Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[GPW]

Eagle , you’re one of the Foamie’ Pioneers.... Get off your “horse" and get to building ... What about the Schmousey' trailer ??? You still have that ??? Could just update it ?

Thinking about all that horse manure ... Hope you’re composting that ... would be a great addition to garden soil ... free... sorta’ ...

[Shar]

Eagle, hope you and the horse did well (and hope you get a rest when Nov arrives!)
You asked for a report about the trip. I did a brief post about this in my build journal, but here is an expanded version: 5,000+ miles, 16 days, 10 cities. We drove from Calgary, AB to the Toronto, ON area and back. It took 2 days to reach the ON border and another 2 days to get THROUGH Ontario; it's a huge place! Mark has relatives all around southern ON, and we visited as many as we could in the time available. The trip back took 3 1/2 days; we drove for 12 hours each day in our eagerness to get home again.
The foamie towed well, and was very comfortable for sleeping in. We stayed at a lot of Walmart parking lots, and a few pull-over places such as truckers use for the night. There was traffic noise at all these places, but we slept well despite it. It made a difference to be in our own cozy little space, with the same blankets and pillows we use at home.
The first night, we found out that, though the trailer was waterproof, the door was not mosquito-proof! This required a stop at a hardware store the next day, to buy some weatherstripping for the door. I never dreamed the little devils could fit through such tiny gaps! The factory-made windows also had a tiny gap which I covered with masking tape.
Each morning on the road, we would get up, shift the trailer gear from "bedroom" setting to "travel" setting, and wander off in search of washrooms, gas, and coffee (usually not far away). If we had stopped in a more remote place, we had a porta-potty- the kind that is just a toilet seat on a 5 gallon bucket. This proved to be priceless on several occasions! Some places were so mosquito-infested that we just didn't want to open that door after dark!
The ventilation was excellent, and we could leave the windows and roof vent open a crack, even if it was pouring rain, without any water leaking in.
Maybe this a more complete report than you wanted. Here are a couple of pictures.

[eaglesdare]

oh goodness, NO, it was not too much! I love trip reports. The more details the better. Glad it was a good trip except for the skeeters.

I still have the original foamie. Its out back, haven't messed with it at all though. Both doors need to be replaced. I added this to the honey-do list.

The kids are doing very well with the horse shows. I am proud of them, this is their first year showing. The good thing is that they because of their age are in different categories. So they are not competing against each others.

[GPW]

Tsk tsk !!! You know Honey ain’t gonna’ get around to those doors , not soon anyway ... Eagle , wouldn’t take you but a couple days to whip out some new doors ... You’ve already got a Fine Foamie trailer there, that just needs a little updating .... EASY with foam eh ? Built in the old days , remember then when everybody said it wouldn’t work ? ( who has the last laugh now eh ? ) Lots of information discussed between then and now ... Just a little effort at modernizing the Schmousey’ trailer would bring it up to date ... Althiough it’s certainly FUN to build a new one , it’s Much quicker/easier/cheaper to fix up what ya’ got eh ...??? (another Thrifty Alternative)

[GoTurtleGo]

Woohoo! I am reading page 216 so I have officially passed the halfway mark. I'm going to take a break from lagging compounds and Eagle's bubbles (though the suspense is painfully acute) and read a few Build Threads instead.

You all are way better than any reality TV I have ever tried to watch! I usually last only 5 minutes with those.

Processing... processing... and thank you for all the genuine and entertaining information.

[Shar]

GTurtle, glad you are enjoying it so much! I remember long winter nights at my computer, scrolling and scrolling- it's a thorough grounding, like getting a degree in something!

[GoTurtleGo]

And funny to boot, Shar! Plus the degree seems to come with endless possibilities.

I can hardly wait for our first "real camping" trip where we get to chill at a campsite, cook outdoors, and all that good stuff. 8)

So, are you ready for that "real camping trip?"

[Shar]

A few other things must happen first, I'm afraid. I have surgery on Monday, and just about the time I recover from it, we go (by plane) to visit my parents for a week- and then it will be Sept. I am hoping that there will be some warm days in Sept. before the snow crashes down and ends camping for the year.
Also I might need to fix that worn out tire. People have been saying "wheel alignment" is the cause, and I have to figure out what to do about it.
There is still hope for this camping year!

[GoTurtleGo]

Shar, I forget how early you all get snow up there! I hope you recover swiftly from your surgery and Winter speeds along so you can enjoy your teardrop again in the Spring (late Spring, I presume).

GPW - no joy on bits of cypress in the wood pile at the Nola ReStore. I was not surprised but I was still disappointed! The store has moved since the last time I shopped there and this time it was mostly full of old furniture and bathroom fixtures with a smattering of cabinets. But you just never know what you will find and it is always fun to poke around.

Cheerio,

[GPW]

Disappointing for sure !!! You never know what they have , or apparently now, where they’ll be ... How much Cypress are you looking for anyway ...?

Shar, Good Luck and a speedy recovery !!!

[Shar]

Thanks for the good thoughts, GPW and GoTurtle! And good luck with the cypress hunting.

[bonnie]

Take your time Shar. The teardrop will wait. Get better!

[GoTurtleGo]

GPW - just a little bit of cypress. I had an idea for some nice little home made vents. I have a friend who is a carpenter down there. I'll ask him if he knows where I can pick up a few pieces. As long as we were zipping through Nola, I thought I would look.

On the upside we had supper at Adolpho's. YUM!

[GoTurtleGo]

It's official - I'm done! I'm done reading the entire 425 pages of the Great Foamie Thread!! Yoohoo! I have 10 pages of notes to refer to + Eagle's index; I am rich.

To celebrate I will post my (possibly?) one and only smiley -



I have also read 10 foamie build threads since I periodically needed a break from the Other One. I realized, while reading all this stuff, that I have made two official, minor, foamie builds of my own already - 1st is a set of drawers that I made out of foam core, Elmer's glue, muslin scraps, paint, and torn brown paper. I made them ten years ago and they have survived just fine. 2nd is the dress form that I made for sewing my daughter's wedding dress which is made from brown paper packing tape and 3 bottles of Great Stuff. It is even covered in cloth.

So, I am an official foamie. But sadly I have to curb my hunt for materials because our lovely old beaters both need urgent work (a 1997 Toyota and a 1999 Subaru) and the kitchen ceiling has sprung a leak which we are trying to track down. Once those are resolved I get to hunt for the trailer. I've seen a few good ones on Craigslist. Meanwhile my first official trailer purchase is a big stash of bamboo skewers on sale from the grocery store. Every little bit counts.

I am on my way...

[eaglesdare]

Congrats on reading the whole thing!