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As long as your fabric isn't too fragile you should roll or squeegee a thin coat of resin onto the surface of your foam, then lay the precut cloth segments into place, then add resin to the cloth and spread it out until you have no dry spots, then lay peel ply over all of it and squeegee it firmly to get the last bits of air out of the cloth. Make sure you get all the wrinkles out of the peel ply also - they are tough to fair out after. Also make sure there are no small dips to bridge in the foam shell - they will become air pockets themselves.
8.8oz twill is a good weight, but I'd suggest going to Raka.com for their 6" biaxial stitched 12oz. or 17oz. tape wherever you need a good solid hard patch or strip.
As for fairing, buy fumed silica and glass microbaloon from them also and make your own epoxy fairing compound. You'd be amazed how much microballon you can work into a small volume of epoxy - just make sure to add a bit of fumed silica so it doesn't tend to slump. "Stiff peanut butter" is a workable consistency.
Go to Google and type in "tnttt lite house' - the very first result is my teardrop trailer build journal - said trailer just got back from 2,265 miles behind a '96 Sonoma (here's why I am following this so avidly) at an average of about 23MPG, with a couple tanks near 25MPG.
I am really looking forward to finding out what your end result is - I am thinking of stretching the frame on the Sonoma, removing the bed and building a Kammback camper for times when I don't want the teardrop along, but I really wanted to see how it worked out for someone else first! :-)
Enjoy the process!!
Whitney
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