Foam TD (build journal)

[pat g]

Hey All,

Been busy gathering firewood for the winter and watching my Grandson. Just thought that I'd post an update on the camping season. I figure that I have about 8 trips in the foam TD for the season. With an average of about 600 miles per trip, that puts the foam TD mileage at about 4800 miles! Slept comfortably at 40 degrees over this past weekend. The vent in the roof was open and the window was just open a crack. My body heat warmed the TD to a comfortable temp. Compared to sleeping in my Suburban, it was much warmer in the TD.

Over winter I plan to finish and refine the interior. I'll add pics as work progresses.

I have been checking on the great progress in all of your builds and am very impressed! I'll post when I have something intelligent to say! LOL

SYOTR
Pat G

[eaglesdare]

that is great the number of trips you have made! so glad the foamie has worked for you. i think this weekend will be trip 7 for me.

[GPW]

I've had mine out of my garage ... once ... Youze' guys are Remarkable !!!

[pete42]

Pat G said "I'll post when I have something intelligent to say! LOL "

pat if that's a requirement for posting I've been breaking that rule since day one.

glad you got to camp so much this year by the way I live near Dayton.

ol' Pete

[GPW]

Pat , you’ve done such a Great job on your Foamie , and really put it to good use ... leaving no doubt about the practicality of Foamie TDs ...

With all this experience , do you have any comments or helpful suggestions in ways to improve the Foamie experience ??? Your thoughts on this would be most appreciated ...

Anything you’d do different ?

[GPW]

Pat , I read all through this thread again , paying special attention to the “deckingâ€

[pat g]

Hi,

GPW, I chose the fence boards because they were cheap/light/treated. They worked good for the front deck where they were bolted through the frame solidly. The side boards were screwed into the wooden cross members that I added to the frame as attachment points for the cabin. These side boards warped a bit. I was thinking about making some new side boards out of foam. That is just one thought. I have some other ideas I am kicking around. 5/4 decking would be another choice. The boards that I have should be OK for another year or two at least so there is no hurry to change. Every project I have is an evolution.

I am sure that you could us whatever you have on hand with proper treatment.

Pat

[GPW]

Thanks Pat !!! Cedar fence boards are easy to get around here ... pretty Thrifty too... I could slobber them with the Min/Poly mix , and maybe they would last for a while ...
I have to bolt them directly to the frame , no cross boards... Wondering if I shouldn’t make some thin spacers so the boards don’t contact the metal directly and hold moisture ... Plenty of that here..

[swampjeep]

sometimes I see that plastic deck mat'l around here on craig's list, for a pretty cheap price, even seen someone with scraps for free, maybe that would do to keep teh rot away.

[GPW]

Cool Idea ... plastic decking ...

[GPW]

Checked the wood pile ... Got some Pine (#1) on hand , so looks like that’s the decking for now ... Got plenty Min/ Poly to treat it ... and some paint over that ... just keeping it Thrifty ...

[PcHistorian]

Congrats on the cozy foamie. I recently got mine 360 round by 360 over and under and man that made a huge improvement in warmth. Couple light bulbs and an old 200w hair dryer and it was toasty inside with 30F and a cold wind blowing outside. Then I turned on the halogen work light and right up to 80F. I'll have to work with led's and florescents in the summer, or suffer the consequences.
How did you run the wire and I see some deck screws, is there enough of the foam to use deck screws (or are the screws only there until the contact cement dries? What about the hazards of some glues with foam that will dissolve the foam? (sorry, I'm a newbie picking this up in the middle.)

[atahoekid]

There are several glues that have been used with success on foamies. Epoxy, Gorilla Glue, and Foam Fusion (from the Hot Wire Foam Factory , hwff.com) all have been used. When I made test samples of each, the foam broke before the glue gave for each glue type. I guess you can't ask for any better than that...

Welcome to the Foamie side of life....

[GPW]

Thanks Mel, just another Fact that we won’t get any argument on ... all coming together now ...

[PcHistorian]

@atahoekid thanks for the info on the glues! Boy you make it too light and you'll be able to hitch up some weather balloons and take to the skys! Some of the guys here are talking "make one that looks like a Star Trek shuttle craft." Combine the two and it's "Lift-off!" :-)
I suppose if you ballast it with fire wood for the journey out you'd be stable pulling it. Just bring back lots of rocks for the garden for the return trip... Or full water tanks.