Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[Kullas]

How thick are walls on those PVC down spouts?

Jack

The ones I have used are a little thicker than siding kinda stiff stuff

[Jack B.]

Having resided our house twice in 25 years I can attest that the stuff holds up well for 20+ years, even in direct south side sunlight. After that it starts to get a bit brittle. Wouldn't count on it for structural loading of much, but for holding things together and holding its shape it should work fine.

Probably best if you were to melt any holes that you needed for screws, nails, what have you. If you don't use the right blade or drill bit it tends to shatter, even when new and supple. I've not used the vinyl material for anything other than siding but I have had to twist, bend and "wrassle" pieces of it into some strange spots and can say that it is pretty tough stuff.

Jack

[Jack B.]

Can't count on finding big blocks of foam, not to mention my reluctance to get into carving big chunks of the stuff. I like the idea of using the 2" thick sheets and working in smaller incremental steps. And if/when things go awry it's easier to take a baby step back instead of going big block shopping.

My concern is mainly with the water proofing since there will be some wood in the middle of all the foam. The exterior wood is where it can be retreated to poly coats as needed. I just want to be pretty sure the inner stuff isn't in too much danger. Not afraid of using a lot of the wonder juice to seal the plywood and then coats of glue and paint for the outer surfaces. Probably paint the treated plywood as well.

Jack

[GPW]

The more you can do to prevent water intrusion , the Better.... especially with plywood ...
Actually , beaded foam will take in a little water , it also dries quickly too ... We’ve seen giant blocks of it used under lake houses in Seattle for flotation ...and we were told it lasts for years , before they have to add more ... bare beaded foam ... It’s only the minute spaces between the beads that takes on water , not the beads themselves , so there will Always be some degree of floatation...
The big blocks of beaded foam we bought for the FoamStream were stored outside and Damp when purchased (cheap) ... a couple days inside the Studio and they were dry as toast ... and had lost the water weight (lighter) The Inside of the foam never got wet , pristine inside , once cut into slabs...as you’ve seen already ...

[kudzu]

So I wonder, who sells this "canvas" and how well it would stick to foam? Sure looks warm & comfy.



[my apologies if it's already been posted before]

[wagondude]

Somebody has way too much time on their hands.

[ghcoe]

So I wonder, who sells this "canvas" and how well it would stick to foam? Sure looks warm & comfy. [my apologies if it's already been posted before]

That is the sock!

[Jack B.]

Whom ever did that bit of work is for sure the cable stitch queen/king.

When I learned to knit my girlfriend at the time worked in a small town social services office. She got me started with basic knit & purl, counting stitches and minding the tension. When I got to trying the harder stuff the other (more experienced) women in the office would give me tips and tricks. We kinda broke up at the time I was getting ready for cable stitches, and since it was my fault and they did like her better, I never got that technique started and haven't knitted since.

The above parable is to show that there are learning resources out there if you're willing to go looking for them. How do you think some of us ended up here? Also don't let people down and lose your resources in the process, but that's another story for another time.

Jack

[GPW]

Big TD Cozy .... Strange , but Nice

[Shar]

Greetings to the foamling crew! I have been reading the Big Thrifty thread for the past month (I'm up to page 279) and I am about to start building a ttt. I had a wooden one all planned out (hadn't bought the wood yet) when I heard about foamies and got curious. We will be towing our ttt with a Subaru wagon, (tow limit 1000 lb) so the idea of a lighter (but still strong) trailer was fascinating. In addition, this thread is incredibly fun to read! After reading all those pages, I am hooked and writing up a new shopping list that includes foam, gg, t2, and all that other good stuff. My thanks to all of you for being bold enough to experiment and show the way!

[GPW]

Shar, best of luck to you on this new adventure!!! If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask !!! You’ll get at least 100 answers...

[Mary C]

Sheryl, Welcome to the foamie section!!! Two rules unstated but true, don't take it personally and have fun. We as you can already tell are not perfectionist on the type of build we all are still experimenting. when I built mine I went on blind faith believing when someone said TBII worked I went with it. Someone said he had success with not scoring the pink foam just glue on the canvas and it worked for me. I personally had some not good success with gg and I didn't have great clamps so I never bought a drop. I mostly used TBII and where it didn't glue so good I filled the big gaps with Great stuff. It all worked fantastic. and like I have said if a 6oplus old woman can do it all by herself so can anyone. I had to use all of my skills of leverage, fulcrums , sewing, rolling of the canvas when putting it on, and all my stamina and consternation. I know you will enjoy your build. We are all here with answers and suggestions.

Mary C

[Shar]

Thanks, Mary C. and GPW! After reading 279 pages of this thread, I know there are many different ways to skin a foamie...and most of them work, too. I will post lots of photos to my album, and keep reading the earlier posts on this thread, to answer other burning questions, like: how long did it take to build the Foamstream? Did anyone ever really get hit with a frozen turkey? And did Eagle ever iron the bubbles on her Mousemobile? Oh, the suspense!

[GPW]

Shar , it only took the summer to build the FS , but 2 years to talk about it first ....
Frozen Turkey , not as far as we know ??? Can’t say as to whether Eagle ironed those bubbles , yet .. we haven’t talked to her in a while now ... ???

[KCStudly]

I've been thinking we should ask. Hey Louella, you still out there? Who's "minding the store" (moderating) these days?