KCStudly wrote:Again, I realize this is an older thread, but I recently completed the 23rd Unimog Fest in Ware, Mass, and may have a solution for you. (The Unimog Fest is an offroad gathering of Mercedes Benz Unimogs, Penzgaurs, Hummers, and in this case, my buddy Larry's lifted Range Rover Sport.)
The host of the event brings his "Hound Dog" on the run. Hound Dog rides in a large dog crate strapped into the bed of his "Mog", which to get over the bed rails is easily over shoulder height for me (I'm 6 ft).
He took an old section of aluminum extension ladder, cut it to an appropriate "ramp" length that accommodated his (granted, healthy young dog) and wraped it with an old comforter blanket.
This made a nice cushioned soft ramp, with rung "bays" for the dog to climb relatively easily. It was relatively light weight, more than adequatly durable, and it would be easy to store on a roof rack, on outside wall brackets, or in the bed of a tow vehicle.
The wrap material could be just about any weather proof material that the dog's claws wouldn't destroy. Even leftover canvas from a foamie build!
Oh, don't know how I missed this! That sounds like a cool/useful idea... filing it away for future use.
So, I came back to this thread because today I'm saying goodbye to foamie. I ended up not finding a buyer when I was looking before, and figured I'd get around to putting it back out there, maybe after fixing a few things. But then I parked it at an angle at my new place, and it let some water get it. Then at some point the roof vent broke (I think something fell on it) and it let in a lot more water! This turned it into a bit of a mold farm, so in the end I put it up for free. This Wednesday, I'm closing on a new house up in Rhode Island (I'm in NC right now) and I can't drag this thing with me when I've got no immediate use for it. I got a ton of responses, and the people are hopefully towing it away as I type this (it's sitting on the other side of the property and due to covid and to ~*~feelings~*~ I don't want to watch).
In the end, going back through, this was a great project and I'm really glad I did it. It gave me a lot of confidence and I learned a ton. For the last year and change I've been living in a geodesic dome tiny house with fabric-skinned rigid foam panels for walls, and that definitely wouldn't have happened if I hadn't built foamie! I was actually planning on living in the domes another year, but life, as it so often does, had other plans. The woman who owns the land I've been renting decided to sell, so I found myself soon-to-be homeless.
The domes will live on eventually as a back yard pottery studio at the new place in theory, and I'll go back to living in an actual (if very small) house for a while!
All that to say, when I've settled into the house, I'll probably start planning in earnest for Foamie 2: Slideout Boogaloo. So keep an eye out for that! Coming soon to a forum thread near you.
My current design is a large (ish) double-layer standie foamie with a slide out capsule on the side, which will hopefully be enough space for me and my neurotic dog to travel more comfortably for 4-6 week long trips at a time. That's the plan anyway... but since when has anything in my life gone to plan.
I wanted to thank everyone again for your advice and moral support on foamie the first, though... it was a great journey that I'm glad I got to take and that I'm thankful you guys took along with me.