Replacing Rear Window with Plywood?

[lornaschinske]

I would say to veneer a piece of metal over the 3/4" plywood and paint the metal or fiberglass the 3/4" plywood & paint/gelcoat. We are currently sitting in NM with a with a food cart that is sheeted with plywood on 3 sides (2 small side sections and the full front over the tongue). The plywood was added in December 2009. Painted (4 coats) Ace Exterior Gloss Latex house Paint in F41 "Decadent Blue". In 2011, we rolled another coat of the Blue on to touch it up from traveling. In the summer of 2011, we rolled Rustoleum Hammered Copper on it trying to keep the plywood from cracking any more from the sun. The Hammered is great for bug removal. We just finished painting it again (changed menu to ice cream, now it's PASTEL ). We certainly don't intend the cart to last as long as our bus PLUS we can remove the plywood with only minor difficulty. Can you say the same? Because you will be replacing the plywood in a few years due to sun damage. If you insist on plywood try to buy the marine grade plywood. It will hold up very well to moisture... much better than pressure treated which isn't treated very well now-a-days.

We cleaned and resealed all our fixed glass windows/windshield with elastometric sealant (Henry's 212 Clear). We filled the spaces we removed windows from with plywood covered with a heavyish aluminum flashing. We got lucky and found a place that carried flashing that was just wide enough to cover the plywood as long as we reused the original window frames. But that was what WE did. Others have done differently. I'm sure they will chime in. There is no one "right" way. Read what others have done and find what you think will suit your needs (and pocketbook) best.

On edit: plywood quality really sucks and don't get me started on #1 wood... "premium" my foot!

[chev49]

marine or exterior grade will work. Just at least seal it and paint it with a few coats of paint before you install it. for holes or blows in plywood i just bondo them up, after i found out 20 years ago that on 2 coach busses i bought, the plywood in the floor was bondo'd during the build to make the floor level, and they were fine after 15 yrs of service. Epoxy paint would probably be best.
most people just use good silicone for instillation. I use automotive windshield sealer that is black that is used for glue in winshields and costs around $15 a tube which fits in a standard calking gun. If you use that, it will not leak or come off if applied properly.

[Stuff]

wood and schlack the crap out of it!

[ol trunt]

That would look cool but might get you in trouble for blinding the guy behind you

[bansil]

Originally Posted by ol trunt

That would look cool but might get you in trouble for blinding the guy behind you

Argh..there is a guy here that has a 1ton ford with a polished flatbed with cargo boxes and a huge headache rack, and polished rear bumper, diff cover and mud flaps...I hate to get behind him in the morning

[roach711]

You can get fiberglass reinforced plastic panels (FRP) from the home improvement store that would be very weather resistant and may even match your bus body. T'was me, I'd laminate the FRP onto some decent plywood and seal it all up with that Henry's stuff Lorna mentioned.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by ludlow

... I'm also curious to know how it will look when I get the bus painted. Meaning, will the wood take on the vehicle paint differently than the fiberglass body, or will it all kind of mesh together..

Yes it will. The only way for it to look the same as the fiberglass body is to use fiberglass.

Alternative... there was a bus for sale here that used an exterior door decorative glass panel, turned on it's side, to fill in the old rear glass opening. Made for a beautiful sight.

[nat_ster]

Originally Posted by ludlow

Thanks for all of the responses.


I guess my real question was just if the wood will get warped, how badly it might get warped, and if there is some sort of special coating that I might apply to reduce this possibility. I'm also curious to know how it will look when I get the bus painted. Meaning, will the wood take on the vehicle paint differently than the fiberglass body, or will it all kind of mesh together.
.

Warping is not the problem with plywood that was indicated above. I believe it was cracking in the sun. That's why people are telling you to glue a layer of something not affected by the sun to the plywood. Even a skim coating of bondo over the exposed surface of the plywood would go a long way.

Originally Posted by roach711

You can get fiberglass reinforced plastic panels (FRP) from the home improvement store that would be very weather resistant and may even match your bus body. T'was me, I'd laminate the FRP onto some decent plywood and seal it all up with that Henry's stuff Lorna mentioned.

Bingo

Nat

Posted for educational purposes only.