FoamStream...

[ghcoe]

Looking great!

I was wondering what you thought of the 18oz. canvas. Do you think it was overkill for the job or do you think it is stronger than say 8-12oz. cloth?

[GPW]

Had to go in and do a little more rounding and shaping on the top inside ... made a mess, but managed to get most of it vacuumed up .. Got the bottom part glued on ... letting that dry before we add more and glue the bottom part under ... You can see the extra smoothing that went on ...
Thanks George !! I think the 18oz. canvas was just perfect for this job , providing a Thick skin that’s going to be very durable in the long run ... It’s extremely STRONG , hard to cut with sharp scissors ... It just HAS to be much stronger than the 8-12 oz. cloth .. I like it a Lot !!! Maybe Overkill , but we wanted STRONG ... especially going over that beaded foam ...

[ghcoe]

Thanks for the info. It is about time to make a decision for my build.

[GPW]

Be mindful that the thicker the canvas the harder it is to work , and the thicker the seams will be ... My #1 Foamie used very light linen canvas and has survived just fine , even through a major Hail storm ... Just sayin' , if you need the thicker canvas , go for it , but it’s not entirely necessary ...

[Mary C]

Looking good GPW. I only used 8 oz on mine and it is strong and dried rock hard. For me it is fine. I understand why you went heavier because of the type of foam. You are doing good and I don't envy you that area you are covering.

Mary C.

[KCStudly]

GPW, I'm curious about the black stand/stick/pole thing standing to the right; looks like a microphone stand or aluminum walking stick. What is that and how did it come into play with the work that you were doing? (Probably something really simple and/or obvious, I know, but inquiring minds...)

[ghcoe]

Blow dart gun......

[GPW]

Mary , that overhead covering on a compound surface is a real TOUGHIE’ The ONLY way I could get it to work was to coat the foam with the TB2 , press the burlap on (securing with the blow gun darts , which BTW are perfect for this kind of thing) ... then sat there with my heat gun and fanned the area while pressing the burlap down with a little yellow plastic spreader... Not an easy job ... Took all morning to get the first part done , then a long siesta , then another hour of so to put the next layer on ... Only have the top piece left to do ,will try that tomorrow ... Letting each layer dry completely before starting the next ...

KC , being a purveyor of Primitive weapons , such as yourself , but on a much smaller scale of course , we have a couple blow guns and have gotten pretty good with them too ... We also make bows and arrows ... As I mentioned in the past , those darts really come in handy for Foamie’ covering work , or just general pinning ... Just GIANT straight pins ... used as such ...

Actually the burlap is looking AWFUL right now , so we’ll have to dress it up a bit ...but it sure does cover all the much nastier stuff that was going on underneath ... next time we’ll use the scientific method to cut those nose rings ... Worse comes to worse , can always paint something on it , like a night sky with trees and stars ...diverting the attention from the imperfections... A “disguise”

[Wobbly Wheels]

Just kicking the can around and it might be kinda late now, but what about drilling holes into the foam and gluing in short chunks of dowel ?

That would give you hardpoints that you could use to either staple the burlap directly or screw in a flexible wood batten. You could run them right from the floor, following the studs you have on the bottom section.
Headliners in boats have been done that way for years and it looks really good while minimizing the amount of wood.



With thin (1/8" - 3/16") battens and finishing and/or fenders washers (depending on the look you want), you ought to be able to make that curve with no problems...and you'll get to use some of your fine-finishing luthery skills. The peak would look downright sexy if all the battens mitered together but a quicker option would be to get them close and cover them with a medallion cut in half:


Painting the ribs to match and running a matching center batten along the ceiling (wire chase for lights?) might tie it all together nicely....maybe for the FS Mk II ?

[GPW]

If I had a nice garage to build in and keep it it in , would have made this project a little more “finished” , but this is just a simple EVAC trailer , built on a budget , that will live outside ... It’s really not about building something “pretty” , but more a simple, durable , comfortable shelter for time of need ... which in reality we hope never happens ...

Without the “need” for a camper , I’d rather be making guitars , amps , painting ,playing music ,cooking, and generally just enjoying my retirement ...

[GPW]

OK, so I took a whole day off ... Back to work today ...

[swampjeep]

hopefully you enjoyed it, you've been so busy on the trailer for so long... you deserved it

[Ned B]

What are we foamies going to do when you're done? We need our daily foam stream fix! Glad you took a restful day... Hope it was a good one!

[GPW]

Thanks Guys , I really needed a day off and a really long Nap ... Much better now ... so I finished the top nose burlap ... and it didn’t really come out that bad ...once the glue dried ... pretty Blotchy looking till then The wife suggested I paint the Sistine Chapel art on that part .... I told her she’d have to settle for a Starry Night ...

Overcast ,dark, about to rain , again ...

What are going to do ? .... Why Build another of course... Lots of little lessons learned on this one ...

Ps. It really did do a Good job of covering all those foam spaces and gaps ... ...

[GPW]

So, seeing those wrinkles on the chipboard on the front , we got the Hobby iron out and ironed all that down solid ...then went over all the burlap seams and heat Fused all the seams to the previous layer ... Love the way TB2 does that ... Tucked all the glued burlap edges in between the foam and the rib, the little plastic spreader came in handy for that ... looks much better now ...

The wrinkles in the chipboard here and there are a result of hot wiring out the foam sheets instead of using Flat commercial sheets of foam .... a mistake we won’t make again , especially now we’ve found a reasonable source for the BLU foam ... The chipboard is not wrinkled , it’s the foam underneath ...