First Full Foamie Build - No wood framing used

[TaigaTradesman]

It's now some time later. Have there been any issues with the structural integrity? How are the rear doors working out? I'd like to have an 18-20 inch deep kitchen on the rear doors, or at least some drop-down shelving to place a stove, water jug and sink on. I also saw a design with a large box cantilevered over the tongue. It had a side door with a pull out kitchen on rollers. The front box kitchen offers more room in the sleeper, but is more difficult to provide rain and/or shade for. Any thoughts? I too have the side rails on the trailer, so rear door makes a lot of sense.

6,000 miles later and the foamie is holding up much better than I could have imagined. I have had it through rain, snow, hail, and even hurricane force winds on the east coast as well as crazy cross winds through the mid-west and it has performed great. I have two rock "dents" on the front that I simply put a couple dabs of gorilla glue construction adhesive on to seal back up. The rear door is great and honestly the only option we had given our trailer. I wish I would have made the camper a foot wider because the trailer could accommodate that. With there being no wood in the camper I tried to limit the number of holes or complex forces being applied to it. Thus, I would recommend a tongue box or something that can bolt or set on the trailer rails if you are running a comparable set up. For our kitchen set up we have two plastic containers that we just toss on the bed and nest our bedding around so it lessens the bouncing as we drive. Then when we get to camp, we pull them out and either toss them in the car or under the trailer. It has worked for us thus far. Hope this helps.

[TaigaTradesman]

Taiga , Well Done !!!

Thank you. It has been great for both camping and covered storage for hauling when need be. I have been experimenting with a few other methods of building slightly more resilient "sandwich panel" type walls that are still incredibly light weight. May have to just build another as a proof of concept.

[TaigaTradesman]

I like the graphics. Hope you worked out a solution to the heat problem.

Unfortunately, I have not found a good method to protect it from the heat. As much as I enjoy the character that the hand painted graphic gives it, I may have to paint over it in white to minimize the heat. I have considered doing something comparable with maybe lighter pastel colors or simply doing the same graphic in thin stripes as opposed to fully filled in. I have not gotten around to doing this yet, but will likely before next summer.

[TaigaTradesman]

Great job, such a thorough post it leaves little else to be said.

Now that it's had another summer, do you have any more insights on your paint skin issue?

Thank you for the kind words. Unfortunately, I think PMF on foam has to be painted in lighter colors to minimize the increase in heat. I did not use gripper or comparable products when doing my PMF, but I did use a wall paper roller on the foam to try and get as much grip as possible without compromising the integrity of the foam. I think if laminated a piece of luan to the XPS then utilized PMF adhesion would be significantly higher. The porous nature of the wood lends itself to a stronger bond with the canvas and glue. I will likely just paint the camper white. I have toyed around with the idea of lighter pastel colors to still give it some character and may experiment with that in the spring.

[TaigaTradesman]

I guess I missed this post earlier. Good job. Glad my YouTube Channel got you involved with foamies.

Thank you! I took a lot of lessons learned from you and applied them here. I was a bit skeptical of building a rectangular prism due to the drag coefficient, but have been amazed at how well it has held up. I will likely soften the edges and round some things in the next build to improve on fuel efficiency. I have still managed to get about 16-17 MPG on the accord which is pretty impressive.

[ghcoe]

I guess I missed this post earlier. Good job. Glad my YouTube Channel got you involved with foamies.

Thank you! I took a lot of lessons learned from you and applied them here. I was a bit skeptical of building a rectangular prism due to the drag coefficient, but have been amazed at how well it has held up. I will likely soften the edges and round some things in the next build to improve on fuel efficiency. I have still managed to get about 16-17 MPG on the accord which is pretty impressive.

square box certainly is not very aerodynamic for sure. I tow mine behind SUV's so the drag is not as detrimental as being towed by a car. I have however thought about adding some aerodynamic features to the front just to help out a bit. My first build #1 viewtopic.php?f=55&t=54099 is wider, but built more traditional. I pulled it behind a 2014 Jeep Cherokee with the V6. It would get a pretty solid 28mpg not towing. Towing with #1 it would get a solid 22mpg. I was pretty happy with the results. Never pulled #2 with it so I have no comparison to that.

My 1991 Jeep Cherokee with a 4.0 gets 16mpg usually, pulling #2 it drops down to 12mpg.