compartments?they look terrible!

[Ryan Kennelly]

what is everyone else covering the inner walls of the lower compartments with? my trillium has bare fiberglass, and it holds dirt, and looks terrible! Any ideas? I'd love to hear some great ideas!

[Donna D.]

humm, all the compartment areas in my Scamp have rat fur. I think with the Deluxe, Scamp puts in all the insulation and rat fur, then installs the cabinets

Maybe this would be a good place for paint??

[Gina D.]

The guy I bought my Burro from lined EVERYTHING that didn't have stock insulation with reflectix, Including closet and cubbies.

Iy works, but is... bright

[David Mac]

I used an idea from Brenda N's website Three Trillium Trailers(lots of good ideas here!) She used a marine enamel to spray the inside of her compartments. I ended up using a truck bed liner paint - I did this two months ago and haven't had any scratch problems yet.





I do like Gina's reflectix too - this is something I'm going to look into - extra insulation never hurts!

[Benny K]

Do the walls, where the compartments are, not sweat, and promote mold, if the trailers are heated and used in colder weather? ......I would think that exposed fiberglass where there is wider temp change between inside and outside should be insulated by one means or other ....this possibly could be moreso true in areas where there is little or no air circulation.......Benny

[Frederick L. Simson]

Do the walls, where the compartments are, not sweat...?

this possibly could be moreso true in areas where there is [b]little or no air circulation.......Benny

Oh, Gina... Aren't your Burro storage compartments ventillated?

[Benny K]

My previous post was about "bare" fiberglass compartments without ventilation getting condensation and possibly ending up with mold problems, not insulated ones.....Benny

[Loren G. Hedahl]

A good thick latex paint with some moldicide is a good choice for the undercoats. It lays up thick, doesn't smell bad, and smoothes out the roughness of the fiberglass.

Then when it is all dry you can top coat it with enamel or something else if you like.

What I did was to purchase some of those blue foam rolled up hiking mattresses from Wal-Mart. They are about 2ft by 6ft and cost around 6 bucks each. After all the painting, I stuck them on with "Liquid Nails" adhesive using small blobs on about four inch centers around the edges and relaxed that a bit in the centers.

A coat of latex paint changes the blue to white, in my case, and stablizes the surface somewhat.

This is not an original idea of mine. I recall coming upon it while lurking around this site, or maybe a boating site a year or so ago.

[Benny K]

I suppose that foam carpet underlay could also be used at a very reasonable price as a lining in the storage space walls......Benny

[Gina D.]

Oh, Gina... Aren't your Burro storage compartments ventillated?

only when I open them.

I think Bolers have a little round vent on the dinnette cubbies tho. I would rather not heat that area, so my closed ones work fine.

[Ed Harris]

In my 4500 I took some rubber backed indoor/outdoor(i think) carpet I get from Home Depot and installed it into the compartments.
I used Stainless Screws to attach to the plywood compartment floor where the plywood is and just let it contour to the sides going up the wall. I sort cut another peice that sits on edge that wedges into the bottem peice and just sits there against the outside walls.

I will try to get a picture this week for you as it is a lot easier to show than describe.

So far it works well and seems to insulate the compartments from the outside temps too.
I have not noticed any condensation issues at all and I have had it in there for a few seasons now.

On the 1300 I took some foam rubber blue pads from Wal-Mart and just folded them into the space and they work well too.All of this will easily come out too if needed and I can hose them down.I have outside access in the 1300 to these spaces and the foam really keeps stuff in there from sliding around like it used too.

Hope some of this made sense.
Ed

[Al Stansell]

I remember seeing some photos "pre-hack" that showed compartments lined with automobile trunk liner material - very sharp and tidy looking. I hope to get to doing that one of these days.. cheers, Alec

[LeBoutillier]

Carpet remnants; They are free if you are OK with dumster diving at your local NEW carpet dealer. Carpet provides insulation (not much) and looks good. Paint still becomes dirty unless you use a darker color - then the darker color does nothing but darken the already dark cubby. Carpet!

[Lizbeth]

I painted the inside side of the bottom cubbies with grey latex paint and the kitchen with white to seal up the bare fiberglass. I'm going to insulate the outside wall with reflectix (sp?) where the ensolite needs replacing, and carpet the floors with automotive style carpet.

[Ryan Kennelly]

Thanks people for all the great ideas. Here's one more you didn't think of. I went to my local boat shop, And asked the same question. he said'' paint on fiberglass resin'' It wll fill up the voids, and strenthen all the old stress cracks in the egg. Im going to look more into the insulation idea too.

[gregshannon]

I'm with Ryan on this..... first place I would look for cool ideas is at your local marine supply. Boats deal with the same problems we have with our "eggs", mildew, condensation and seals. (because I live on the west coast these stores are easy to find, they are like Stabucks, one on every corner)

There are some easy to apply 2-part marine paints as well as industructable vinyl flooring and fabrics.

Another wonderful boat product that I'll be using to rebuild some bulkheads, etc is STARBOARD. This is a plastic sheet product that can be used instead of plywood. It comes in various thicknesses and can be glued, screwed and cut like wood. It won't rot and doesn't "grow things". I have a strange configuartion in the front of my Boler that I am changing to a sofa w/ storage and a porta-potti. So I'm going to try the Starboard to build the frame of the box. it should be easy to clean and last forever.

[Loren G. Hedahl]

The fiberglass resin would be good, except for the health hazards.

Beginning of rant:

I can't imagine getting my head in a FGRV compartment along with an open can of catalyzed polyesther resin and dobbing it around with a brush.

If the structure needs that kind of extra strength, fine, but I'd recommend dropping another $500 - $800 on an air-fed hood, then removing the structure and doing it in an open environment.

If you need a little more convincing, just spend an afternoon at your local nursing home. It's sad to see able looking people with oxygen tanks in tow.

End of rant. Sorry.

[Brian B-P]

...Another wonderful boat product that I'll be using to rebuild some bulkheads, etc is STARBOARD... I'm going to try the Starboard to build the frame of the box....

I had never heard of this stuff, so of course I had to look it up to satisfy my curiosity! King StarBoard is solid polymer (plastic) material, not fiber-reinforced like fiberglass (which should really be called glass-fiber reinforced plastic).

From what I read just now in boating forums, this is not likely a good choice for structural panels, because it will bend under load - not just like a spring, but creeping with time like bookshelves which sag after years of the weight of the books on them.

[Ryan Kennelly]

Loren is right. I was warned about the inhalation hazards at the boat shop! The resin is one of the hardest undertakings, But probably up there with the nicest results! By the way, my local boat shop will do the whole thing for a couple of hundred bucks. This site is a great think tank, keep up the good work!