Hello everyone, this is my first post, and I'm about to dive right into my project that I'm in the thick of right now!
The idea is to have a lightweight standy (i learned this word a few weeks ago reading this forum haha) that would fit on a harbor freight 4x8, with more emphasis on being livable than transportable. I plan to move it around with me and live in it in place for periods of time. I would like to fit an industrial sewing machine and some of my sewing supplies as sewing is a major hobby of mine and sometimes a source of income. Challenges include that I am quite tall, so this standy needs to be a bit roomier than most. Weight is also a challenge, as my vehicle has a towing capacity is 1500lbs, and I may have a few hundred pounds of sewing equipment and fabric inside. Being large, it also needs to needs to be strong. So how to achieve this? My dad convinced me to go with a stitch and glue method with his background in boatbuilding, since no framing is required which keeps the weight down. Foamie was considered but i think plywood feels like it comes with a bit more longevity.
I mocked up the shape using paper, it is essentially an extruded hexagon with a "bubble" at one end, door at the other. the floor is almost exactly one piece of plywood, so it will fit upon the HF trailer without any overhang framing, saving more weight.
After cutting the shapes I fiberglassed each piece (besides the bubble). the bottom is 9mm marine plywood (meranti) and the rest are 6mm meranti. I used 1.5 oz fiberglass for all the pieces besides the roof, which is 4 oz. Im a bit concerned that the 1.5 is too thin to withstand the sanding required for paint but we shall see! then I stitched the whole thing together with wire, the crux of this being getting the bubble part to fit, a whole operation with ratchet straps and ropes and lots of trial and error trimming the pieces. Then it was time to begin filleting and taping the inside using epoxy (from raka) thickened with wood flour and topped with 1708 biaxial fiberglass tape. This process gobbled up something like 2 gallons of epoxy, good grief! I realized i needed one roof beam to stiffen the roof, so i glued that in as well.
Getting through taping the inside was a relief, and I'm quite satisfied with the overall strength and stiffness of the structure. I also built a door and glassed the bubble part (a struggle on the overhang!). Im now working on rounding the "chines" on the outside to accept the 1700 biaxial tape. Im realizing now how thick and maybe overkill this stuff is as I taped part of the bubble the other day. it has a very coarse "weave" that needed to be filled with glass microballoon thickened epoxy as a fairing compound. fairing the outside and having it look good may be a struggle!
Ok, so heres the guesstimated weight breakdown, dimensions plus some pics:
Plywood: 9 pieces at 24lbs each is 216lbs -> trimmed maybe 200 lbs
1 piece of 9mm ply is 36 lbs
Will probably use 5 gal of epoxy, about 50 lbs
fiberglass: 15-20 lbs?
door and frame: maybe 30 lbs
so for the shell and door we are at about 336 lbs.
The HF trailer is what, 300 lbs?
so that puts me at 636 pounds uninsulated and unfurnished. I think that leaves me with enough wiggle room to keep the loaded thing below 1500 lbs...
Dimensions: The height at its highest point is 6' 10" or so, actually a bit taller than I was expecting! plenty of room for insulation. At its widest point in the middle the camper is just over 8 feet wide, squeezing into the legal width. the base is 8 feet long and the bubble sticks out a foot or two.
Future steps and uncertainties:
Here pics:
Above is the 1700 fiberglass tape with glass bubble fairing compound.
The idea is to have a lightweight standy (i learned this word a few weeks ago reading this forum haha) that would fit on a harbor freight 4x8, with more emphasis on being livable than transportable. I plan to move it around with me and live in it in place for periods of time. I would like to fit an industrial sewing machine and some of my sewing supplies as sewing is a major hobby of mine and sometimes a source of income. Challenges include that I am quite tall, so this standy needs to be a bit roomier than most. Weight is also a challenge, as my vehicle has a towing capacity is 1500lbs, and I may have a few hundred pounds of sewing equipment and fabric inside. Being large, it also needs to needs to be strong. So how to achieve this? My dad convinced me to go with a stitch and glue method with his background in boatbuilding, since no framing is required which keeps the weight down. Foamie was considered but i think plywood feels like it comes with a bit more longevity.
I mocked up the shape using paper, it is essentially an extruded hexagon with a "bubble" at one end, door at the other. the floor is almost exactly one piece of plywood, so it will fit upon the HF trailer without any overhang framing, saving more weight.
After cutting the shapes I fiberglassed each piece (besides the bubble). the bottom is 9mm marine plywood (meranti) and the rest are 6mm meranti. I used 1.5 oz fiberglass for all the pieces besides the roof, which is 4 oz. Im a bit concerned that the 1.5 is too thin to withstand the sanding required for paint but we shall see! then I stitched the whole thing together with wire, the crux of this being getting the bubble part to fit, a whole operation with ratchet straps and ropes and lots of trial and error trimming the pieces. Then it was time to begin filleting and taping the inside using epoxy (from raka) thickened with wood flour and topped with 1708 biaxial fiberglass tape. This process gobbled up something like 2 gallons of epoxy, good grief! I realized i needed one roof beam to stiffen the roof, so i glued that in as well.
Getting through taping the inside was a relief, and I'm quite satisfied with the overall strength and stiffness of the structure. I also built a door and glassed the bubble part (a struggle on the overhang!). Im now working on rounding the "chines" on the outside to accept the 1700 biaxial tape. Im realizing now how thick and maybe overkill this stuff is as I taped part of the bubble the other day. it has a very coarse "weave" that needed to be filled with glass microballoon thickened epoxy as a fairing compound. fairing the outside and having it look good may be a struggle!
Ok, so heres the guesstimated weight breakdown, dimensions plus some pics:
Plywood: 9 pieces at 24lbs each is 216lbs -> trimmed maybe 200 lbs
1 piece of 9mm ply is 36 lbs
Will probably use 5 gal of epoxy, about 50 lbs
fiberglass: 15-20 lbs?
door and frame: maybe 30 lbs
so for the shell and door we are at about 336 lbs.
The HF trailer is what, 300 lbs?
so that puts me at 636 pounds uninsulated and unfurnished. I think that leaves me with enough wiggle room to keep the loaded thing below 1500 lbs...
Dimensions: The height at its highest point is 6' 10" or so, actually a bit taller than I was expecting! plenty of room for insulation. At its widest point in the middle the camper is just over 8 feet wide, squeezing into the legal width. the base is 8 feet long and the bubble sticks out a foot or two.
Future steps and uncertainties:
- Painting: I plan to sand and then paint using a high quality exterior latex paint, because I want it to be easy to touch up and relatively inexpensive.
- I have some push out windows that will get installed in the sides from bellaluna that are 500x 350mm and very lightweight.
- furnishing the interior: I will glue bulkheads and tables etc directly to the plywood for strength, then i will puzzle foam insulation around all of that. The foam will be sandwiched in with the windows and behind trim pieces. I will need to make little anchors for screws that will be epoxied to the plywood. 2" insulation in the ceiling, maybe 1.5" in the walls?
- I do not know which type of foam i will use to insulate. Im leaning toward the cheap stuff thats white and looks like styrofoam with a reflective coating on one side (henry?) . What I'm wondering is how to finish the inside of the foam so its nice to look at. Does anyone have experience glueing wallpaper on to foam?
- Eventually I want a little 12 volt system for fans and lights. I have a little 100w panel. Mostly I will be connected to shore power probably.
- Ventilation: I do not want anything in the roof, for various reasons. I think having fans at the upper back walls next to the door would be ideal and then vents or another window somewhere up front. Then I could have a crossbreeze!
- Given how tall and wide this thing is will I need to worry about it tipping over in high wind? I will definitely have lots of stuff inside for ballast, and I could keep it all low while driving. Maybe i should make a storage box under the floor to keep heavy stuff in.
Here pics:
Above is the 1700 fiberglass tape with glass bubble fairing compound.
