Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

No joke Tennis ball hail stones on a regular basis in Queensland Australia , how shall a foamie covered in canvas or any other fabric stand up to that ; am trying out all kind of fabrics just bought some 90% shade cloth to glue on 2 inch Xps then give it 3 coats of exterior paint. Will probably have to give it a couple of weeks to mature so as to have full strength. Am interested in hearing your story.

PS Innegra fabric is too expensive and you have to put it in between two other layers of fabric for it to be any good . So that's a whole lot more weight and a whole lot more glue which makes it a lot more heavier

Just re-paint over if you don't mind the ripple effect

PMF/foam is easily repairable, even in the field. The final finish after doing so is dependent on how much effort you want to put into it. Aluminum, fiberglass, or wood? Not so much.

The pourable closed cell PU expanding foams come in various densities

the lower 2lb psf is for inside a protected cavity, very easy to indent or squish

the 8# version can barely be dented with a hammer, doesn't insulate as well though.

They can be combined if you're DIYing, use the 2# on the inside

and the outer cloth/mesh/screen embedded in a "skin" layer of a heavier tougher grade.

Temperature when foaming also has a huge impact on expansion rate thus final density.

The challenging part is containing the low-density expansion in warm temps to get even/ parallel planes on two sides

the force is tremendous!

frequently spaced holes to provide escape routes would be one approach

or very precise squirt volume control, doing short layers a few minutes apart

subsequent layers do adhere very well to each other.

I really like the idea of non-90° Free-Form shapes, like the foamstream concept or geodesic shapes, or my rolling wigwam

http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?p=1243883#p1243883

Our Foamie #1 was caught in a terrible hail storm … Looked like a Golf ball afterward , but a week in the sun and the foam had healed itself and popped back into shape … ( the miracle of foam , self healing )

I don't know if there is anything short of concrete that tennis-ball-sized hail won't destroy. It would certainly total-out a car.

But keep in mind there are three types of foam board; extruded polystyrene (XPS -usually blue or pink), polyisocyanurate (poly - generally a yellow color), and expanded polystyrene (EPS -it’s white and sometimes called bead-board).

All three types have different characteristics of course.

I accidentally ran over a half sheet of 3/4" poly foam with my truck once that was laying on concrete. You could see the tread impression but it wasn't deep. I was surprised. Of course, the damage didn't heal itself. I think EPS would have been destroyed. I've got some blue XPS that needs to go to the dump. Maybe I'll give it a test roll-over and see how deep the damage is and see if it springs back after a few days.

Tony

tony.latham wrote:I don't know if there is anything short of concrete that tennis-ball-sized hail won't destroy. It would certainly total-out a car.

But keep in mind there are three types of foam board; extruded polystyrene (XPS -usually blue or pink), polyisocyanurate (poly - generally a yellow color), and expanded polystyrene (EPS -it’s white and sometimes called bead-board).

All three types have different characteristics of course.

I accidentally ran over a half sheet of 3/4" poly foam with my truck once that was laying on concrete. You could see the tread impression but it wasn't deep. I was surprised. Of course, the damage didn't heal itself. I think EPS would have been destroyed. I've got some blue XPS that needs to go to the dump. Maybe I'll give it a test roll-over and see how deep the damage is and see if it springs back after a few days.

Tony

Yes the cars get smashed good and proper and animals get killed , and trees get stripped of leaves and bark crops get destroyed. Seen it all .

Agreed , we saw that all two days ago …

we saw that all two days ago …

Glenn:

Did you lose anything to it??? Sheeeesh.

Tony

Tony , we did well, a oak tree fell on the house and punched a couple holes in my R-panel roof … Not bad considering the size of the tree .
Other than that just a bit of chainsawing and cleanup … lots of firewood for Winter ( wish I had a fireplace ? )
The trailer was remarkably untouched … ( dirtied with leaves ) Power is still out for a Lot of people … but we got a chance to test our little HF generator and solar panel kit … both worked exemplary !!! Like camping at home … sorta ‘ !!! 

Here’s a couple pics … and you can see the holes right at the top of the roof … Not bad at all !!! On a ride around to find gas , we saw much WORSE damage … All from the Wind … Supposed to be ~105 mph , but some gusts were much higher … could have been a small twister. Everybody says a tornado sounds like a freight train , this sounded like heavy machinery running for hours ..

All from the Wind … Supposed to be ~105 mph , but some gusts were much higher …

Brutal.

We had a front come through last month and blew down a lot of timber on the forest in limited areas. It took a bit to get the roads cleared here and there. But no damage that I'm aware of on private property.

Is your hurricane season done finally?

Tony

GPW wrote:Tony , we did well, a oak tree fell on the house and punched a couple holes in my R-panel roof … Not bad considering the size of the tree .
Other than that just a bit of chainsawing and cleanup … lots of firewood for Winter ( wish I had a fireplace ? )
The trailer was remarkably untouched … ( dirtied with leaves ) Power is still out for a Lot of people … but we got a chance to test our little HF generator and solar panel kit … both worked exemplary !!! Like camping at home … sorta ‘ !!! 

Here’s a couple pics … and you can see the holes right at the top of the roof … Not bad at all !!! On a ride around to find gas , we saw much WORSE damage … All from the Wind … Supposed to be ~105 mph , but some gusts were much higher … could have been a small twister. Everybody says a tornado sounds like a freight train , this sounded like heavy machinery running for hours ..

Hail stones on Saturday in Brisbane Australia completely destroyed hundreds of homes and are now unliveable in hail much bigger than tennis balls smashed in tilled roofs and destroyed the contents and whole house , hard to believe!

Tony , I had thought the season was over already . I didn’t have a chance to even get back to normal from the previous ones …

JMHO : Tennis Ball size hailstones are almost like meteorites , and have such force that most anything would be affected eh ??? … We’ve had experiences with Foam and up to ~ 1.25” dia. hail ( ~ 32mm ) and that healed itself out in the Sun . Bigger hail than that is pretty scary , and the only thing I can think of is a “Sacrificial” outer skin … maybe just on the roof at least eh ? Probably have to be a pretty stout supporting structure too eh ? …

Les , save the risk of offending anyone , I can not recall in my short 72 years any weather this continuously catastrophic … Fires , storms , events with such intensity they stir “biblical” explanations … But as we know , ( scientifically for those that believe in the scientific method of PROOF ) it’s “climate change” caused by us making little messes out of everything , with our waste and fumes … Mother Nature is PO’d at us and is giving us a proper “what for” …

Mother Nature is PO’d at us and is giving us a proper “what for” …

To me, the spooky thing about this being the new norm is the fact that it won't be in twenty years. It could be much worse.



Tony

GPW wrote: little messes out of everything , with our waste and fumes … Mother Nature is PO’d at us and is giving us a proper “what for” …

little?

In the body of Mother Gaia, we were intended to be part of her helpful micro-biome, strengthening her immune system, symbiotic caretakers. . .

instead we've become aggressive pathogens, harmful parasites even a metastatic cancer

She'll be fine of course, it's just that we won't be, the process of rejecting us using any means necessary has begun, and may well take much less time than our puny sciences have ever predicted.