It's Ended, RIP. Update 11/13/12

[Corwin C]

I'm so sorry to hear about your misfortune. I'm glad to hear that no one was hurt and that you're going to rebuild. This really shows the strength that can be created with lightweight and somewhat fragile building materials. A real testament to the foamie way of construction.

One small thought ... if it would have been me in that situation, I think I would have filled the trailer with rocks and dirt from the side of the road rather than cutting it up ... but I wasn't there to witness what you were dealing with.

Best wishes,

[Shadow Catcher]

Loaderman It would not be hard to do in foam.

[loaderman]

Could you explain how? I would love to do compound curves.

[Wobbly Wheels]

Compound curves are done on boats all the time. In this case, build it up out of foam sheets or blocks and care/sand away the parts that aren't 'Dymaxion-shaped'.
Cut the skin material in orange-peel sections to follow the contours: that's the same way you put the rocker into a stitch-and-glue boat or put belly into a sail.

A little more work, but not difficult to do. The curves are gradual so it would probably be a good project for someone doing it for the first time once you got the basic flat-panel application figured out.
A more conventional car body would actually be much, much more difficult to skin.

[pete42]

Glen another use for your "teltail" is if it's wet it's raining..................sorry............

pete

[GPW]

Typically , the thing to do with making compound curves is to block in a rough shape First and then refine it with whatever you choose to carve with (+ sandpaper).... The old Electric Turkey knife is excellent for “rough shaping” Foam... so don’t put it back out of sight once you’re done with the Bird...
With Foam , especially more challenging shapes , think Legos ... If you can build it roughly to shape with blocks (or multiple layer sheets) , it can be “rounded “ later ... Covering is just a matter of overlapping “panels “ , but with the tremendous stretch of canvas when wet , it may be possible to do large areas all in one go ...

Pete ... good indicator eh ???

[loaderman]

Makes sense.

[GPW]

Besides the huge blocks I’m able to get around here , there is a guy selling foam blocks (cinder block size ) , and I often thought of using those like Bricks , or building blocks ... would be easy and Kinda’ Fun ... pretty easy to “block in” most any rough shape ... Stack em’ first , see how you like it , then glue em’ up ...

[ghcoe]

Not enough beer?

http://i.imgur.com/kWARA.gif

[Catherine+twins]

Nope, not a beer drinker any more. I thought my box of wine and all the cast iron cookware would be enough.

Ooooh, were you behind me? Yeah, I remember that, but from in front!

Catherine

[GPW]

OK , say you don’t carry the Beer... How about a Brick floor ... Rough calculations say you’d only need 144 bricks for a 4’X8’ floor and at 5# each , that would add up to ~ 720lbs ...  the equivalent weight of beer and the Ice to keep it cold ... With that and a foamie shell of ~ 300# , you’d still be within the trailers load range ... and the ride would be smoother...the weight centered Low would surely help to prevent tipping .. just saying ...

Ps. ... and you can always throw the bricks at the Bear ...

[Wobbly Wheels]

Or use them to build a wall around camp...

[GPW]

Ooh ! A wall ... nice idea !!!
OK, I admit that was a bit silly But seriously thinking about this , it’s still Better to be wider than taller (JMHO) ... weight low on the trailer only helps so much ... You can see how that tall narrow truck trailer was so easily blown about ... and those trailer frames, axels , wheels , are all pretty heavy , so weight alone won’t do it ... I think it’s pretty safe to say it’s best to not go beyond a “square “ ratio of height to width of the cabin , height always being less than or equal to the base width ... with the tires outside those lines ... just a “generality” ...

Lower and wider is always even Better ...

[loaderman]

Yep the wider the base the better, weight on the bottom not the top, rounded edges,
The BUB trailer with it's slide up action is a good idea for those of us wanting taller trailers, slide down and have it low to tow, then up for camping.