Ultralight foamie, pulling with a Honda maxi scooter

[BrianInVA]

I finally found out what they are. They’re the window cutouts from the manufacture of insulated garage door panels.

As such they should be fairly sturdy.

[JasenC]

I finally found out what they are. They’re the window cutouts from the manufacture of insulated garage door panels.

As such they should be fairly sturdy.

I was wandering about the size, but now it makes prefect sense.

[BrianInVA]

I found an even better, cheaper option, close enough to go get them easily:

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“These panels are 26x76 - These are cutouts from a material we use a lot of. They aren’t perfect on all of the corners, but very straight edges and very durable. They are fiberglass coated 1/4” plywood on each side with polyurethane foam insulation in the center. They work great for sheathing, insulation, or any project you need panels or sheathing material for. These are 1 5/8 thick panels. I can also get Panels a bit larger like 36 x 76 and 42 x 78. They are about 35 pounds. $8 per panel.”

[JasenC]

I found an even better, cheaper option, close enough to go get them easily

“These panels are 26x76 - These are cutouts from a material we use a lot of. They aren’t perfect on all of the corners, but very straight edges and very durable. They are fiberglass coated 1/4” plywood on each side with polyurethane foam insulation in the center. They work great for sheathing, insulation, or any project you need panels or sheathing material for. These are 1 5/8 thick panels. I can also get Panels a bit larger like 36 x 76 and 42 x 78. They are about 35 pounds. $8 per panel.”

Score!!!

[BrianInVA]

Score!!!

Definitely! I’m picking up several Friday.

And I just found a used 38” x 50” Rv door with frame and window for $75, plus he has two Rv windows I can use for $20 each. I’ll pick them up on the same trip.

Amazing what useful “bargains” can be found patiently searching Facebook Marketplace on a routine basis.

[JasenC]

I've been looking for rv windows on the cheap for like 8-9 months, still nothing, they better hurry up or I'll just make my own.

[BrianInVA]

I've been looking for rv windows on the cheap for like 8-9 months, still nothing, they better hurry up or I'll just make my own.

This seller bought an old travel trailer to make a car trailer and was just trying to get rid of the parts. I assume an Rv door this size was the rear trailer access door, for loading bikes etc. Quite reasonably priced compared to other used Rv doors and windows I’ve seen on Marketplace lately.

[BrianInVA]

I found an even better, cheaper option, close enough to go get them easily:

8F609570-4779-48E9-9B9D-AD0BFDA2F91E.jpeg

“These panels are 26x76 - These are cutouts from a material we use a lot of. They aren’t perfect on all of the corners, but very straight edges and very durable. They are fiberglass coated 1/4” plywood on each side with polyurethane foam insulation in the center. They work great for sheathing, insulation, or any project you need panels or sheathing material for. These are 1 5/8 thick panels. I can also get Panels a bit larger like 36 x 76 and 42 x 78. They are about 35 pounds. $8 per panel.”

I brought home four of these panels for myself today.

They’re certainly very high quality and durable. And they’re not light!

His factory makes high end mobile bathroom and shower houses and these panels are the cutouts for the doors in the panels they make the bathhouses out of. (The factory just throws them away if he doesn’t sell them off.)

He also has doors made of this stuff that are factory seconds that he sells cheap. They might have applications for some foamie construction.

He’s a good guy and very interested in what we might be able to do with these panels. He would be happy to work with anyone here and see if it’s possible to ship them for you too. (I’ve never met the guy before. I just stumbled on his listing.)

His Facebook Marketplace ad is
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 887279483/

The ad currently says “out of stock” but he has a bunch of these again and just hasn’t had a chance to update his Facebook ad.

[BrianInVA]

I posted about this idea of towing a foamie with a maxi scooter on one of the big motorcycle forums, https://www.advrider.com/f/threads/towing-with-a-maxi-scooter-silverwing.1576045/page-2#post-45257695, and received some worthwhile feedback. In addition to the obvious, keeping the weight down, they brought up the idea of the “wind sail” effect of my current mini foamie design, which corresponds with the Canadian Helio trailer size and shape:

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Based on this feedback I decided to use the arched roof xps sheets I have already built for my originally planned full size vardo build, put off that build till after this one, and make the roof and front end of my mini foamie camper more like the ingenious FoamStream here on tttnt.

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I’ll maintain some of the front to rear height change of the Helio design but incorporate the arched roof and front end of the FoamStream to make it more aerodynamic for towing with my Silverwing.

Since I already have 3” xps arches and sheets, I’ll go ahead and build this mini version out of 3” xps. Yes, it’s definitely overkill, since I could do it with 1”, but it’s R15 insulation value and it’s what I already have on hand, since I found it relatively cheap on Facebook Marketplace for my vardo build. Plus structurally it’s many times stronger than 1”.

So my exterior width will be 54” and interior width 48”. Exterior length including the 3” foam will be about 80” externally and 75” internally. The rear wall will be a used 38x50 Rv door I found on Facebook Marketplace for $75. Surprisingly this door and frame is very light weight.

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[BrianInVA]

I found an even better, cheaper option, close enough to go get them easily

I brought home four of these panels for myself today.

They’re certainly very high quality and durable. And they’re not light!

I weighed these panels. If I used them for the entire floor area as they are now, they would add 95 pounds to this build! Way too heavy, so I’ll skeletonize the bottom half of each panel, removing most of the bottom layer of 1/4” plywood with fiberglass covering. I should be able to cut that weight by about 40% at least by doing this, maybe more.

[GPW]

Those panels are certainly intriguing , and affordable ... Great find eh !!! Can't wait to see what you do with them ...

[BrianInVA]

Those panels are certainly intriguing , and affordable ... Great find eh !!! Can't wait to see what you do with them ...

The panels are 36” wide but I need 54” for my floor width, so I cut 9” pieces of the panels to join them together on each side to make a 54” floor. One panel was 82” inch long, while the other were 78” so I used it as the central panel, as the front end of the Foamie will be arched for better aerodynamics.

I put several 2x4s through a planer to take them down to 1”, the thickness between the layers of 1/4” plywood and fiberglass coating on these panels.

I routered out 1.5” of the polyurethane foam insulation between the ends of the panels with a die grinder bit in a drill. Then I applied some of the FoamFast adhesive I picked up from Hot Wire Foam Factory to the 1” thick boards and clamped them in place between the sides of the panels. I applied more adhesive to the remaining 1.5” of wood and slip it into the wider panel and held it in place with multiple clamps, so I’ll end up with one solid 54” wide panel for the floor.

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Next I’ll skeletonize the bottom layer of 1/4” plywood and fiberglass to lighten up the final panel as much as possible.

[BrianInVA]

The floor is almost ready to mount.

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But it’s WAY too heavy, almost 100 lbs.

I’m really going to have to take most of the bottom layer of plywood and fiberglass off and just leave the bare minimum to hold the internal longitudinal pieces of wood framing.

On the other hand, on some motorcycle forums, they’re saying a lightweight foamie with a relatively high cross section will be dangerous with cross winds towing it with a maxi scooter

That weight might go a long ways to holding the whole trailer more steady in winds.

[BrianInVA]

I got the diy version of my Heims swivel motorcycle hitch completed today.

This is a Heim swivel hitch for a motorcycle trailer.

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It swivels between the trailer and the bike to allow the bike to lean in turns while keeping both wheels of the trailer solid in the road.

They’re $200. Not happening.

Mine works exactly the same way. Instead of a bearing, it swivels in the threads of the top link.

I assembled it using a Category 1 tractor top hitch and a 3/4” bolt, angle grinder cut off wheel and hand drill. $30 for the parts at Rural King.

Here is it assembled on my Silverwing hitch, which does have small eyelets underneath for the safety chains. It will be bolted inside the 2x2 trailer tongue:

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[BrianInVA]

Laying out the cross supports. I lengthened the tongue several feet with 2x2 box steel and I’m using the original tongue as the forward cross support to anchor the whole structure. Once I get the cross supports bolted into place I’ll mount the floor, then start with the foamie camper structure.

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