Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[GPW]

Testing ... experiments ... but of course ... and did you know Bamboo can be steam bent into many curved shapes ... ...

Eagle .... maybe we need a current list of who’s been camping this season in their Foamies ... and what they thought...

[eaglesdare]

That would be cool GPW.

[Mary C]

Mary C and a not so finished Grits.

[GoTurtleGo]

Thank you for your answers. I appreciate all the input and thoughts.

Mary, I am not averse to wood. I'm just curious and exploring, one idea among many. Bamboo is so light. I have a bunch of poles that I use when I garden so I am familiar with working with them. Mine are free so I was wondering about this possible application.

Here is the link to the article I read about the science of bamboo as a structural element http://discovermagazine.com/1996/jun/thebamboosolutio784. Reading it made me wonder if embedding the ends only 1"1/2 into the 2" sidewalls would provide the needed waterproofing. A half inch of foam + the skin seems like great protection. Just for fun I might make a sample and let the grand-kids assault it, just to see what happens.

Thank you for your welcome Mary and for more great advice. You all take tender care of us newbies. I had to take a day off from reading this thread because my eyeballs were sore after reading two days worth! Ouch. I really do love this thread. I hope you have great fun gluing up the canvas.

[GoTurtleGo]

Shar, I will definitely go look at your build. What fun to be finished and camping. This stuff is definitely addictive. I find myself thinking - foam garden shed, foam green house, foam picture frames...? This could go on forever!

I made it to page 66 today. The bear theme made me belly laugh a few times - almost woke the hubster up hooting during my bedtime reading. He stopped snoring. I froze and gulped down my next laugh.

[GoTurtleGo]

Ooooo GPW. I forgot about that. I have a little book on how to do that to make furniture somewhere.

[Shar]

Eagle, I don't know if you could call it "camping" but we did take my trailer on a road trip of 5,000 + miles, and slept in it every night. It was delightful and I am looking forward to more full-fledged camping in future. Here's a picture of baby, below.
GoTurtle, glad you are enjoying the thread as much as I did! The bears, the turkeys- I better not be a spoiler!

[Mary C]

Sheryl, I love your little trailer, It is so cute. You did a great job! I have not been posting as much till lately because my key board was goofy. I know you had a great time on your little trip.

Mary C.

[GoTurtleGo]

Shar, That is great. I love the colors. Something similar to what I am thinking about.

I am off to read your build thread. I feel a certain delight in how many woman are building their trailers.

My Dad was Canadian so I'm rooting for you!

[GPW]

Shar, I hadn’t seen the finished picture ... That came out Very Nice !!! Did you get to weigh it ?

[Shar]

Thanks, everyone for the kind words!

GPW, I have not weighed it yet, but I estimate its weight at 500 lbs. The metal parts weigh 260 lbs and I did some math to figure out how many linear feet of 2x2 I used, (etc. etc.) based on the average weight of these materials. I also weighed each completed wall panel before I put it on, and weighed the windows and door. So I think my guess will be pretty close to correct. I will post the actual weight as soon as I get it.

We got a lot of attention from other drivers during the road trip: people asking "did you build it yourself?", "what is that made out of?", "is it fiberglass?", "that trailer is so neat!!" and so on. One guy said he was thinking of building one, and seeing ours clinched it for him. It was fun to be applauded after all that hard work.

[GPW]

Shar, that’s Nice and Light .... bet it tows well !!!

On another note , a while back we talked about using solar yard lights for thrifty trailer lighting ... so I bought a few from Wally Mart to check out ...
results : ... Do NOT buy the solar lights from Wal mart ... Westinghouse (China) Barely gotten 6 months of service and they’re all dying ... Most have needed new battery replacements , but 3 died outright, no fixing ... These are a bit pricy too ~ 4 USD + , so are NOT a good investment ... Sad Wal mart can’t even sell a decent solar yard light any more ...

[Shar]

GPW, we used a solar desk lamp made by IKEA and they worked great! They are called Sunnen, they cost $12 or so (price might be different in the States, probably better!) and they can recharge during the day and give you 3 hours of light at night. We were able to hunker down in our bed and each have a reading lamp to work on our latest book. I have had one of these for over a year and it's held up well; the other one is newer. We took flashlights too, of course.

[eaglesdare]

That is really cool that you went on such a long trip. Do you have a trip report/pics?

I am starting to think about my second foamie again. Getting the urge to go camping next year. This year has been all about the horse and shows. I have been at this since Feb. The last show will be in November. I am so horse exhausted. Hopefully next year will be a camping season for me.

[bonnie]

Louella, CRA is in July. Definitely a camping season!