My Foamie Build--Updated --Jul 3 I'm eating an elephant

[eaglesdare]

wow, i don't know how i missed bub getting a new home. congrats bonnie!
i sure hope you found some help up there in michigan. i know there are lots of teardroppers up there, hope one of them read your posts and could help out.
it will be cool to watch what you do next with the bub.

[GPW]

The really cool thing is we read about that BUB some time ago , and now it shows up again with a new home and further development .... Kinda' makes you wonder where all these will end up eventually ... and what they will eventually end up looking like... The Bub started as a simple shelter kinda thing ( but floating ? ) ... and used for such ... Sorta’ like back to the original small trailers used as simple shelters for migrant workers ... Now , it can go beyond that ...

[pappaw]

good luck on your trailer

lots of pictures please

[bonnie]

This is what I was talking about. B.U.B. is still in MI. I'm safely back in STL. My friend and her son are going to get the parts. I should either try another pickup attempt in a couple of weeks or my friend may mount an expedition to STL to deliver B.U.B. I have some family stuff coming that will keep things pretty tied up for most of July. But the game is afoot, as Holmes would say.

I'm going to finish the door and get the garage re-arranged. There will be plenty of pictures and I'll try and keep everything updated. I really liked that BUB sat lower than the car. Once BUB gets here, the axle, tongue and such need to be wire wheeled and painted. I'm going to pull the top of the box off and do all the measuring and planning to get the build underway. I have decided to rework the top part to look and work like my plan. My friend and I had some issues getting the top to raise and lower. As small as I am, I don't think I'll be able to do it by myself unless one end is hinged or pivots.

Another thing I'm thinking through is the hobbit door is going to end up taller than the bottom box walls. There's a design issue there to work through. Lots to think about.

I need to unpack and get ready for the work week, so here's to down the road.

[atahoekid]

So where have I been? I just noticed your new avatar with BUB in tow. Hope you get it safely to it's new home soon. Can't wait to see your progress with it

[GPW]

Bonnie, all I have to say is , that’s Gotta be SOME door ..

[bonnie]

So where have I been? I just noticed your new avatar with BUB in tow. Hope you get it safely to it's new home soon. Can't wait to see your progress with it

I was quiet about it until the deal was finalized. Now that B.U.B. is mine, I'm all the chatterbox.

[bonnie]

Bonnie, all I have to say is , that’s Gotta be SOME door ..

It's 38" tall and the B.U.B. side walls are 34. I'm not cutting the door down -- don't think I could without ruining it -- so building up the wall would be a better option. Trying to think it through.

[GPW]

Time to make another door , should be a LOT easier now , since you’ve had so much practice ...

[bonnie]

I have come up with an idea to keep the round door and keep the vardoish look of B.U.B.
I have put two pictures from my phone into my alblum. One show the new wall configuration and the otheris the back view. I'm thinking this would allow me to keepbthelow profile when towing. I would use minimal framing and drawr glides to move the top up and down. Comments and suggestions are welcome.

[KCStudly]

Can you build the rear wall up over the door in a shallow arch spanning from side to side, then build the roof up with a short "eyebrow" like wedged spoiler so the two sections still mesh? Make the spoiler kind of poofy looking and camouflage with paint (trump l’oeil) like a thatched roof on a Hobbit house?

[bonnie]

Can you build the rear wall up over the door in a shallow arch spanning from side to side, then build the roof up with a short "eyebrow" like wedged spoiler so the two sections still mesh? Make the spoiler kind of poofy looking and camouflage with paint (trump l’oeil) like a thatched roof on a Hobbit house?

Posting from a phone is never easy. I will be building up the gap between the door sides so it will be rounded. The top will be cut and shaped much like you suggested to accomodate it. The overall height hit should only be about 6", still under the height of my Sentra.

The interior wall that lifts with the roof would be 1" frame and foam--mostly foam. I think 24" heavy duty rollers and maybe a gas shock or three would be enough to move it with some amount of precision and less muscle. I'm not an engineer, but I was looking at TV lifts last night and the light bulb went off.

I'll try to sketch something and post the idea. Thanks for the comments.

[bonnie]

Getting the family stuff done. Had a few moments to look around and try and figure out a lift mechanism for the roof. I think I've talked myself into redoing the entire roof and making it like my brother's design. The advanted as I see it is that the pivot helps with the lift and then this could do the remainder of the work:

From the Lady Bug Build Thread:

Simple small (surplus) hydraulics would work great too.

I built a prototype of a simple (read cheap) jackscrew setup that would work for your trailer.

1. Surplus/Junkyard power window motor connected to a chunk of 3/8" all thread. (Connected via a stout piece of fuel line hose for a bit of bendibility.)
2. The all thread runs up inside of a length of 3/4" PVC -- this is just to keep it clean, as I felt for 40-50lbs of lift the allthread would need to be well greased.
3. Press fit a 3/8" nut into some 1/2" EMT, and it fits inside the PVC, threaded onto the allthread. The other end of the EMT is the "pusher" end.

Put power on the motor, and it goes up/down. Had plenty of force too. All told maybe $20 or so worth of stuff.

OR, a boat winch crank with the cable running up and over the "inside" walls to lift up on the "outside" walls.

2 air springs are still the easiest thing to do.

I've bought the PVC to make a test lift. I am bidding on a motor from a power jack on ebay.

While searching the web for ideas on how to motorize the lif mechanism, I even found one done with a canabalized electric screw driver. So the design question up for discussion is:

If I make this lift and have it lift a board or support of some sort to lift the front part of the roof on the pivot, do you think one lift point would work with a 5' wide roof? I got this whole idea from looking at TV lifts. If I had hidden (and very light weight) shelves, say built into a stationay head board at the front of the trailer and then had the top most part lift to expose shelves and support the full width of the trailer lid, would that work? I guess I'd have to have some sort guide rails to aid the lift. Even though with 3500lbs of potential lift power, I think the motor will be overkill.

I'm thinking I may try and build the headboard frame and get the lift part ready too. Then when I go back to MI to pick up B.U.B. I can take it with me, Intall it and give it a try. Or not. I don't have a battery right now.

[GPW]

Bonnie , the real question is do you really Need all those lifts /hydraulics complexity and expense ??? Seems for that one a simple “manual" lifting and then inserting some PVC pipes in the corners as supports would do ...you could even inset some plywood plates with holes to capture the pipe supports ... (Thrifty and Simple ) The roof’s not that heavy eh ???

[bonnie]

I'm looking at the simplier screw jack solution.

The manual lift thing didn't work very well. I'd estimate the roof with windows and no door parts as of yet weighed at least 80#. Judy and I had problems getting it to raise and the props fell off the wall almost immediately. I think, since I will be solo camping more often than not, some complexity needs to happen or I'll brain myself with a 2x4. I'm thinking one lift and done. Sure it's a bit complex, but I don't think I'd be comfortable with just the 2x4 method the previous owner used. Some work and complexity now will make things much simplier later on -- at least in the lifting department. I don't think I'll have $30 in the entire lift. The shelves -- I haven't designed yet.