Comparing weights of building methods.

[saywhatthat]

Well I will never make you a believer. LOL. this foam is used in houses that use stucco most shop roofs the foil backing, is to reflect heat .you have to remove the foil crappy glue. but its weaker than eps. maybe a bit more research it is used as structural backing on stucco building . This is what is great about these tiny trailers so many ways to build .If it can rot it will. We done a few trailers with out trailtop frame . works great .
The original flat pack about $2.25 US a square foot

[Squigie]

Fiberglass is heavy? Yes a full fiberglass trailer maybe heavy . with the RIGHT FOAM . the foam is the structural . the glass keeps you from putting your finger through the foam. again a wast of time and cash paints you can paint it with then use polyester resin, but make sure you use it right and enough of it. if you time gose for $.10 a hour you save some cash and have a weak piece of crap how Hard can it be use the right structural foam about $20.00 a sheet

No one is attacking you.
Logic and reason are fine here.
There's no need to react with unnecessary emotion.

[John61CT]

I have a hard time extracting meaning from that, much less emotional affect

[saywhatthat]

Personne ne vous attaque. Did not think any was . many ways to build . To me for the first time builder glass over foam is the easiest way to build. With the cost of tools .With G/F can start with under $5.00 of tools if you mess up the easiest to fix . light est way to build So one person can flip the pod. Pod can take years to build with out any warping are rotting. Cost less than wood .
But so much bad BS on the web. Even with pictures have many say it can not be done. I'm a bit lazy and so cheap so if a easier way to do this I be doing it. the main post was Are 100 year pods are about 145 lbs with glass out side 1'' of THE RIGHT FOAM glass on the inside .With willy windows 4.5 wide 4.5 height b 8 foot long Using a fiberglass trailtop component frame kit. poly resin is about 9 lbs a gal. To even be lighter By not using the trailtop it is even lighter. After fire season is over in Feb hopefully will do just a foam under glass .Using a real kit profile with out a trailtop fiberglass component kit .Should be 20 pounds lighter than with trailtop components .To show how easy and light.

[twisted lines]

Smaller the lighter, priority’s ?
I’m a big guy and wish mine was 11’ but it is 5’ inside.
I like the sandwich (weighted) method, the bagging came out really nice, if I could send a file I would sure think about it but I still wouldn’t glass the corners to much unprotected previous pleasure (I hate the smell) .
1.5” foam Baltic Burch glued to it, with all the wooden supports U need, & go light Seal it / paint it
Glue and paint are another worm can, Wish I knew for # 2 but I’m still not done with #1 Still think I’ll buy that book
I

[GTS225]

As a bit of a sidebar to this subject, I've wondered a few times how something like this might turn out in the weight department.
https://www.equipmentfacts.com/listings ... 1586475144

This one happens to be 1000 gallons, but I've seen a 1600 up close, and it seems to me that it would lend itself quite well to a somewhat roomy camper shell. One would surely not need the running gear or pump systems, as it would never be carrying the weight of the fluid again.
Pros; Ready-made top opening for a vent fan.
Weatherproof.
(Probably) paintable.
Almost critter-proof. Even bears would have a hard time getting in.
The design of the understructure lends itself well to an internal floor install.

Cons; One would have to learn plastics welding in order to install a door.
No insulating value to the material.
One would almost have to paint it to keep from being disturbed at night by vehicle lighting.
Rounded walls won't help for internal finishing.
Material probably can't be glued to. (I suspect HDPE)

Buying one new would be prohibitively expensive, but if a guy could pick up a leaker on the cheap.......
Still.....so much is already done for a builder.

Just my thoughts.....Roger

[John61CT]

Wow, could not be farther off topic IMO. . .

Sure, if the plastic bit was magically levitated behind your little TV, that would (maybe?) be light!

Or, do you mean sell off the trailer and start from scratch building a light chassis frame?

Because your proposed frame having been designed to carry 9-14,000 lbs

has to itself weigh a minimum of 1500-2500 lbs!

Not to mention, would you actually **want** to live in a plastic tube? For me, only for a couple nights, even if desperately homeless seeking overnight shelter from a storm.

[twisted lines]

I have personally been in tanks like that only a different color; The lids suck, Very narrow between ribs at the bottom, wall’s are thick and move a lot with temperature, The bigger one my be different.
You could possibly bolt or rivet to the end for a door there pretty darn tough.

[Tom&Shelly]

As a bit of a sidebar to this subject, I've wondered a few times how something like this might turn out in the weight department.
https://www.equipmentfacts.com/listings ... 1586475144

Boy! I wouldn't even consider getting in one of those if there's any chance at all it ever carried anything but water. Even with adequate ventilation, I can imagine what vapors from residual insecticides/herbicides/etc. might do

Tom

[RJ Howell]

Sure using a bedsheet and 15 lbs a gallon of house paint might be lighter but it would be very easily damaged as well as not strong enough for more than a 4x8 teardrop that never sees anything rougher than a pot hole.

Having no idea what John said vs, your quotes.. I do take offense to a PMF foamie not being able to withstand more than a pothole. My first was my sleeper cap for my 4x4 truck. Far lighter than the short cap I had on it (I alone could handle it) and survived very well wheeling through the woods in New England (scraping trees and bouncing over rock trails).



Now the new build (fiberglass over) is just as stronger!



Don't underestimate foamie! As strong as a 'stick built' with aluminum over, of course not. Kinda like a Cement structure being stronger than a wood structure. Each has there place..

[RJ Howell]

As a bit of a sidebar to this subject, I've wondered a few times how something like this might turn out in the weight department.
https://www.equipmentfacts.com/listings ... 1586475144

Just my thoughts.....Roger

I see many possibilities with that! How cool!

[saltydawg]

I do take offense to a PMF foamie not being able to withstand more than a pothole... Each has their place.

I understand but it you look back I said anything over a teardrop and using a bedsheet, not canvas,. And your current build is bigger that a teardrop, but its also not on a trailer. Would you try to make a 12 foot long body with 5.5 inside width and almost 5.5 inside height out of foam and pmf? It certainly has its uses, esp PMF, which would be my third preferred skin after premade skins and fiberglass. Heck I like the foamy idea as it cant rot. Mine is a "foamy" with a premade fiberglass skin.

What I meant is I dont think it could handle larger size trailers ie over 10 to 12 feet long 6 feet high and wide, twisting and turning down really rutted roads. It does have an advantage on those roads for smaller trailers, very little weight and moment of inertia.

[Squigie]

I think RJ finally worded things in a way that may change how I look at foamie construction.
I'm going to have to think about it a bit.
I may actually view foam as weaker, now, than I did previously.

As a bit of a sidebar to this subject, I've wondered a few times how something like this might turn out in the weight department.
https://www.equipmentfacts.com/listings ... 1586475144

This one happens to be 1000 gallons, but I've seen a 1600 up close, and it seems to me that it would lend itself quite well to a somewhat roomy camper shell. One would surely not need the running gear or pump systems, as it would never be carrying the weight of the fluid again.
Pros; Ready-made top opening for a vent fan.
Weatherproof.
(Probably) paintable.
Almost critter-proof. Even bears would have a hard time getting in.
The design of the understructure lends itself well to an internal floor install.

Cons; One would have to learn plastics welding in order to install a door.
No insulating value to the material.
One would almost have to paint it to keep from being disturbed at night by vehicle lighting.
Rounded walls won't help for internal finishing.
Material probably can't be glued to. (I suspect HDPE)

Buying one new would be prohibitively expensive, but if a guy could pick up a leaker on the cheap.......
Still.....so much is already done for a builder.

Just my thoughts.....Roger

Many are polyethylene.
The useful type and range of tanks, in my opinion, would be about 750-1,000 gallon box tanks or "low profile" tanks. They're not as thick or heavy as the bigger tanks. Roughly the size of a TD and usually about 300-600 lbs.

But, like most people, I have no interest in sleeping in a tank, or modifying one.

Water tank cages might be of interest to some people, as pre-fab frame 'legos'. But it's questionable for weight. If you stick three cages together for a ~4.5x4x9' or ~4x4.5x9' box to be insulated and skinned, you'd be looking at around 320 lbs for just the frame, not including a floor; or about 430-450 lbs if the cut out sides are repurposed as the floor.
They are cheap, though. When sold off by commercial operations, they're usually available for $15-30 each, or even straight scrap price.

[saltydawg]

I think RJ finally worded things in a way that may change how I look at foamie construction.
I'm going to have to think about it a bit.
I may actually view foam as weaker, now, than I did previously.

Foam in its self is weak, even the 25 psi dow foam in my trailer. What gives it strength is the sandwich of the skins with the foam. When trying to bend the "sandwich" the outer skin is in tension, the inner is in compression, the foam is in compression all the way thru. PMF and fiberglass are both pretty dang strong in in tension, edge to fiberglass on that one. On the compression side, hand laid glass if just one layer of say 6 oz is probably about the same as 10 oz canvas PMF, the slight edge going to the epoxy being stronger than the paint on the canvas ( IMO ). now using a bed sheet under compression I bet its significantly weaker.

Now as soon as we step it up to something like the .055 thick fiberglass skin with gelcoat that I used for my skins, I would bet they are many times stronger under compression that 10oz canvas. Same if you did 2 layers of canvas it would be much stronger than 1 layer.

The real issue come in is the foam. The normal home depot stuff is 10 psi, that means the foam can support 10 psi and not dent or compress, I used 25 psi, thats 2 and a half times stronger. And I think the isocyanurate foam is even less than the 10 psi and more brittle.

[dogcatcher]

Today I can get a brand new 1500 gallon poly water tank for $750, weighs 210 pounds. It is close to 8 foot in diameter and 64 inches high. Cut a door, 2 window openings and enclose them for $250. I know, I have a 5 year old deer blind that is made like that. 2 of us loaded on a trailer along with camping gear and the first night at deer camp it rained, so we opted to sleep in the water tank/deer blind. Dry, warm and comfortable. It has also been through several West Texas hail storms, without a dent, not to mention 5 years of sun, cold, and all kinds of weather.

Granted, it is not a tear drop, and it does NOT LOOK LIKE travel trailer, but it would work, looks "cool" and you could be the talk of the camp grounds. 200 cubic foot, about the same as an 6x8x4 trailer.

https://www.plastic-mart.com/product/11 ... 9UQAvD_BwE