Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[Mary C]

I guess I can't take credit then but oh well it is a great idea. Here is a picture of the garment bag i plan to use. I will go and check Bob Henry's idea maybe there is something else I can steal......HA HA HA and

Randy, Thats ok when I get to your house we can have whatever is cooking in the Dutch Oven !!!

Mary C.

[Wolffarmer]

I guess I can't take credit then but oh well it is a great idea. Here is a picture of the garment bag i plan to use. I will go and check Bob Henry's idea maybe there is something else I can steal......HA HA HA and

Randy, Thats ok when I get to your house we can have whatever is cooking in the Dutch Oven !!!

Mary C.

Its a deal

[GoTurtleGo]

Hi all you foamies,

I wanted to let you know how priceless this thread is to a newbie. I have started reading it at the first page. This is particularly fun to do since it documents so many early ponderings and how solutions were come about.

I also discovered the priceless index which is a huge help while I am daydreaming and planning and random question drift through the old bean.

Thanks.

[eaglesdare]

[Shar]

Yes, goturtle, isn't it great?? Reading the whole thread was like a good novel for me! Best of luck with your project!

[GPW]

Amazing how Big this thread has gotten ... It all started here.... and like the Energizer Bunny , it just keeps going and going ...

[eaglesdare]

Amazing how Big this thread has gotten ... It all started here.... and like the Energizer Bunny , it just keeps going and going ...

[GoTurtleGo]

I have reached page 25 today on this thread. I had been thinking about using bamboo skewers and chopsticks for foam to foam securing and did a topic search to see if it had worked for people. Lo and behold! You geniuses had already done the work for me.

However, I couldn't find any information about anyone trying to use bamboo poles as spars? I went online and researched bamboo strength and shearing results which it turns out are quite spectacularly good. It's greatest weakness is the dangers of water, meaning mostly rain, and flammability. I pondered the possible condensation problem in a tight foamie, but seems that the vents control that problem. It shouldn't be any different than wood.

Has anyone tried this? I thought about getting a chunk of cheap gutter, capping the ends, and letting the bamboo poles soak in the magic water proofing solution then using them for spars. So light.

I would still use the 1x2s for hard points for the roof fan and for the hatch, but this could save a bit of weight.

What do you all think about this?

Input is welcome!

[GoTurtleGo]

I have never seen an Eagle blush. You are welcome!

That is a great way to describe it, Shar! Thank you for the good wishes. Are you in a build or finished stage?

[Mary C]

Welcome! Kathleen, I think bamboo could be used but to be honest, 1x2s are a whole lot easier. some may think reading this thread is too long and I agree but by reading you can learn so much and this is where I grew up!!! From newby to teardrop canvas doer. I will be putting on a lot of canvas in the next couple of days and then I will be painting a lot. As you read you will learn a lot and you will have a better understanding of the group here and then you will want to add your own personality quirks too. starting with your design and then telling us all about what stores you have and then you will be hooked, then it is the starting to work and then you will just move along at a fast pace, After youre 2/3 into it, if you are building it right you will start to talk about your next design and it could be downhill from there, you will have sunk into the teardrop abyss, lost forever. That's the fun of it ! Welcome to the Thrifty Alternatives Thread. Seriously take you time and read there are lots of gems in here and we are old and cant remember everything that is in here, but we pretty much know what works. Our motto.... ,

Mary C.

[Wolffarmer]

I feel bamboo would be to brittle, hard to work with. It does have it's place but thinking back at photos of bamboo construction it is mostly tied together. Not nailed or screwed together.

Randy

[GPW]

Bamboo is a monocot , unlike a tree , more grass than wood ... probably would work inside ... Have to accommodate the different end dia. and Nodes ... Tiki Trailer


As we used it in bow making , it was well air dried (ricks) and heat treated... For trailer purposes , if you can get large dia. Bamboo and split it in half lengthwise , you’d have a flat surface to work with (sorta’) , and good strength to weight ratio ...

[Wolffarmer]

Bamboo is a grass. Poaceae family. Not a woody plant at all. Fibers run the length of the stem and are not all that well "glued" to others. Splinters badly when it breaks. Grows pretty fast but does not make lumber like a tree. The bamboo cutting boards you see are glued up strips of bamboo.

[Shar]

Kathleen, to answer your question, I started snooping around this website last fall, got hooked, and just finished building a hybrid foamie trailer and taking it on a 5,000 mile round trip. If you want to see how I built it, check out "Hybrid Foamie in Southern Alberta" over in the "Build Journals" section.

Using bamboo- I think this is the first time anyone's suggested that (on this forum). Could some experiments be in order?

[eaglesdare]

Shar have you taken your trip yet?