Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[GPW]

Handy ... I think I would want to reinforce those wheel wells .... A blowout could easily tear those apart ...

[eaglesdare]

HAL, looks Doable !!! Nice drawings !!!

Eagle , That's Not a bad price ... at all ... In fact , that's a Good price ... But weighing the TD with all your stuff in it doesn't really
help , unless you weigh all that gear first so we can subtract it from the total weight ... I think a lot of folks would just like to know the empty TD weight , just as a comparison to standard TD construction materials and practices... It's Gotta' be LIGHT !!! ... and with so little to Rot , should be in service for a looooong time ...

that is just from memory. i could be slightly on the low side however. but i am pretty sure it isn't' too far off.

you are right about the weight thing. i would like to know also. not sure when we will get it weighted then.

tomorrow is our day to take off for the first trip. i am nervous and excited about it. i have always tent camped. so this is going to be a new thing for us. just pull in and we are done. no breaking out poles and stakes. and worrying about the rain, all that good stuff that goes with camping in a tent. there has been lots of times we arrived to the site way after dark. what a pita to set up in the dark. this will be great to just pull in and be done.


my neighbor mentioned greasing the ball on the hitch. he says that will help with the sounds. any opinion on that?

[GPW]

Here's wishing you (and yours) a Great time camping out in your new Trailer ...
Got your list ??? Checked it twice ? Don't forget the flashlight ...


I'd just make SURE the ball fit properly ...

[eaglesdare]

thanks gpw! got plenty of flashlights and batteries.

[Conestoga]

eagle, congratulations and good luck on your maiden voyage!

Handy.. i considered doing something similar to have backrests for
comfortable sitting inside the camper. however, i had a good day
on one of my daytrips to the local scrapyard and came home with
some seats from the back of a ford escort. i put a fresh pic in my album.

the stiffness is built-in so there is no need for wood framing.
we can adjust the angle of the backrests individually, and they stick
nicely to the cushion underneath them, at whatever angle.
comparatively lightweight and cheap, $5

[HandyAtLeast]

Handy.. i considered doing something similar to have backrests for
comfortable sitting inside the camper. however, i had a good day
on one of my daytrips to the local scrapyard and came home with
some seats from the back of a ford escort. i put a fresh pic in my album.

the stiffness is built-in so there is no need for wood framing.
we can adjust the angle of the backrests individually, and they stick
nicely to the cushion underneath them, at whatever angle.
comparatively lightweight and cheap, $5

Nice! I think that might be a better way to go.

[GPW]

I got a couple of those backrest pillows (with the arms ) ... old school . but comfortable ..

[GPW]

I guess Eagle is "on the road now " ... Looking forward to her opinions about the Foamie ... Nothing like actually camping in it to best determine the benefits and pitfalls ...

I've been "fine tuning " my parts for an exact fit ... meeting with a friend tomorrow to start assembly ... Should be Quick !!!

[Miriam C.]

I guess Eagle is "on the road now " ... Looking forward to her opinions about the Foamie ... Nothing like actually camping in it to best determine the benefits and pitfalls ...

I've been "fine tuning " my parts for an exact fit ... meeting with a friend tomorrow to start assembly ... Should be Quick !!!

Don't forget your camera!

[GPW]

Aunti , yeah, I hope Eagle takes lots of good pictures !

I'm going to photo "document" my build ,step by step ... Just in case anybody else wants to build something like this... As with any TD , there is a procedure and a logical sequence to be followed , just to make things EASY ...
Although I've wracked my tiny brain , I just can't seem to come up with any construction method that's easier and as "Thrifty" as this is (not to mention how Light and easily towable it is ) ... Anybody know something better , please let me know ...
The plan for today is to get all the parts to fit exact , and then cover all the insides... My buddy's coming over to help.... he wants one too .. Hopefully , some pics this evening .

[eaglesdare]

is yours done yet gpw? i know you worked on it while i was gone right

well let me start by saying hubby drove, since i was a bit afraid to attempt it. it took us 5 hours to get there.



we went to french creek state park up in elverson pa. no drama on the way. we did not even get lost getting there, which is our norm. set up camp, put the jack on and the chocks. well he did not put the jacks on the front AND back, only the front. so while a child was in the bunk bed and we adults got out, the camper tipped over backwards.

we have a crack in the wood, no apparent damage to the foam though


now i figured it would not be that cold for this weekend, so at the very last minute i took the heater out and put it in the house. wouldn't you know it we frooze our butts off. temps we 42.

the next day we were in for some bad weather. we put a tarp over the camper and car. not the best layed out tarping, but it did the job. so now we were freezing and wet.

[eaglesdare]

it rained the whole day saturday, and well into the night




we did not have the easy up properly over the hatch area, so some water did come in thr there, but nothing major, the canvas actually soaked it up, but again, it was nothing major. there was som water that came in also in the storage area.

if we had put the tarps up better, the camper would have stayed dry.

there was some aweful winds also, the foamie did not even sway from them.

we packed up saturday and left to come home. i drove home and it was better than i thought.


i can now say, without any doubt this foamie teardrop works! we did not have the rattle sound either. just needed to add the weight.

now i can see where we might have a leak around the hatch. but again if we use the tarps in a better set up, we can avoid it. and i will also be adding weather stripping back there. i just did not get to it yet.

the bunk bed is no longer a bunk bed. the boys are just too long for it and he just kept kicking out. eventually i told him to get off the bunk and down on the bed itself.

also, at one point we have 1 on the bunk and 3 on the bed. it was so hot i had to open the door. then the 1 child in the bed had to go over to the car. once we then brought the other child down on the bed it became too hot again and i had to open the door. so it seemed just fine when only 2 was in the bed, but put 3 in there and it was too hot.

so it has made its maiden voyage and it WORKED! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!! we just have to work out where things go and get better at the set up and take down. just pretty much more organization.

i asked hubby to take it down unloaded next saturday if the weather is nice and weight it for all of us. he agree. but we'll see.

[GPW]

Eagle , How did it Tow ??? (the BIG question) I see it didn't "explode" on the highway ...
How did that saw cut get in the wood ....??? That's where and why it broke ...

Too many cows in the barn huh ??? Guess the insulation works .... Whenever I camped out with my parents as a kid , we (the kids) got to sleep in a pup tent outside the door ... My Dad called it "roughing it" ... Said it would give us "character" ... Yeah right !!!

Guessing now you've been there , you know just what to do to the trailer ... looking forward to seeing the updates ...

Eagle , i've been "slack" ... My friend came over today to help , but we ended up going to get Sushi. instead .. but we did talk about it ...
Glad you're Happy !!! It does look Cool !!! Did you get any outside comments from other campers???

[Wolffarmer]

Cool beans Eagle

Does look like a foamy will need plenty of ventilation for warmer weather and lots of warm bodies in it. While the heat keeping abilities sound like a liability in warm weather might actually be a plus. If kept sealed up in the heat might not warm up as much. And once the sun goes down the fact that there is less mass could cool off inside quicker, with ventilation of course.

Congrates on the maiden voyage. Lots of people was watching your back

Randy

[GPW]

Perhaps a small window AC ... then you could hang meat in it in the summer ... Easy to cut out a hole for it... if you have low humidity , maybe just a swamp cooler would be enough ... No holes for that ....