Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[pete42]

"so one must assume a level of intelligence is necessary for training ... "
that could be said about people as well...........I Laughted out loud on that one...

side note: thanks, there are a lot of helpful people on this site Glen being one.

sunday my GF and I went to look at a doggie
seems the owners have 5! and are moving into a smaller house
Linda chose a dashund-terrier mix sweet 6 year old girl.
well mannered leash trained house trained quiet doggie.
Linda's sheltie passed last year at the age of 15.

pete

[GPW]

Poor dog ? Let’s see now ... Hmmm? Big fluffy bed ,constant petting and attention (supervision) , stuffed toys everywhere , Great Diet , big yard to run in (fenced) , cookies , hangs around with the Cat all day , so there’s lots of napping ... The other night, Dr. Bill, one of our band members went into the house to get some wine , the dog said nothing and ran upstairs ... Nothing between those Sweet ears ... Intellectually , might as well have a Teddy !!!

[Wobbly Wheels]

Nothing between those Sweet ears

Sounds just like my Golden Retriever....heart of gold but dumb as a bag of rocks.

[droid_ca]

Opinion needed:
Since we are on the discussion of dogs I have recently acquired a little Chevy Tracker and will be using it for man animal related activities it is the convertible version but I'm looking at getting a removable hardtop for it since I'll have my dogs in it I was considering getting a vent fan and installing it on the top of the hardtop to air flow and not over heat in the summertime ...So my question is Think it would work?

[atahoekid]

Mel , anxious to see the Road Foamie done !!!

That makes two of us!! I thought I would have the "Road Foamie" ready to paint by yesterday (Sunday) but I ran into a problem. I ran out of epoxy. I've got more on order and it should get home before I do since I am out on the road this week for business. Unfortunately that means I won't have the Road Foamie towable by this weekend and will not make the TD show at our Reno Cabela's. Bummer I need to second and third coat the nose and one section of the roof and then it's time for paint, One day each for the primer and each coat of paint and it's ready to tow. A couple weekends to finish the interior cabinets and galley and it is ready to go!!! I just looked at my build thread the other day and I bought the frame in October 2010, started modifying the frame in June/July of 2011 (weather delays) and will finish September/October of 2012. (3 months off for shoulder surgery) I think I win the award for the longest time to finish a foamie . Except for Mike who is building a second trailer while his stand up foamie remains unfinished.

The wife is almost more excited than I am to take this out on the road. She wants to take two leisurely weeks going up the Pacific Northwest Coast in late October. I sure hope it's as water tight as I planned. Otherwise it will be a very long two weeks

[GPW]

Mel , no rush , but “ Git’ it Done !!! “ Funny , I always thought Foamies would be quick to make ...

Speaking of ... my young friend who saw the Foamie ... flipped out , now wants to start a business Making Foamie trailers ... In a proper shop with two people , it would be much quicker building .. Hmmmm? Would be a good market around here with Hurricane EVAC and all ... Darn , I’m trying to stay retired...

[atahoekid]

Mel , no rush , but “ Git’ it Done !!! “ Funny , I always thought Foamies would be quick to make ...

Speaking of ... my young friend who saw the Foamie ... flipped out , now wants to start a business Making Foamie trailers ... In a proper shop with two people , it would be much quicker building .. Hmmmm?

Yup, a one man army can only work so fast. Lots more maneuvering and setting up to get it done by yourself. A two person project goes much quicker.... Epoxy got to the house today. Hoping to finish the epoxy by Friday, Primer by Sunday???

[pete42]

foamy trailer building seems with a two or three man operation a trailer could be completed in a couple of days once the process is learned.
trailer, floor, sides, top, cover, paint done.................nothing to it......

if one were to get the "assembly" line working It would not take long if that was your only job.

now when you go off to work like atahoekid does then couple years is fast...................

Glen you could stay retired and just drop in now and then to supervise after putting up the front money of course.

It is approching 8 am here and I must once again head over to my local VA hospital for 2 test I will be doing the same next week
they treat me well but I would just as soon not go.

pete

[bonnie]

Mel, you've done great! Can't wait for the first trip report.

Pete, safe travels and good reports. Long doctor days are no fun, but needed every now and again.

GPW, seems to me you have created a monster. Foamies everywhere.

I, on the other hand, am stalled by long days at work. Would figure the weather would break the week I can't do much more than crawl in my front door and hit the sack. Though, I think I've figured out what to do about some of my own design issues. Will post this weekend, if everything works out like i would like. , or not.

[atahoekid]

now when you go off to work like atahoekid does then couple years is fast...................

pete

I really didn't think that it would take this long, but there seems to be one infallible rule of nature at work here. "everything takes 3 times longer than you think it will"

[GPW]

If it’s any consolation , think how long it would take to make one out of wood , how expensive it would be , and how much maintenance you Won’t have to do on your Foamie later on ... No Rot is the Big Feature of a Foamie ... just use it ... Don’t worry, be Happy !!!!

[droid_ca]

So I got great news today that I just have to share I'm starting a neighborhood watch group in my small town and just got the go ahead of our police force here to do it I have about a 30% interest involved in it of our local community and to top it all off I'm allowed to use my own dogs.hmmm now if I just had a foamy trailer then I'd fit right in on here...

[TJinPgh]

If it’s any consolation , think how long it would take to make one out of wood , how expensive it would be , and how much maintenance you Won’t have to do on your Foamie later on ... No Rot is the Big Feature of a Foamie ... just use it ... Don’t worry, be Happy !!!!

Just for the sake of striking up an informative discussion, aren't both of these aspects greatly dependent upon how one builds it?

Not trying to be argumentative, here. Just trying to further understand the over-all benefits of one method vs. the other.

Cost:
It probably varies by location, but, around here, 4x8x2" foam panels go for well over $25 a sheet. You can't even get the 3" stuff without going to a specialty supplier. Cheapest I've found those is on craigslist.... nearly 2 hours away at over $30 a sheet.

And it still needs to be skinned on both sides.

In contrast, a 3/4" sheet of sanded ply can be had for about the same price and, depending upon the style you're building may or may not need skinned.

Not sure what I'm missing in the cost equation?

No-Rot:
It's certainly true that the foam, itself isn't going to rot. And, so long as it's skinned, there isn't much question of UV breakdown or the other types of breakdown that foam DOES suffer (even if it doesn't bio-degrade). Whether or not a foamie suffers ANY rot, though, depends greatly on the rest of the components. The skins (if they are wood or canvas). The floor. All are just as prone to rot on a foam build as they are on anything else, are they not?

The lack of rot is dependent upon how well your glue holds up. How well your paints and sealants hold up. How well your other seals and such hold up.

Aren't those also the fail points of any construction... foamie or otherwise?

Is a properly sealed piece of ply any more likely to rot than the frame or canvas on a properly sealed foamie?

Again, there's no debating that there's certainly one less component to rot on a foamie. Just not sure that, to keep the other components from rotting that there is any less long term maintenance involved.

Please elaborate.

[pete42]

My opinion is there is upkeep to everything, house, car, boat, airplane, motorcycles, guitars, dogs, cats, and let's not for get the spouses.

having built most of an all fiberglass and foam two seat airplane the only drawback was once a layup was started you had to stay and finish
with my metal airplane build I could stop half way thru a panel cut and come back next evening and finish the cut not so with fiberglass.
I would imagine it is the same with canvas and paint, glue or whatever you use.

the foamies that I read about here seem to be light easy to build long lasting ie: Glens has been sitting out in the NOLA weather for sometime now
with no bad results
if the floor is treated with protectant paint epoxy or whatever it should last a long time.
I look at Mikes problems with his plywood TD it only took a short time before he discovered delamation I would think he took a lot of care in his build.

but isn't there always a but? if done right and maintained a wood trailer should last.

pete

[TJinPgh]

Well, I wouldn't begin to claim to know why one person has issues with something and another doesn't.

As you say, we've seen some things have problems in relatively short order. We've also seen TDs built back in the 40s and 50s remain campable 60-70 years later with no major repairs.

Why does one person get 500k miles out of a car and somebody else gets 30k before the engine blows on the same model. Obviously SOMETHING is wrong someplace and it may or may not be the consumer's fault.

Again, my point in asking this wasn't to suggest that a foam build isn't a perfectly acceptable way of building a long lasting, durable camper.

If everything is done properly, from the manufacturing of the materials used to the usage of them in construction, there is no reason to think it shouldn't last a long time.

By the same token, if everything is done properly, from the manufacturing of the materials used to the usage of them in construction, there is no reason to think that any other build method shouldn't last a long time either.

Is there a greater probability of failure in one method or another? No clue. Just suggesting that there are a lot of components that go into any build, regardless of the method. Most of those components are common to many different methods in one way or another.

For me, the greatest advantage that building with foam provides is a potential weight savings.