Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

So I was on another website today that was talking about using Great Stuff as a glue for foam as well as using it to glue cedar panels to plastic
it was on Mother Earth News just thought I would share this with all of you
http://greatstuff.dow.com/

Sounds good eh ? Sure sticks to most everything ...

it was a neat article how they built a very decent looking wood fired hot tub, out of a Rubbermaid stock tank and used the Great Stuff as a glue, for the cedar slats on to the sides of the stock tank.....sure is giving me ideas for a tiny house

Tiny Foamie House would be EASY !!!! No limit to what you could glue outside , or inside ... SIPs pretty much have that covered ..

GPW What is a sips

Structural Insulated Panels ... http://www.sips.org/about/what-are-sips/

+hahaha oh ok thanks GPW I winder how they would handle the wind...might be some food for thought

Essentially when we take a sheet of foam and cover it on both sides , we’re making our own sips .... sorta’ ...
Depends on how much wind eh ?

The wind would be from traveling. I have seen how the building of some of the reinforced walls interlock in order to tie everything together. Making it all one piece to help fight the prevailing road winds

The design for TPCE is essentially a form of interlocking SIPs.

The inner skin of the front wall and ceiling will key over the tops of side walls, and the bulkhead will be dadoed into the side wall inner skins. The outer skin wrap will tie all of the outside corners solidly together.

This is hybred construction.

For a basic (thrifty) foamie, it wouldn't be that hard to finger groove the joins together, but I really don't think it would be worth the effort. The strength is in the skins and how far the are separated apart by the foam. The foam is not where the strength comes from.

If the inner and outer skins are tied together well between panels (... say by doubling up with extra strips of material; which has always been the recommendation) the strength will be there.

For wind it is just like any other beam or structural diaphragm calculation. Moment of inertia (the resistance to bending) vs. span vs. load. By spreading the skins further apart, the skins (the outer fibers where the strength is) are more effective w/o much weight penalty and can withstand greater loads over bigger spans. Don't want to go with thicker walls, us stronger/thicker skins. If not keep the wall spans shorter. If not, drive slower (i.e. less wind load).

It is just math. Beam Calculator (sorry, couldn't find a free structural diaphragm calculator just now)

The tricky part is figuring out the momment of inertia of your walls. Easier to just use TLAR.

I think he said, if the wind is too much it wont stay together and the canvas and paint on the walls and top give it strength. I hope if I go 65mph it wont implode either where would anyone live that the normal wind speed would be more than 65mph I would think whatever size it would be necessary to anchor it somehow and I am sure there will be a limit to wind vs the height vs width............. uh we learned that didn't we????

Mary C.

Mary C, The concern here was if some one builds a really big TT/standy, then they have to start worrying about strength issues. For most of our little TD's the proven formula is fairly well tested.

Yeah, you got it.

I'd be devastated for all my hard work to amount to nothing

Hey Droid,

I think SIPs are a good idea and I will probably use a form of them
whenever I get to build. [Too many house projects are a priority
at the moment.] For a larger size construction, I'd seriously look
into them. I consider them a Foamie variation.

Anyway, check out linuxmanxxx's post/builds.
Here's the link to them:
search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&sr=posts&author_id=11546
He is using a small scale version of them and gives details on how he did them -
they'll be a reference for me in the future. He uses them in his business:
http://www.microcampers.com/ Just browse through them until you reach one
that pertains to his SIPs and then click on the thread title if you need context.

Here are some links to a SIP builder with a difference. [compared to those
SIPs that are used for house construction.] They are in Washington State,
and make many different kinds/thicknesses of them. Quite an interesting product.
http://www.superhoneycomb.com/
http://singcore.com/
http://singcore.com/tiny_index.html
http://media.designerpages.com/3rings/2 ... ing-homes/

You should be quite interested in the following:
A gal in Washington State is building a tenwide Tiny House, using them:
http://mytinyabode.blogspot.com/
And her Dad is using them to remodel a vintage Airfloat TT:
http://www.everyonecandance.com/Airfloat_Process.html

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

Bigger trailers , THICKER foam ... It’s all so simple !!!