Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[GPW]

Crum, that should be EASY huh ???

[crumbruiser]

Those things new are about $150 clear up to over $500. I think they could me made better and for lots less.
Frank

[eaglesdare]

i have to go shopping for a new mattress. i took the one i had in the foamie and it now has a permanent spot in my real bed. i loved it so much that i need a new one for the camper. must get ready for my first real camping gathering next thursday. i found a smaller heater finally on sale and picked that up. i had a heater, but it really is too big for the foamie, so hopefully this smaller one will be just right and on sale, so can't beat that. i wished those mattresses would go on sale.

if patricia (ratkitty comes down this weekend) i am thinking of working on my windows in the foamie I.

haven't done any work on the foamie II since the group tear-raising. but i am leaning on layering foam and sculpting a more curve shape.

thats all i have for on topic.
now off topic, i have learned to bake bread! i am so excited about this. however, i don't think i will ever beable to eat store bought bread again. so i have to stock up on yeast and flours. so far i have made cheese topped bread, italian bread, and dinner rolls. not to mention pizza and flatbread doughs. yummy!

now about those kill dears: i hear them and i see them, but i can't find their nest for nothing! i can't even get a sense of which part of the yard they are in. i know they are out there, but i just can't find them.

have a great foamie day!

[pete42]

a friend brought his bread maker to work one week we ate like pigs fresh bread homemade jam yummmy
way back in the late 60's a neighbor girl was cooking bread for her entry into the local county fair
we ate lots them, now when I eat bread all it does is raise my sugar level................it's still good though

[SteveW]

When I came home from work yesterday, my Dexter Axle was waiting at my doorstep. I could have sworn Dexter said I'd need to sign for it, but who am I to complain. Oh wait, what's that? The grease cap is all bent up? And the other is worse? And it's missing a lug? And one of the hubs doesn't spin freely? No wonder Fed Ex just left it without having me sign.

[GPW]

Eagle , PM me for “secret bread tricks “ !!!!
-on topic- ... Looks like you’ll need a bigger mattress for the new one , bigger than the old Foamie How are you going to “round” it ???

SW, contact the people you bought it from , and FEDEX too ... Inexcusable to have things arrive damaged !!!! grrrrr!!!!

[eaglesdare]

Eagle , PM me for “secret bread tricks “ !!!!
-on topic- ... Looks like you’ll need a bigger mattress for the new one , bigger than the old Foamie How are you going to “round” it ???

SW, contact the people you bought it from , and FEDEX too ... Inexcusable to have things arrive damaged !!!! grrrrr!!!!

actually i think i am just going to cut the mattress i get for the foamie I and make it fit the foamie II (when that time comes). the second foamie is going to take a while to get campable. not sure if its going out this season or not. but the original foamie will be working on its second season. so i am happy about that. nothing wrong with the first one. just need to work on the windows and door frame a bit and its good to go. patricia is still planning on coming down, so we'll tackle that this weekend. next weekend we do the first camp of the season, and the first for simba. i am wondering how on earth i am going to get this dog into that camper. he hates cars and such. so i am also going to be working on him getting him to go in one. i think i will start to feed him in there after i get him in.


the rounding on the front wall i want to go side to side with the curve. the top i am thinking also of the side to side, but might go front to back, haven't decided on that yet. want to do the front wall first. not a major curve, but a slight one, just enough you can see the roundness. i am thinking of layering the foam, won't know how many sheets yet til i start it. then just take some kind of tool and start sculpting. a dremmel maybe? something bigger then that? not sure yet. don't want to spend much money on this. heck might just start using a sander.


sw..ditto what gpw said! that would make me mad!!

[GPW]

Since you’re “sculpting" , why not use the beaded board to fill in ... it’s easier to shape , cheaper, and you already have the other foam as the “structure” ... Or you could make some Formers (ribs) and just sheet over that with the 3/4” foam sheet... Several possibilities ...

And now a word (s) about Skin Smoothness.. Lots of folks are of the RV mindset where the skin should be glass smooth ... But further reading would indicate that a smooth skin may Not be the best for aerodynamics , and actually the rougher skin does better ... The roughness ( to a point or design) creates a turbulent layer , that the air above rides smoothly over , sorta’ like the golf ball dimple , porpoise skin, and other such aero devices ... The Canvas look might not be such a bad idea after all ... and if even the effect is minimal , it still all adds up going down the road ...

[eaglesdare]

oh i don't mind the canvas look or feel, so i am good in that regards.

[GPW]

I’m really Happy with my canvas skin too and it’s holding up so well even being perpetually parked outside ... The Exterior Latex paint (100% Acrylic) sure holds up well ... I’m just getting around to repainting the house , the original Latex paint job 12 years old now and just beginning to fade... The new exterior Latex paints contain Urethanes , which are even More durable and stick to most anything , much better paint , but @ $40.00 + a gal ... might only be good for a Foamie ...
Amazingly enough , the red powder coating on my HF trailer has already turned a dull rouge color in the sun exposed edges...

[SteveW]

SW, contact the people you bought it from , and FEDEX too ... Inexcusable to have things arrive damaged !!!! grrrrr!!!!

Dexter is sending me new hubs, etc. along with specifics of how to make the fix. Figured it would be a good learning experience for me if I ever need to do something like this in the future, and probably a lot quicker than sending the whole assembly back to be fixed (which they offered to do).

[GPW]

SW, Cool!!! Glad that went so easy !!!

[linuxmanxxx]

Finally a pic of my last build....not a full fledged foamie but is torsion box and inner walls have minimal wood so will have a weight within next week to see how light I got with aluminum still skinned over it. Note the window is my first foray into this and I went glen thrifty as I bought the inner and outer rv door window frames got a piece of decent acrylic glass cut at lowes and installed it total price around $40 instead of the hundred or more that most of the windows run. Doesn't open but thats ok as the door has sliding window and the vent up top opens as well.

[GPW]

Looks COOL from what we can see ... Please send More

[eaglesdare]

for my birthday i got the new mattress from hubby, and my daughter got me the new water pot (burnt my out last year). gotta love when the family knows what i want.