Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[linuxmanxxx]

Post a pic and we can help you with how to mount your floor. I think you are overthinking it and the sandwich floor would work just fine and not be hard at all. You just frame the frame drop it in make sure it fits and then skin one side recheck the fit. If you keep the corners squared it will drop right in. Put your foam in and then skin the other side and done. Just make sure you have cross members in the floor that match the crossmembers of the trailer frame so you can drill and bolt through without worrying about your bolts pulling through the core. My last one I used 1x4 around the perimeter so I had a wider area for drilling and bolting and less chance of missing.

[Corwin C]

... the wheels are supposed to be like that ... just put your gear where you need to to balance ... all about tongue weight ... but I guess that opens the door to er, another discussion ...

that did not help me one bit!

with my other trailer the wheels were pretty much in the middle, so i did try to balance it out with stuff in the front and back. but with the wheels more towards the back, i wasn't sure if i should be putting more weight in front. i don't carry a lot of stuff anyway, but just wondering about that balance issue.

Balance isn't hard once you can visualize what is happening. Think of kids on a teeter totter. Two kids similar size at the same distance from the center balance. One big kid on one end might take two or three smaller kids on the other end to balance OR the big kid can slide closer to the center and it balances with a single small kid on the other end. You can also take a huge kid, place them in the center (over the pivot) and they barely make a change at all. Your trailer works the same way except you want one end to stay down (the tongue). If you put something heavy in the back, you're going to want to place either a similar weight at the same distance, a smaller weight farther from the axle, or a heavier weight closer in front of the axle to balance. The axle is usually toward the back in a tear because the galley is like a big kid ... it's heavier and has to be closer to the pivot (axle).

Now to answer your question. If the axle is farther to the back, you will want more of you heavy items behind it because it will take fewer out front to balance.

If you are still having trouble visualizing this, I would take a scale and put it under your tongue jack. Notice what it reads. Now take something heavy out of the back (behind the axle.) Notice how the scale shows that the tongue weighs more even though the trailer as a whole weighs less. Place that item in the front. Notice that it weighs even more. Now move the same item closer to the axle but still in front. Now the scale will be in between the previous two. And if you place it back where it started, the scale will be where it started (assuming nothing else changed.) With practice and experience, you will be able to make the scale read exactly what you want it to. All that the numbers/equations/spreadsheets/etc. do is let us "move" things around virtually and find the balance without actually picking anything up.

Clear as mud?

[GPW]

Corwin , well put !!!
I don't know if this is correct , but I was always taught you needed a positive tongue weight to tow properly , and just always accepted that and did so ... The reasoning I defer to the Masters ... Growing up here we always had a boat , and the accompanying trailer , always remember Dad moving ice chests and tanks around in the boat to get the trailer to balance properly ... and what would happen if we stood in the back , along with everything else ...
I always adjust the tongue weight so I can just pick it up (boat trailers), which works out to about 75#, a number I've yet to come close to on the Foamie ... It's just so light ... maybe 20# on the tongue ... so I'll have to stick my Beer up front to add a little more weight on the hitch . You can feel it when you're towing if the weight isn't balanced right ... just my $0.02

[eaglesdare]

thanks corwin! (i think)

so with a short back end, its like the big kid in front? i have more weight right now in the front of the wheel? so i need more weight in the back, a couple smaller kids?

or do i have this reversed?

on my first trailer, the wheel is in the middle, so that means i had a kid of similar size on both ends? right?
now with the wheel farther back, i now have a bigger kid or a couple of smaller kids in the front, right?

if i am understanding that right, then i do need to add more kids to the back, behind the wheel. and if this is correct, then that is what i wanted.

[eaglesdare]

ok please keep simba in your thoughts today. right now he is not a happy puppy. he wants his breakfast and he can't have it. i feel so bad that i can't feed him, he is giving me the look, (which i am sure right now if he could he would be giving me the finger )

[GPW]

Eagle , just do like Corwin suggested and use the old bathroom scale to determine where it’s best to stow your gear ... Once you do this you’ll kinda’ get the feel for how it’s supposed to be ... Just remember , weight (downward pressure) on the hitch/ball , not on the back of the trailer ... They way your wheels are configured almost assures this ...

On a boat it was different because you had several hundred pounds of outboard motor hanging off the back ... You see the wheels on boat trailers are pretty far “aft” ... with a Very long tongue ... offset see saw..


Re. Simba... would you be Happy ... ???

[Ratkity]

Sending healing thoughts to Simba!! He'll be just fine. It's an easy operation and he'll never know his harbles are gone.

Hugs,
Ratkity

[linuxmanxxx]

Sending healing thoughts to Simba!! He'll be just fine. It's an easy operation and he'll never know his harbles are gone.

Hugs,
Ratkity

He'll know its hard to understand if you don't have harbles to miss.

[linuxmanxxx]

Glen I think she'll be ok since she's going to have a foot extra in front but the bulk of the bed weight is going to be forward of the wheels it should all balance out just right. Just stow some gear with weight under the bed and you'll be good to go. Beer run anyone for under the bed!

[GPW]

Under the bed might be a great place for a “drop floor cooler”... it is Foam , should keep the Spiritus Fermenti cold for a week ... Keeps the weight down low on the trailer .... better Cg for crossing those tall bridges ...

[eaglesdare]

ok now you guys just threw me off. i thought i had this down, but i was planning on my kitchen stuff in the back.
my bed platform will not be all that heavy, i am going to use a core door that we just happen to have here (thrifty).

so as it is right now, is that big kid in the front, or is he in the back? just answer that and i should be good to go after that. i just am not getting where the weight is right now. (i am thinking he is in the front)

so that means i can design the kitchen in the back. then i can store stuff up and under the bed. like that 1000lb dutch oven hubby got me. or the a/c,
as long as i know where the weight is right now, or where the big kid is right now, i can adjust the weight for traveling.

hubby was working on his foam doors for his shed yesterday, and even took my wood that i bought for the trailer. but its all good. so to please me after his stuff, he got 2 boards off my trailer. and he says those boards ARE heavy.

yeah i know, no pics yet.

[eaglesdare]

oh and btw, there will be no drop floor anything. i could not even begin to imagine what stress that would cause on this old lady.

[eaglesdare]

oh one more thing, we are going to have to build this off frame. in order to properly "sock" it, and then paint it, this build will be done off frame.

actually this should be pretty easy to do. since we are building the shell up off the lips/wings.

[GPW]

How about a drop wine cellar ??? Weight always in the front , unless you can’t lift the tongue ... My stupid Jayco has an extremely HEAVY tongue weight ... HAVE to use the jack to get it on the hitch , even two people can’t lift it ... still tows steady , just puts downward stress on my trucks' rear suspension which I’ve recently updated just for this (ride shocks) ... that and the plug in hitch/balls that beast requires must weigh 120 # all by itself 4000# trailer is Just Crazy (for me)... I can still tow it fine with the truck (6 cyl Chev) but have to turn the AC off going up hills , or it slows down too much ... cuts my mileage almost in half .. And then there’s braking which has to be planned well ahead of the stop ... even with trailer brakes adjusted ..

Eagle , it’s all in the “Measuring “ ... Measure twice , cuss once ....

[eaglesdare]

ok i must ask this and get your opinion on this.
right now we have been doing foam to foam using gorilla glue. works no problems.
here is the part i need to know: if we do the off frame build (which we will have to do), what if i pre-cover the foam, and let it all dry and stifen up. then assemble? so it would be canvas to canvas. will that make a difference?
the reason i am asking this is: i was sitting here planning our attack for when the folks come down. so i was wondering about the addition of spars, but then i remembered that center wall is going to be there (this is the arch wall). wondering if spars are going to be needed once that roof and wall are attached, covered and dryed.