Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[droid_ca]

Oh Randy it's not just your country but soon enough we'll all become just one countryThe United States of Canexico

[GPW]

Eagle , It changed a lot of things for me too ... Wish this had come up long ago ... sure would have saved me some serious bucks ...

Wolf, Made in USA ... You don't see that much anymore !!! "We been Slack" and sold out !!!

Droid , not so bad eh ? Better Beer and cool sandals !!! Hola !

[DJT]

You know it's funny. I've always been the tent camping type of guy, but with the little guy and changing camping priorities an RV/Trailer was getting more and more desirable. Thing was I just couldn't stomach the idea of paying a pile of cash for something so poorly made in a factory, and I don't have the patience to do the woodworking that a "traditional" tear requires (at least one that would hold up to what I'm intending to put mine through!). So I shelved the idea for a while and just kept lurking... Then this thread pops up! Bingo! It clicked! Thrifty, quick, low maintenance, durable, repairable, lightweight. All the criteria rolled into one!

Now I'm dreaming of #2 (and #3 ) to the point where my wife just shakes her head and walks away!

[eaglesdare]

i was always a tent camper also. i do camp a lot by myself, or with young kids. i hated arriving late to a site, and then by myself having to put up the tent. we have had a tent collaspe in a pour down. then so many days wasted drying tent and gear out. packing everything by myself. oh gosh i so don't miss any of that!
..i love, love my foamie. i think 4 out of 5 trips we have had rain, some pour downs, and i have stayed nice a dry. no packing up because i don't add a lot of stuff, but i do tarp the foamie, easy to pack that up and throw in the car and i am gone. that and arriving late, just pull into the site and get out of the car and hope into the tear and go to sleep.
have i said how much i love my foamie!

[GPW]

QUOTE: " my wife just shakes her head and walks away! "
Don't worry , I get that All the time ... Only after it's done and proven does she then think it was a good idea ...

Eagle , you've tested this Well .... doesn't get much easier huh !!!

[eaglesdare]

yup, can't get much easier than the way i go. hehehe i don't use easy ups because i just can't do them myself. but the tarp, while not attractive, is extremely easy to put on and it works.

[GPW]

Eagle , bringing along a small tarp seems like such a good idea for many situations ... The little ones are so cheap and easily replaceable should they become Holy ... Thrifty !!!

[eaglesdare]

Eagle , bringing along a small tarp seems like such a good idea for many situations ... The little ones are so cheap and easily replaceable should they become Holy ... Thrifty !!!

yes mine has some become a bit 'holy'., however, i did not find the one i got to be thrifty. i thought it was rather expensive. i forget but i want to say i paid $80 or so dollars on it. so while there are some small holes in it, i will continue to use it for the rest of this season. it will do the job. next year i will get another one to last for the season also, unless i can make my foamies completely storm proof.

[GPW]

It should be storm proof eh ??? Mine is ... well tested ... where is yours not ???

[Ratkity]

Other than Eagle's lack of drip guards over the doors, she's storm proof. Heck, she survived Drench Creek on her first camping trip!! While she had a tarp haphazardly up around it, the winds blowing the rain sideways didn't thwart all of us getting wet at the pot luck.

I wanna see GPW's foamie mounted on a trailer and ready to go!

Hugs,
Ratkity

[GPW]

Rat, me too !!! Soon !!!

[mikeschn]

You foamie guys and gals haven't been talking much lately. Does someone need to stir the pot?

Okay, I'll start.

If I wanted to build a foamie core, with birch plywood on the inside, and aluminum on the outside, how would I do it?

Mike...

[StandUpGuy]

You foamie guys and gals haven't been talking much lately. Does someone need to stir the pot?

Okay, I'll start.

If I wanted to build a foamie core, with birch plywood on the inside, and aluminum on the outside, how would I do it?

Mike...

I think you would not want to do that because it is a stress skinned panel and the two different skins are going to contract ands expand at different rates and cause distortion and ultimately failure.

[CARS]

If I wanted to build a foamie core, with birch plywood on the inside, and aluminum on the outside, how would I do it?

Mike...

I would work from the outside to the inside.

Use thicker aluminum for the body. Still light. Fully welded. And insulate the inside with foam. Use exterior enamel paint to coat/cover the interior like you would your home.

You asked

[mezmo]

Hi Mike,

The original Winnebago used a ply+foam+aluminum sandwich in their
'Thermo-panel' construction method. I couldn't find anything to show
that specifically though on a quick search.

Also the 'Kamp King Koaches' thruck campers by McNamee in the 60s
used a similar panel [though that may have had an exterior ply panel too
under the aluminum for more of a more conventional sip].

RE: Kamp King Koach
http://powexplorer.com/node/26
http://redneckexpress.blogspot.com/2009 ... sited.html

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo