Hybrid Foamie Trailer With Plywood Skeleton

[Pmullen503]

............. Im anxious to get it out camping, so I may forgo some of the finer details to be able to get up to the high country and escape the scorching temps!

That is a good idea. You never know what's really important or how things will work until you actually try it. Most campers are never truly finished. You'll change things once you start using it.

 

[Chefsonora]

I made some progress on the hatch yesterday. I routed some grooves in the frame to tie in the bracing. Will be routing in a groove on the back to accommodate a gutter to mitigate water intrusion (especially at the corners that will be beyond the edge of the hurricane hinge). Im probably going to use some copper strip that I have laying around (2"wide) because it is so malleable, I figured I'd pound it around a round bar to get a J profile, then work it around the curve at the corners. Should leave plenty of room for the gasket outside of that. I have a bit of trimming to do in order to accommodate the hurricane hinge, then I'll bed it in either epoxy or polyester resin before I start filling the frame with foam. Experimented with cutting angles on the end of the vertical panel and using gorilla glue to connect straps of angle cut foam to fill the curved sections. Got a bit of a high point that ill have to trim, but it seems solid wedged into the frame. I flipped it over again and added a good coat of polyurethane varnish over the penetrating epoxy, looks really good.

My next challenge is planning out my mounting points for the roof rack and sidewall accessories. My plan is to router grooves into the stringers/ribs to bed in some 1/4" x 1" aluminum flat bar with thickened epoxy. In order to tie in, I'll put rivnuts every 8" to attach L track & T-slot track to. I fire that will give me some solid mounts and plenty of adjustability, even if I don't add it all immediately (it'll be under the PMF skin). The rivnuts will end up being visible through the skin, so it will end up looking a bit "warty", but easy to locate to tie into. I'll seal over them with aluminum tape before skinning to keep them free of glue and paint. Probably all overkill, but it keeps mounting options open in the future.

Got the window(refurbishing the old Hehr windows i took out of the truck camper) and door framed in (still building the door, and it will have a window as well).

Grabbed a couple of wheels that I had (15" x 265) but they have too much offset, so it'll have to be an axle swap, but I probably should do that anyway for better hubs than the HF ones.

That's all for now, as always, tips and ideas are always welcome and encouraged!

 

[Tony Latham]

(especially at the corners that will be beyond the edge of the hurricane hinge).

I assume you know that to avoid water intrusion with a hurricane hinge, it needs to go beyond the wall?

Tony

 

[Chefsonora]

I assume you know that to avoid water intrusion with a hurricane hinge, it needs to go beyond the wall?

Tony

Yes, im painfully aware, but because of my design choice of the curved edges, I'm left with having to create some sort of gutter system to move the water away from the curves. Another one of my design choices that I'm dealing with the consequences of. i might be able to attach a deflection cover once I have it skinned, ill see how it goes once I get there!

 

[Chefsonora]

Went and scored a heavy duty axle for $50 to accommodate the bigger wheels that I found 3 of (265/60 15") that have a pretty deep offset, but since I've got to cut down the axle anyway should be no problem

 

[KCStudly]

You mentioned polyester resin.^^ just remember that polyester resin... actually the MEK or (other?) catalyst in it, eats foam like gasoline!!! "I'm melting away", ala the wicked witch.

 

[Chefsonora]

You mentioned polyester resin.^^ just remember that polyester resin... actually the MEK or (other?) catalyst in it, eats foam like gasoline!!! "I'm melting away", ala the wicked witch.

Yes. It's ok once cured though, isn't it? I'm waiting for my epoxy to show up, but I've got a couple of gallons of polyester resin that I thought I could utilize on the wood before I add any of the foam.

 

[Tony Latham]

It's ok once cured though, isn't it? I'm waiting for my epoxy to show up, but I've got a couple of gallons of polyester resin that I thought I could utilize on the wood before I add any of the foam.

It won't dissolve foam after it's cured. Epoxy will adhere to bare wood much better than it does to cured polyester resin, so I'm not sure what your intent is with the polyester.


Tony

 

[Chefsonora]

Making some progress, losing ground on other things. The axles I got were a bust (but they were only $50 and I'll be able to resell them). The straight axle was promising, but the bolt pattern was too wide, the drop axle is really stout and are a nice width, but I don't want to lose 6" of clearance, oh well. I cut the HF axle to widen it by 2" on either side, sleeved it with 3/8" square tube with about 6" of overlap. Drilling some holes in it to add some plug welds. Also added sleeves at the ends to reinforce the overhang.

Got the door done. Routed pockets onto it to lighten it up, using one of the recycled windows in it (frosted, for privacy, lol). Door frame is in and I used that section as a test for bending the foam(got a 1" sheet of XRP), kerf cut the back(boy it gets interesting when the saw blade gets hot and starts to wander), but it fit the radius corners well!

Got the rear hatch skinned on one side (was waiting to figure out my strut mounts before buttoning up the inside. I feel like it came in pretty light at 50# for a 48" square door 2" thick! Working on my hatch gutter , using some 2" wide by 1/16th" copper stock. Pounding it around a bar for the gutter, then ill kick up the back edge to put the bulb seal on to.

I went to the local scrapyard and scored some aluminum extrusion t-slot for a screaming deal $3 bucks for 20 feet of 2" x 2" square, flat on 2 sides and 2 slots on the other 2 sides. I plan on breaking it down and forsee lots of mounting opportunities (for a roof rack as well as interior & exterior attachment points. Going to bed some of the flat stock onto the ribs with some thickened epoxy and add rivnuts to tie into.

 

[Chefsonora]

Cut up some of the aluminum extrusion to utilize for the mounting points for the roof rack and other attachments. My plan is to router some groves in the stringers and ribs and use thickened epoxy to bond in the flat straps of aluminum. I'll set rivnuts in the strips to then be able to mount through the skin of PMF. For the roof rack I plan on setting the rails into some strips of oak to give it more of a base.

 

[Chefsonora]

Getting my mounting system installed on the topside. I'm bedding in strips of aluminum into routed grooves in the upper stringers with thickened epoxy. I predrilled and set rivnuts into the aluminum strip (with the corresponding t-slot for the roof rack to ensure proper fit now because these are going to be under the PMF skin. These strips are also through bolted to the inside that will also have rails to mount to as well. Im figuring that this should spread out the load of anything mounted to it!

The fairing is coming along decently, but I'm doing lots of shaving and adjusting. The working name for the camper is "The Lumpy Meteor". I found that trying to shape the inner curves inside that its pretty tricky with straight tools(rasps, sanding blocks) but I found that I'm really careful and gentle I was able to do the inner coves lickety split with an angle grinder with a wire wheel for very quick contouring because I had used the spray foam rather generously.