Hi Mojave Bob,
I think you have a really good design going there. A couple-three
tweaks I'd like to offer for consideration would be:
1- I'd move the door a little sideways toward the wheels/front so that
you could have a counter or closet from the tail's point to the area you've
labeled the galley. If the door would need a little curve in it there, that
shouldn't be too hard to do in foam - but it could be positioned on the tail
wall before the tighter curve where the sidewall starts to curve into the
tail wall. A 10" to 12" deep counter or side hanging closet could be very
useful. Even an 8" deep space would give useful storage as closet or
counter with a cupboard below or even open shelves below for shoes
[especially when wet] or what-not. That 8 or 10 or 12" [or wider as
possible] distance from the tail point to the door should give much more
strength and rigidity to the tail point construction as the two meeting tail
walls would be bracing each other and would have wider and therefore
stronger sections meeting to do the bracing.
2- I wouldn't worry about any compound curves in the front where the
down sloping roof meets the curving [semicircular shaped] front wall area.
I'd just measure/approximate the height of the tow vehicle and have the
front wallcenter rise to that height, or a little below, to meet the downward
curving roof. I'd then radius the roof and wall joint for the whole trailer
body. From what I've read on the subject so far it seems that 'radiusing'
a nominally 90 degree joint is very beneficial aero-wise and not as difficult
as compound curves. even a 1/2 -1" 'radiusing' would help. All you'd
need to reinforce the roof&wall joint would be to glue either @ a 2" strip of
wall thickness foam against the top of the wall at the ceiling/roof joint and
then glue a 1" strip of foam on top of that at the joint for a 'stepped crown
molding' effect that would then allow you to round over the outside
to a 1-2" radius on the outside of the joint. If you don't like the stepped
crown molding look at the joint you could alternatively bevel some foam
strips to fit into the side & roof interior joint. You could then reinforce both
the exterior and interior side & roof joint areas with some of the fiberglass
cloth tape and whatever you are using as glue or coating - epoxy or
TBII-III or paint etc. before you cover the whole with fabric and coating.
3-Also don't forget to include some appropriate wood or aluminum or such
reinforcements around openings and attachments of walls to floor and
floor to frame etc.. Also remember the "sock effect" in the overall
scheme of things.
It'll be interesting to see your design evolve and the build begin!
Cheers,
Norm/mezmo
P.S. Here are a couple links to web sites that may be of help.
This outstanding foam and fiberglass Swedish build has good info very
pertinent to your proposed build.
http://www.goldbrand.info/index.html
Here's a FYI type thing for you. Again, I'm pretty sure it's Swedish,
that shows an inspired craftsman's efforts. First, he did a custom car
and then a steel TTT he named the "Dreamliner" as well.
http://hem.bredband.net/heavy1/index.htm
http://hem.bredband.net/heavy1/dreamliner/page_01.htm
If you have a house - you have a hobby.