Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

Canvas covered foamies (Thrifty Alternatives...)

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Postby Wolffarmer » Fri May 20, 2011 7:41 am

When buying lots-o-glue that T2/3 has a shelf life. Usually about a year and do not let it freeze. You can tell if it has gone bad buy rubbing some between your fingers and see if it feels like there are little bits there.

But it may still be useful for our purposes with a bit of bad stuff in it.

I has seen such glue in 5 gallons. but not at HD or Lowes.

Randy

PS, I might go camping for a few days. Don't write anything until I get back

:lol:
"these guys must be afraid of the dark"
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Postby GPW » Fri May 20, 2011 7:59 am

Wolf , True Dat !!! Shelf life , although it doesn't seem to be as critical as other glues (no freezing) ... I still have half a gallon of the plain Elmer's around that's 5+ years old now , still works for my Art purposes... not waterproof , or it would be gone now too.. :roll:
We promise to not say a word till you get back ... Yeah right !!! We'll save you a few cupcakes from the big Party this weekend ... :lol: :lol: :lol:
~Bear~
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Postby eaglesdare » Fri May 20, 2011 8:23 am

i really hope you do go camping and have a great time! however i can't guarantee that "I" won't post a line or two. :lol:

what party? what cupcakes?

unfortuately today is the day i was suppose to head over that nose bleed bridge for another weekend. but real life and finances has put a no-go on this weekend. :(
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Postby pat g » Fri May 20, 2011 8:55 am

Hey GPW,

Like the glass tape. I am sure that I have some of that around as well some other various tapes. I should get back to working on the TD today. Gotta hang the door and trim it out. Almost ready to transfer to the trailer.

Hope that the levees keep you dry.

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Postby GPW » Fri May 20, 2011 9:16 am

Eagle ,now you have time to make cupcakes for the Party ... or work on your trailer... :roll:

Pat, yours is looking SUPER .... You really built it FAST too !! 8) The tape works fine ... nice clean(er) edges, stronger too ..
As far as they tell us , the river stopped rising , the diversions are open , the levees are holding ... for now .... and then they tell us about an active Hurricane season forecast ... GRRRRR!!!! Gotta' get my TD finished , just in case... :thinking: here we call that "mandatory camping" :roll: The whole city goes camping at once... :shock:
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Postby eaglesdare » Fri May 20, 2011 9:29 am

that is one big gathering. :lol: probably shouldn't make fun of that. :oops:
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Postby GPW » Fri May 20, 2011 10:08 am

Actually it was No Fun at all ... Many valuable lessons learned !!! That's why we're so heavily into trailers now (3) ... but that's a whole nother' story ... :roll: Let's just say that those with trailers were "comfortable" , the rest of us slept on the floor ... :thumbdown:
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Postby eaglesdare » Fri May 20, 2011 1:25 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110518/us_ ... en_zombies

Normal natural disasters are floods, tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes and being prepared for disaster means being ready for any type of emergency -- including zombies. On Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention blogged about preparing for disaster and reminded readers that in the event of a zombie apocalypse, basic preparedness will help even if there are flesh-eaters roaming.
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Postby GPW » Fri May 20, 2011 1:40 pm

Not to worry , come June 1 the wife has her bags packed ... :thumbsup:

Just got back from HD , yes another gal. of T2 (#3) a gal. of primer, and a gal of white ... and a big nappy roller for lots of texture... Just going to paint it white , while I come up with a design for it ... Gotta' get some paint on there... This brings the total build up to a whopping 170 USD ... :o :shock:
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Postby Wobbly Wheels » Fri May 20, 2011 2:43 pm

mikeschn wrote:
GPW wrote:Gosh !!! Is the resin really THAT expensive .... Yikes !!! :o


I don't know, that's why I was asking...

Mike...


Hey Mike, in the "Outer Covering" thread I did some price checking for my post about the FG sheets.
Prices are from here:
coast-fibertek.ca
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Postby eaglesdare » Fri May 20, 2011 5:17 pm

ok things have changed, and i am on my way out for my third weekend in the foamie. see you all sunday.
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Postby GPW » Fri May 20, 2011 5:48 pm

Good camping !!! Have Fun !!!! Don't let the cabin slide off the trailer ... and NO Bears eh !!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Postby GPW » Fri May 20, 2011 6:18 pm

Now Starleen2 has proposed an intriguing idea ... dowels through the floor to better secure the foam to the plywood floor ... I've yet to "tar" the bottom of my TD , and can merely tilt it on its side to have access to do so ... no reason while I'm there to not drill some holes and GG glue in a couple dozen 1/2" dowels ... mark the holes , easy .... drill the holes to the desired depth (my plan is 6 3/4" long dowels , spaced @ 10" intervals ) stick the dowel in with some GG , cut it off flush and then tar over the whole business with the roofing cement ... Done ... nice and secure ... Great idea Starleen2 !!! I take that as a significant contribution ... Big Thanks !!! 8)
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For Grins & Giggles

Postby mezmo » Sat May 21, 2011 4:00 am

Hi All Foam Heads!,

Don'tcha know, all those Wisconsin "Cheese Heads"'s
cheese head tri-corner cheese chunk hats are made of foam?

Furthermore, I came across something tangentially related to
foam TDs and TTTs.

It is a faceted dome that is a newly commercialized take on the
Zomes from back in the 1970s. Zomes were sort of domes based
more on chrystalline forms than the geodesics form. Their main
attribute was that they had vertical wall sections. Interesting enough
in and of themselves.

Anyway - Here is the main link:

http://decadome.com/Decadomes.html

This brings up one of the pages on the web site. If you look at the "view
current prototypes" the center one shows a canvas roof --- Now view the
first DecaDome video --- It shows the assembly of their "LumaDome"
model that has panels of 1inch foam faced both sides with prefinished
aluminum and they are joined by perimeter aluminum frames/connectors
--- the roof panels also have a blue canvas exterior skin with a very
healthy overlap.

Does anyone else see the extrapolation of that into some kind of a
perimeter frame to join the foam panels together and then using the
canvas cover to provide additional joining security and weatherproofing
by then covering with the canvas&T2 for TDs & TTTs?

Just another approach in building. I also agree that one important
aspect of the "foamie" build is trying to achieve a monocoque/unitary
type structure as well. Different techniques can combined for use.

Their last prototype is the "StuccoDome" that is made of 8inch foam
covered with resin-cement and fiberglass mesh.

Here is another link from the site:

http://decadome.com/docs/FH1.pdf

This is an article from FineHomeBuilding magazine from April/May 1988
about an @18ft diameter DecaDome made of 12inch thick foam. [This is
evidentially one of their first attempts at using their method.] The
next to last section covers how they attached it to the slab foundation
since the building inspectors were concerned about the effects of wind on
it. They imbedded several layers of fiberglass mesh into the concrete
slab perimeter and left @3ft sticking out that was later resin-cemented
to the exterior walls - as well as cementing the foam walls to the slab.
Sound familiar to all who's been following this great long thread?

I just thought that it was an interesting parallel to what's being discussed
here concerning building foam structured TDs &TTTs and how things are
connected.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo
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Postby GPW » Sat May 21, 2011 5:32 am

Norm, Thanks , That's pretty amazing and wonderful !!! 8) Looks like it would be a good garage for a TD , if it was Big enough ... :thinking:
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