Questions for those with boat-tails

[Cd]

I have been pricing materials for a boattail, and this stuff is expensive !

$ 22.44 for one piece of aluminum bar 1/4"x1"-8' at Lowes.

Mike, how many feet of the stuff did you use ? Where did you buy it ?

Lexan is $69.98 for a piece 36"x48 .085 thickness.

Lowes does not carry flat sheet metal, but has small rolls of aluminum at $16.98 for 20"x10' .( Twenty inches wide means i would have to stitch together lots of strips ! )

Where is the best place to get flat sheet metal cheap ?

After looking around, i started to wonder if i could use some backer board for showers called FRP or Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic versus sheet metal, but it's $32.47 for a piece .090 thickness and 4'X8' . It is also very heavy.
FRP breaks easily when bent.

Another alternative could be a sheet of Formica, used on countertops . It is water resistant, flexible, thin and light, but has ( almost razor ) sharp edges when it breaks and is $42 for a 4x8 sheet . It also breaks easily

A sheet of 1/8" 4'X8' panel board is $11.87 , and when primed might not swell up with moisture . ( the stuff is basically pressed cardboard though )

I looked for the foam like ThreeWheeler used, but the Lowes i was at doesnt carry it. The only foam board they have is 1/4 " thickness sheets of the stuff sandwiched in between foil.

Ideally, id like to use the foam board, since i would be able to carve it and do radiused edges. Any advice here ?

fiberglas cloth is $6.64 and a quart of resin is $17.04 .

I didn't even price Bondo, since i loathe the stuff and just automatically look past it. ( my Camaro had gallons of the stuff )

Rivets are $5.28 for a box of 50. I suspect i would need several boxes.

Tail light from a junk yard could be anywhere from $30 to over $ 100 and then i i have to figure in the cost of wiring harnesses to eh ?

Also, I have to wonder how you guys put together your tails without a helper. I would be trying to build this thing alone.

I'm currently living in an apartment that allows you to rent out an 18' garage for $75 a month, so im adding this to the cast as well.

[skyking]

Don't buy metal at lowes.
Quick google turned up this :
Metals4u metals distributor - stainless steel, aluminum, brass, pipe sheets, tubing Austin, San Antonio, Dallas TX
Also, call Austin Metal and Iron and see what they can tell you. I buy recycled or surplus materials any chance I get.

Or, use dow corning square edge XPS foam, get it from a distributor of you need to. Do not use polyester resin, it will melt the crap out of it!
Fiberglass supply and resin:
http://www.raka.com/epoxy_kits.html
Epoxy costs, but does not react with your base material.

Click on the warehouse specials link.

[basjoos]

Lowe's is super expensive for aluminum. At the time I got most of my aluminum at McMaster-Carr. Much cheaper than Lowe's (about half their price). But since then I have found that Aircraft Spruce is even cheaper for aluminum.

Current prices
4' x 4' sheet of .040" thick 6061 aluminum
Aircraft Spruce $38 (part#03-30540)
McMaster $137 (part# 89015K82)
Sheets available in sizes up to 4' x 12' at Aircraft Spruce

1"x1/4" 6061 aluminum bar
Aircraft Spruce $1.15 per ft, (part# 03-46300)
McMaster $16 per 6' piece (part# 8975K24).


I got my Lexan at at Piedmont Plastics, a local plastics supply house, but don't know their current prices.

I used 1/8" thick Lexan and about 40 feet of aluminum bar.

[Cd]

Thanks Bassjoos ! I was looking over the extended trunk/boot/ cargo area you built.
Really well made and looks as though it could hold up a lot of weight.

Did you have help when you built it, or was it all creative use of vice grips and such to hold things in place ?

[basjoos]

The luggage shelf was built very strongly (and consumed about half of the 40 feet of bar used) as it had to hold luggage and it serves as an anchoring point for the rest of the boattail. The shelf can hold my full weight without any deflection. The boattail is still as solid today as it was when I built it despite many miles driven on washboarded gravel roads (and a partial rebuild after being rear ended). I built it in my backyard all by my lonesome using clamps as needed to hold intersecting bars together until I could drill and tap screws into place.