Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[Mary C]

Hey Dave, when it gets a little warmer we will try to get together. I bought some burlap several years ago and was going to make curtains my roommate was suppose to crochet a 3 inch wide edge for it but they never got made. I hadn't thought about using it but might work on the inside. I will have to experiment and check out what it does. I will try it tomorrow and take some close up pictures....

Mary C.


GPW where is Rosie boat building I cannot find it.

[Wolffarmer]

They make it for ground cover also. nice wide stuff. I looked it up in Wikipedia and found all kinds of interesting things. There is also sisal fabric.

Burlap is made of jute which is the #2 plant fabric. Sisal is from a plant in the agava family. Can also make a kind a tequila with the plants. We use to use a lot of sisal twine making hay bales but it has been many decades sense polypropylene has taken over that market. I suppose sisal twine is probably still used some place.

Randy

[Mary C]

Randy I knew the owner who's horse who ate some of that twine once and it nearly killed him. I just know the vet took the horse to the clinic and watched him till the horse passed it and the vet had to pull it out. Was really bad. Another lady I knew told the story of her crazy horse he was so temperamental and hyper and one day the went into the pasture and later that day she was going to ride and the poor baby was so mellowed out and sweet. this strange behavior went on for several days till she rode another horse out into the pasture and found some leaf. she had a horse high on the weed!!!!!

Mary C.

[Wolffarmer]

Great story. Horse whisperer my fanny. Get them critters high.

Randy

[GPW]

Better take that horse to Colorado , where it’s legal ...

Just sayin’ , it doesn’t take a fancy canvas or fabric to make a perfectly functional (and Strong) camping trailer ... A lot of people want SMOOTH because they’re programmed to seeing commercial trailers that way ... Real Foamlings’ think “out of the box” ...

[GPW]

Ps. Burlap works well inside .... used it on the FS nose , then painted over it ... even the wife likes it ?

The thought is , if you have access to a mountain of free potato sacks , there’s your covering ... ... wish I had some ... It’s All about "Thrifty " for the 99% of us ...

[Wolffarmer]

When did you last see a smooth golf ball for sale?

Right, never.

Randy

[GPW]

That’s another good point huh ? Smooth isn’t the least draggy as logic would have us believe... I asked the Dog which was better , she said “ Ruff !!!” .. so there ya’ go eh ?

[Mary C]

The Tater sack experiment is done

first I glued the burlap on the foam then I coated half n top










this is when it was dry



Next I used gripper,



Then I put another coat, the second coat of gripper



The last picture is the before and after.



Mary C.

[Wolffarmer]

Cool

[Mary C]

It is not so terriblly bad but I think the tighter tread of sheets or canvas is better.


Mary C.

[GPW]

Perhaps a layer of burlap for high strength , and a layer of old sheet or other smooth fabric on the top for smoothness... Easy to do , still cheaper than canvas ...

Actually from an artistic standpoint, I actually Like the texture of painted burlap ... You know , once the strength is provided by the burlap , even Kraft paper or newspaper would be a smoothing finish ... I’ll bet we could get a Very smooth finish like that with a little extra priming and sanding ... another test ...

[Mary C]

hey, I'm not a slacker I did lightly sand, so you want a piece of sheet on it? with glue or gripper?



Mary C.

[GPW]

Yes Please !!!

[Mary C]

The picture is not the best but the sheet is in the center of the test piece.






I found that it is much smoother, I used a heavy piece of cotton sheet .
Mary C.