Quick Down and Foamie

Canvas covered foamies (Thrifty Alternatives...)

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Quick Down and Foamie

Postby eodmike » Sun Mar 11, 2018 5:20 pm

So I've read a lot about TD. Then stumbled upon foamies. I struggled with I want a smooth exterior. But before building anything I told myself well that's just dumb. Whats really important.

My list was:
1.) Big enough for a Queen.
2.) Light enough to be towed by anything (750 loaded).
3.) Galley. (I like the idea of a place to sleep and a kitchen I'm not putting up and tearing down constantly.
4.) 12v lights and fan and coffee maker. Other than that I don't need power.

So the 2nd one landed me here. I was looking at the Benroy but have heard I may want to curve the whole top to help shed water.

My questions I don't think are very many.

I know the TBII water mix. I know canvas and foam are your core building materials.

Really my must knows are well what are the must knows? I started to read the 450+ post thrifty thread but I'll be honest. I have adhd and all the side shoots and comments make it hard for me to get far in it.

Is there a build or two that really show what I'll need to make what I need? I am planning on using CNC and waterjet technology since I have access to both (I work at an OEM we have all sorts of fun tools).

I know most build the floors the same as a traditional td. I'm thinking inserts of wood for hard fastening points. Door, window, fan, roof, galley.

Any good galley foamie examples? Best attachment to the floor example? Please help point me in the right direction.

I read through some traditional builds and one foamie build. (Foamie the First).
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Re: Quick Down and Foamie

Postby ghcoe » Sun Mar 11, 2018 6:45 pm

eodmike wrote:Is there a build or two that really show what I'll need to make what I need? ).


You might read through my build thread. I detailed a lot of the build and it is still only 50 pages long so for it length it has a good amount of build detail without going overboard and sidetracked.

http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=54099

There are some details in the build that change some in the thread. Also a few things I have rethought after the build. If you have questions on the build you can ask them in the thread. George.
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Gorrilla Glue, Great Stuff and Gripper. The three G's of foamie construction.

My build viewtopic.php?t=54099
Working with flashing for foamie construction viewtopic.php?f=55&t=60303
Making a hot wire http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=55323
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Re: Quick Down and Foamie

Postby KCStudly » Sun Mar 11, 2018 8:49 pm

There is no one "best" solution, as far as I can tell. So many people have so many different priorities and visions of what they want their projects to turn out being that there will never be a single solution. People have different comfort zones based an varying degrees of skill and background, budgets, material familiarity, and level of commitment, in both time and money.

If you want simple, light, thrifty and fast, search for GPW's first camo build (mostly documented in the big "thrifty" thread), or Eaglesdare's Mickey build.

Ghcoe's build techniques using flashing are what I consider to be innovative and somewhat unique, and also appear to be a solid technique, but as you will see from his threads, he is also fairly meticulous (a compliment). As with any other build, the results you get well depend highly on your own level of commitment and attention to detail.

Until you try some of theses techniques and work with the materials, you won't know which method works best for you and your abilities. That is why we always say, "test". Test it for yourself.

The reality is that no matter what your level of commitment is, this will be a bigger project than you expect. Even if you copy someone else's build from start to finish, it will be more of a financial and time commitment than can be realistically told. We can't tell you which is "the best", the most definitive method, because we don't know ourselves. We are being innovative here. We can share our experience, but only you can develop your own.

So jump in, buy a few small quantities of materials (one piece of foam, a small bottle of TB2, a yard of canvas from your local fabric store... because it will be better quality than the drop cloths available at the big box stores... maybe some poplar or white wood, a scrap of underlay ply from the seconds section, and make up a test panel to see for yourself what you are getting into.

Not to be rude, but If your budget is too tight to allow for some testing, mistakes, and/or second choice design decisions, then it is probably too tight to start a build at all. Plan on going at least 1/3 over budget. I like to say that the only way to stay on budget is to not keep track. :lol:
Last edited by KCStudly on Mon Mar 12, 2018 6:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Quick Down and Foamie

Postby pchast » Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:06 pm

Welcome! :D

I offer mine too. I didn't document it as well
as some, but contrasts help me decide things.

Good luck in your build. Have fun. :thumbsup:
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Re: Quick Down and Foamie

Postby linuxmanxxx » Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:29 pm

Building isn't the hardest part or to rephrase it's not the part that afterwards you question, but design and layout are the after thoughts that haunt completion. Mark the space of your layout and do cardboard or anything for a mock-up to see if it's truly the space you want or adjust it and try again.

Foam makes it seriously light so you don't have to adhere to the traditional teardrop sizing and can go bigger and more open for comfort. Foam seriously changes the whole game.

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Re: Quick Down and Foamie

Postby GPW » Mon Mar 12, 2018 5:02 am

Apologies for the Big Thread , It was all we had at one time , before the entire Foamie section was developed from just the one thread in the general discussion … So virtually Everything was in one thread … It just got too big to read , too big to edit … That and a lot of people with good intentions told us it wasn’t going to work … But it Did , it just took a while ( many pages) to convince the skeptics !!! :thumbsup:
There’s no place like Foam !
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Re: Quick Down and Foamie

Postby eodmike » Mon Mar 12, 2018 10:22 am

GPW no need to apologize for the big thread. I read what I can from it but with my adhd it is just a beast to read. The concepts it birthed are amazing and exactly what I'm looking for. Thanks for running in to it head on. Has anyone converted the information for a foamie build into a book like they did over in the standard TD section? Something I could buy that gives a full very detailed build with explanations on why they did things the way they did? I know that there are a million ways to skin a cat and to each his own but I have to assume that there are a few ways that work well and would make a good jumping off point for a first timer.

linuxmanxxx I plan on laying everything out in solidworks and then laying it out with cardboard. I want to make sure I put hard points where I need them and don't get 90% done just to restart.

pchast I'll look through yours. It doesn't hurt to take a look at a few different things.

KCStudley not rude at all and I can definitely afford to try a few things. I can't afford to build 5 of them to find out that I was chasing rabbits others new were broken. IE I have some canvas and glue and foam and have been playing with it. That's good and fine and all. I can't afford to build the whole thing though to find out that there is a fatal flaw that I need to scrap the whole thing for. Thanks for the build suggestions.

ghcoe thanks for the link. I appreciate it. I'll start reading through asap.
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Re: Quick Down and Foamie

Postby tac422 » Mon Mar 12, 2018 2:50 pm

There's a lot of good info here: (it's my favorite :D )

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=56441
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