@Nov 14 2005, 04:54 AM
I'm suprised this is in a 1988 model, since someone at Scamp told me that they switched to aluminized plastic bubble insulation (currently Reflectix) covered by fabric ("ratfur") in 1987.

Yeah... that's something. Turns out it's a 1981 Scamp, not a 1988. I called Scamp with the V.I.N. "1981," the lady said. Trouble is, I got it registered now as a 1988 and I've got 10 days left to get it inspected.