DIY: Poor Man's Fiberglass - Step-by-Step!

Fiberglass is a tough, durable, and weather-resistant product, but it can be expensive and messy to work with. A more affordable option is what's called "poor man's fiberglass" and in this video I take you step-by-step through the process of using it.

I'm making a tonneau cover for my pickup truck -- a hard cover that covers the bed. It protects what you store under it from the elements and from thieves. While there are commercial tonneau covers on the market, they can run from the hundreds of dollars to the thousands. I'm building one from some materials I have around the homestead and using the "poor man's fiberglass" to make it durable and waterproof.

To make poor man's fiberglass you'll need fabric, Titebond II glue, and exterior grade paint. That's it!

Using a wood base (I'm using several folding tables I had laying around), you paint on a layer of glue and lay your fabric over the top, smoothing it out so it adheres to the glue and wood. You then coat the top of the fabric -- I'm using a canvas drop cloth from Harbor Freight Tools -- with another layer of glue.

Once that coat dries, you sand it lightly and then apply a second coat of glue over the top. When it dries, sand it again. Now you're ready for the paint. Apply two coats of paint to the wood, sanding in between, and then finish with several coats of polyurethane.

You will have a waterproof surface that's tough and impervious to the elements. Poor man's fiberglass is as simple as that!

Mine is finished slightly differently because of the application I'm using it for. Instead of polyurethane I used truck bed liner "paint" to finish it off. But the concept is the same.

People use this technique for all types of projects, from building campers to boats. My tonneau cover ended up costing me about $75, but that's because the bed truck liner paint alone runs $40. That's a big savings to the $100s or $1000s of dollars a commercial grade one would cost. Maybe not as pretty as that, but it serves my needs perfectly!

Where can you use poor man's fiberglass around your homestead?

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[marzsit]

this has been done for over a century to cover decks on wooden boats and ships except nobody ever used glue to do it, they used inexpensive oil-based paint. the procedure was to cover the surface with the dry canvas fastening it in place with staples or tacks, then spray it with water and let it dry. this process allows the canvas to shrink tightly in place and eliminates all wrinkles. then, mix the first coat of paint with thinner and totally saturate the canvas with it, then let it completely dry. after that, coat it with at least 3 more coats of unthinned paint, let dry between coats. it's still used as the standard method for covering decks when restoring old boats because wood boats breathe and expand/contract, painted canvas will move with the wood but fiberglass can't so it starts cracking and blistering...

[gregry]

Thanks for a well spoken, detailed, instructional video. no acting stupid or loud, dumb yelling. Also, I like your Pennsylvania Dutch accent. My dad was born in amish country and I've always liked the Eastern Pa. sound.

[bobsmoot]

Good idea! I build design/build sailboats for a hobby. To save weight and $$, I've used this method (same glue) on very thin plywood, but instead of canvas, I used thin, finely woven nylon cloth from Walmart (cheap/STRONG). You can almost see through it. I found that it wasn't necessary to pre paint the wood before placing the cloth on it. Just lay the cloth where you want it, pour glue on top and squeegee/flatten it smooth. The glue works right through the weave and comes out the same. Because I wanted my hull surface smooth, I squeegeed additional coats of glue to fill in the weave. Less glue needed for each coat as you go. Works great!
Way less clean up (and with water), lighter weight, easy to use, no bad smell. Prime and pant when done. Thanks.

[JA-qifb]

Moving to a new house &looking at the old shed there, I thought I’d tear down the shed & replace it. Then I saw you working with ‘poor man’s fibreglass! Given a few days of hot weather, the shed dried out nicely & I levelled off the old tar/felt roof. Working in 4 ft widths I painted on the PVA glue, rolled down strips of decorators throw - good tough stuff - & then applied more PVA on top. Final coats of black bitumastic paint & the shed is totally dry. A couple of good storms / downpours proved it. Thank for the idea & info you provided, the shed is good for a good few years now. J.

[bretc]

Back in the mid 90s my Dad and I made a bed cover out of plywood covered in black Naugahyde. It had a recessed piano hinge midway to fold over. We covered the plywood with some batting before laying the vinyl. The thickness of the batting hid the piano hinge and gave the top a nicer feel. The vinyl held it’s color probably 3-4 years and the cover lasted 6-7, just using mostly stuff laying around the house from other projects. I don’t remember if the plywood was marine grade. Might’ve been since it lasted so long.

[popsoldboats]

This is really a rich man's oiled canvas instead of poor man's fiberglass. 👍

[robertnancarrow]

We use a tent indoors when all glued down use a heat fan inside the tent and close the tent up and leave for 1 hour done ready.

[mfw]

Enjoyable video. He isn't in love with the sound of his own voice, like so many other amateur video makers who waste my time talking for two minutes before they begin. He seems to be a skilled craftsman and he gets right down to work. Two things I would do differently: I'd use a bigger scraper and I'd wear shoes.

[murraymadness]

I'm impressed you are willing to do so much work when polyester resin is super cheap would be done in an an hour and shiny smooth if you use some glass or another smooth surface as a form.

[aliposhtpazan]

Excellent and dared DIY. Thanks for sharing your DIY with us

[ephestione]

This tutorial looks like the most thorough of them all on youtube. You appear to be the only one to use the glue both under and over the blanket, and you even sand the layers. Being almost two years, and pretty much three winters, since this video, are there any updates on how it's holding up?

[NewmanMG]

Looking at finishing a home made camper, this is interesting. I hate fiberglass but still will prolly use, maybe this technique on smaller projects another time. Thanks for the video

[FTFreedom]

The benefit of this technique is the fabric and coatings are flexible when you want flexibility. Fiberglass and resin are much less flexible and better applied to a rigid base. In this example the rule does not apply because the cover is hard. But for coating foam or some other flexible base this system will flex with the base material better than fiberglass. For example diy kayak building.

[samadamms]

Had to build a plywood box to store some bikes for the winter, sealed that with some cheap sheets from Walmart, coated with Redguard water proofing. Completely waterproof for three years now

[Arnickification]

Brilliant!!! I’m going to try this on my earth air tunnel to seal the barrel connections!!

[ZORRO]

going to build a camper shell for my truck using 1/4 in. plywood....this will keep my weight down plus reinforce the shell..going to double up on glue and canvas. using either titebond III plus Polyester resin. thank you again!!!

[jorgepizarro]

🥃 As of now I don't know why you have 511 thumbs down because this is ingenious.

I wish I knew about this 2 years ago when I had fiberglass projects.. all superheroes don't wear capes.
Thank you my good man

[emagowan]

Excellent video. A million thanks for not having annoyingly loud and shitty music in the background... like too many YouTubers.

[PainterD]

They use the same technique for boat building. Don't use Titebond II for boat building. It's only water "resistant". Use Titebond III because it's actually waterproof (says right on the label) I gave mine three coats and sanded after each coat. After the third coat, it's like fiberglass smooth and probably as strong. Instead of using a scraper, use a paint roller for the first layer of glue or even a wide paint brush. A 6" or an 8" wide scraper will work better to pull out all the air bubbles. It will save you time and it less of a headache and will be more uniform to look better.

[lhb]

Thats great, i may need to build something, that would need a nice top like a storage place for racks and shovel. Thanks for doing this.