Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[GPW]

Row , did you make your cover too ?

[Jst83]

I took the full size mattress off my sons bed and an old futton mattress on top of that, pretty comfy my sons young he can sleep on the floor

Really he had a bunk bed and never used the top twin so I built a frame and gave him that one so it was a win win for both of us.

[rowerwet]

Row , did you make your cover too ?

nah, bought it all at discount stores one piece at a time until we both were happy.

[GPW]

Well, that works too !!!

[atahoekid]

I got a queen mattress from IKEA for a couple hundred bucks. It was all rolled up making it easy to get it home and to put in the trailer. Just cut the plastic bag and let it unroll. Perfect.... It's as comfortable as our few thousand dollar mattress at home. I sleep great in the trailer.

[kudzu]

Was planning on using my full size Select Comfort mattress plus a long wedge of foam to increase size to approx queen size. We retired the old full size Select Comfort when we bought the newer queen size "Sleep Number" system. The advantages are 1) we already own it, no mattress purchase; 2) its very comfortable; 3) much lighter than foam or traditional mattress; 4) won't need a hard foundation because I can just transfer the lightweight coroplast planels from its current bed foundation, thus making the setup even lighter. It'll beat the heck out of sleeping on the ground in a tent.

[Shar]

Can I go off on a tangent? I am calculating canvas right now. How many inches should I allow for the canvas edge at the bottom of the wall, that tucks under the floor? Is 6" enough, or do I need more? Any input would be appreciated.

[rowerwet]

6" should be fine, more is better

[KCStudly]

Don't forget to allow for shrinkage. Some people have reported a significant amount of shrinkage, especially when having pre-shrunk (IIRC, Big Mike documented something like 9 or 11 inches shrinkage over the length of the roof canvas on The Big Pink, now owned and finished by TAC422). On the other hand, GPW, who used heavy canvas and did not preshrink, reports little issues with shrinkage.

I think it would be better to plan for some shrinkage. I'd rather have extra than come up short!

[Shar]

Thanks Row and KC, I will allow for that.

[Mary C]

Sharyl, I had little to no shrinkage. I think it depends on the canvas, GPW and I got ours at the same place BiG Duck Canvas. I was totally happy with their canvas. but I did allow for shrinkage.

Mary C.

[GPW]

We did have a little shrinkage , which I would be glad to point out to the next person that arrives here within the hour ...
Clearly , the alternative to shrinkage is washing the canvas, drying it and ironing it flat again (for ease of application) ... (pre shrinking) But that’s not necessary if you allow for it ...

[tac422]

Depending on the application and location, you may want it to shrink to tighten up on the sock effect.

[GPW]

Given that the canvas shrinks tight , and then the paint shrinks as it dries , the end result is Nice and Tight !!!

[Shar]

One guy preshrunk his canvas by spraying it down with the hose, then letting it dry in the sun. I might do that on a sunny day. I will probably allow extra too, just in case. Right now I'm measuring and cutting canvas for the smallest wall (the front one) which I plan to glue on beforehand. The front and back walls will go up with the canvas already glued to them, and the canvas from the side walls and roof will overlap onto them. At least that's the plan.