Quote:
Originally Posted by greengeeker
Thanks for the response. I'm not necessarily following your description of the construction of the aeroshell but the visualization of the "canoe method" paints a picture.
During the summer months I'm averaging 54mpg in my 5spd Jetta - no mods, no hypermiling, standard 50/50 (city/hwy) commute. With the same engine and same commute in my truck I can just hit 40mpg. I'd like to bridge that gap some.
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get a shape using the template overlay tool and a picture of your truck.
Aerodynamic Streamlining Template
Using that shape, cut 5~7 bulkheads from plywood, reduced by the thickness of your planned strips. These can be pieced together if you do strong scab patches with glue and fasteners. You can do as much or as little as you want in regards to curvature. The more it is rounded (side to side), the better it will do. The trick is that transition from the relatively square truck cab, and back again to the tailgate ege.
Set it on the truck bed and fasten it together with a couple of longitudinal boards so it is rigid and secure.
Then loosely follow this build method.
Building a Cedar Strip Canoe
Note that the builder used MDF formers and did not fasten directly to them, and had to strap everything down. This is tedious and not necessary. You get to glue and even finish nail to your bulkheads, since I propose that you leave 2" of them in the finished shell.
This method lets you form beautiful smooth curves quickly. when smooth and ready, overlay with 4 oz glass and epoxy. I use resin research 2000, it is UV stable, but I don't trust even that. More on that later.
If you want a lift hatch, cut that out after glassing, then build a gutter that will carry water and hold the hatch, on the inside of the fixed part left right and front. Glass all that in.
flip it over and cut out all but the 2" of bulkhead, and glass and epoxy the inside to seal it up.
I would shoot the finished structure on the outside with system three WR-LPU.
WR-LPU Topcoat - System Three Resins, Inc.
If you want to show off the wood, use clear. If you want a cooler canopy shoot it white.
Edit: you don't need to use cedar, any straight grained softer wood will do. No Kiln dried.
The wood's stiffness will drive the size of the strip you can bend.