E-HP said:
Hey thanks. I've been chipping away at your thread for a while but forgot how much wood you used. What type of finish did you apply? I'm in the middle of putting a finish to my cargo box, starting with several coats of wood dye. I'm planning on following that with a coat of de-waxed shellac then a couple coats of lacquer. I don't plan on riding in the rain a lot, but I can't avoid having some exposure to moisture.
I used some "deck seal" stuff in "honey lemon" color because it was on clearance at Lowe's for way way cheaper than usual for a couple gallon jug. I actaully wanted to use a redwood color, or maybe maple, but it was way too expensive for my budget at the time. It's got some sort of silicone in it to seal the wood, kinda like Thompson's. Worked well so far on the wood itself. But it isn't a coating, it soaks into the wood, so it doesn't seal between planks, etc., so the whole thing isn't "waterproof".
Here in Phoenix taht's not exactly a big issue most of the time--I'm more worried aobut keeping the heat out of it so ti's got an inch of styrofoam insulation inside the seatbox area (none in the back; it's open for airflow since teh dogs can ride in it; I use SF coolers to carry cold groceries, with two inch thick walls.
I did use a clear shellac or lacquer, maybe it's polyurethane (can't remember, would have to look at the can) on the back facing panel, but that was more to help secure the LED strips to the wood and keep them there than sealing teh wood. I also did use some stain on certain strips of the rear cargo area, to make it look more like a frame (like the metal red framework of the trike), but otherwise it's all using that honey-lemon deck seal.
The deck and cargo/seatbox are narrow "planks" of some form of white pine (recycled from some signage), pretty soft and light. They darken quite a lot with sun exposure and weathering, even with the deck seal, which is fine by my (I actually like the old silver "barn wood" look, which I had with the original deck of the trike, using old pallet planks--I forget why exactly I had to change them out and went with the new deck, but I'm sure the info is in the thread when I did that probably about 3 and a half years ago or so).
The rear cargo area, the "van" box, is made of dogeared pine fence planks, also lightweight but redder than the other stuff. I would've used the same narrow planks but didn't have enough left to do it, so I bought the fence planks at Lowe's pretty cheap. (carried them home strapped along the canopy top).
It is not great woodworking, but it's not going to come apart, glued and screwed together. Not tightly fit, on purpose, so air can breeze thru while riding, and so the planks vibrate as separate pieces instead of a large wall, to keep the boominess of large panels away. (I think that might've been why I redid the deck out of narrow planks) so the dogs wouldn't get spooked or irritated by the noise.