Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[bonnie]

Sort of a foamie Hi-Lo?

This thought just came to me about the BUB and the design ... had to make a drawing .. easy way to make a Standy/Foldy... and I finally figured out some really SIMPLE roof supports ... Thinking a normal TD door on the side would all that’s necessary for egress, but you wouldn’t be able to get in with the roof down ... flush mounted hinges and handle necessary ... possible for the galley in the back , you put the top up and it exposes the galley area...
Easy to make one open up 7’+ tall and still have room to spare ... 6’ wide on the inside and you’d have a Serious amount of cu.ft. ... lots of room for built in beds , dinettes , cabinets, sinks ... all that Fun stuff ..

Sort of. I am still considering reworking the sides like what my brother designed for me:



And a picture of it raised:

[GPW]

That certainly is Cute huh !!! Fixing the roof like that means you only have to lift half the weight (sorta’ ) so may eliminate any complex mechanisms and make it Easy to install a door ... any door ... So many different ways you could go with this ... hard to decide ...

Now I don’t know if anybody noticed my simple locking mechanism ... a pole , an elastic band ... push the top up, the pole slides past the sides till it reaches the top , the elastic band ( spring , rubber band , bungee cord , whatever ) pulls it over slightly into the locked position .... Done !!! to lower , you just pull the pole out slightly past the locked position and lower away .. Note: on the drawing the bands are in the Wrong place and should be located near the top ... my bad ..

[capy235]

GPW

I love your idea as I have been a fan of the conventional trailers of HiLow and TrailManor designs. Low like a pop up but a hard shell that would set up quicker and be warm. Your design is kind of all that in one and a foamie to boot. I really like it. We currently have a pop up and I have been looking for another one that has major canvas and wood rot problems but has a working raising system. Seems like it would be perfect for a foamie build if I can find one with a 12' box.

A couple of posts back you mentioned the door being inside and not be able to open. What about splitting the door? The top part half of the door hinged and usable on the outside. The bottom half of the door stored inside and when the top half is raised you install it on the bottom of the othe door half? Great mental gymnastics figuring out how all the things fit together.

[Wobbly Wheels]

What about splitting the door?

Check out the "Army Goose" build.
Or one could do it like popups that have solid, one-piece doors: the door and jamb detach from the side pieces and fold down to the floor as a unit. Fewer placement options, but might work for something like bonnie's hobbit door on a back wall. Of course, you'd still need a temporary 'road door' to fill the hole and allow access while on the road...but you'd have the attachments for it already in place.

[Bogo]

What about splitting the door?

Check out the "Army Goose" build.
Or one could do it like popups that have solid, one-piece doors: the door and jamb detach from the side pieces and fold down to the floor as a unit. Fewer placement options, but might work for something like bonnie's hobbit door on a back wall. Of course, you'd still need a temporary 'road door' to fill the hole and allow access while on the road...but you'd have the attachments for it already in place.

There are three parts to this door idea for a pop up top that doesn't lift straight up.

1) Permanently mounted bottom door half that swings to the side.
2) Permanently mounted top door half that swings up instead of to the side. It is also a bit wider than the bottom door. The extra width is so the bottom door can be opened when the top is up or down.
3) A fit in door section that can be placed in while in camp. It extends the lower door to provide a more normal door. It also has a frame that fills in the top door opening.

Parts 1 and 2 could be made and the door would be functional. Part 3 can be added later to make in camp entry and exit easier.

[GPW]

Just have to say , now that Catherine has given us the Ultimate test of Foamie structures We can safely assume that our Structures are Indeed Strong enough !!! (schmaybe’ even Strong -ER ! ) Knowing this , thinking is , we can have a little more freedom with our designs ... and the new information indicates some new design parameters to follow too (Lowiders) ... Foamies DO WORK !!! Certainly Well Tested !!!

Hopefully this concludes the “Foamie’ Testing Program” ...

Bogo , re: your lifting airfoil trailer ... Yes it will lift a little , unless you’re going 100mph... ... it’s not really wide enough (aspect ratio) to generate much lift , or drag either ... with low side area , should be not much problem in a cross wind... Rounding the edges where the side meets the roof helps to dump some of the L/D too ... so all Good Don’t forget the beer!

Maybe we need to ALL work on an idea for a “Standard Foamie “... something for the new Foamlings and the converts to assure success... A simple shell with the Correct proportions. Crumbs for thought ...

Any Ideas ??? Maybe we should start a new thread , just everybody’s tired of tackling this Monster thread ...

[Wobbly Wheels]

Bogo , re: your lifting airfoil trailer ... Yes it will lift a little , unless you’re going 100mph..

This has been mentioned elsewhere as well, but I don't see how a foil shaped trailer could possible generate ANY lift with a tow vehicle parked in front of it. Were we talking about vehicle bodies, it might be different, but the nose of the trailer (that splits and establishes the laminar flow) is operating in comparatively still air. Lift is directly proportional to airspeed.
Things get a bit weird when you get to transonic speeds but I try not to drive that fast, personally

Here's a good example: the Shuttle Carrier.

If you look at the side view, the tail nozzles of the Orbiter create a huge void in the flow that puts the Carrier's empennage in a pocket of still air (not to mention the drag it adds)
By fairing it with a tailcone the airflow converges again, though not completely as evidenced by the need for additional surface area outside the Orbiter's cross section (front view)

If we apply this idea to vehicles, it's why dogs stick their heads out past the outside of the pickup to get their noses into the airflow yet in the back of the truck they don't get blown around at all. It's also why a tonneau, canopy or mesh tailgate can improve fuel economy.


For this application, the ideal aerodynamic shape isn't a foil - it starts with the same cross sectional shape (adjusted for size as a function of the size of the gap and the design speed) of the rear of the tow vehicle. The taper of the tail does more for the aerodynamics of these trailers than the nose but rather than generating lift they would do the opposite by trying to keep the trailer within the flow coming off the vehicle. At least, that's the thinking that went into coming up with the nose shape for mine.
The horizontal top of the front panel is about the same height as the cab of the truck. While not a 'canopy', I have wooden sides on the truck to keep the dogs in and a transport tarp to go over top when needed to protect them from the weather. That will be how I tow it so that's what I built to.


Not being argumentative, just kicking the idea around.

[bonnie]

Same principle with BUB. It really was rock steady even in the open plains area of Indiana. I had been thinking about making it a solid side standie, but with my tow I think I'll leave it a pop top. After seeing Catherine's picture, I am even more convinced this building method is strong. I will be doing my brother's lift lid; however, it won't be 49" high closed, as BUB's bottom walls are shorter. I will need to build up the back to accept the Hobbit Door, but I intend to have the trailer under the height of the car, even when I move the tongue to underneath. Interesting things to ponder.

[GPW]

Around here we see a LOT of those “carry on” trailers , They all seem to be a lot lower than the conventional HF trailers or Boat trailers we normally use ... They do have , with those little steel frame “walls” , all the weight concentrated low so you “could" reduce the overall cabin height to most whatever you wanted ... with the more Pop up style, it would enable a minimum cross section Seeing so many just sitting in people’s yards all the time , year after year ... Maybe some Bargains to be had ...?

[atahoekid]

YUP. I too see lots of trailers of all sorts sitting in people's yards and just gathering rust. Next time I need one, I'll just set out to rural Nevada and start driving around. When I see one (sometimes three or four) sitting in someone's yard that looks promising, I'll stop walk up to the door and ask. Cash in hand is a powerful selling tool. Worst they can say is "No".... That and I'm willing to haul away something that they've been probably trying to get rid of for a while. My frame on the Road Foamie is from an old tent trailer and it is solid.

[capy235]

We might even have enough interest to start a pop up foamie thread.......

[pete42]

wheels said "It's also why a tonneau, canopy or mesh tailgate can improve fuel economy." didn't myth-busters disprove that notion?
they found that with a solid tailgate the air filled the bed and acted like a big bubble or something anyway no tailgate, mesh tailgate they got
worse milage than with a solid tailgate.

that's one nice big foamie by the way.

pete

[Wobbly Wheels]

Thx pete!

didn't myth-busters disprove that notion?

That's entirely possible. I think it would depend entirely on what the airflow is doing but, with the right proportions, it could conceivably act something like a Kline-Fogelman foil. I'll bet results would vary quite a bit given all the different pickup configurations currently on the market.

[GPW]

I actually spoke with Dick Kline about this , and he was most encouraging !!! If it works on planes , it will work on Foamies ...

[eaglesdare]

what is all this talk about the tailgate? i have one on my new frame, its the mesh type, that i was going to cover in sometype of indoor/outdoor carpet. planned on turing that into a very small porch when down and sitting on a jack or two. actually the main reason i bought this trailer was for that gate. are you all saying that is not a good thing?