Hybrid Foamie in Southern Alberta

[KCStudly]

I would not bother trying to glue it in with GS. Just hit it with a staple tacker here and there to hold it in place.

BTW, 2x3 and 1/2 inch ply are contradictory to "very light". Most light TD's use 1x2's and thinner ply. Just saying. Building the floor up with glued in rigid foam, fully face glued top and bottom creates a much stronger panel and allows the use of much lighter materials.

[Shar]

Thanks Laura, I will go with putting it in the floor! It will keep something from the landfill, save me $100, and make my guy and his buddy from work very happy (since they have been collecting it for me all winter). If it ends up not working very well...then Mark and I will freeze our butts some cold summer night in Alberta, and I will say, "I told you we should have used foam."
KC, yes, I know that 2x3s and 1/2" ply are heavy and mark me as a rank amateur. I just lacked the courage to go smaller than that. All my previous experience has been with sheds, and I am still addicted to the security of "having something solid to put screws into". I will learn. My original plan for a wood build would have weighed (I calculated) just under 1,000 lb. I am confident that this foamie build will do much better than that, despite my over-heavy floor. I am comforted by the thought that I will have no galley in this thing.
Here is the silver insulation being layered in the floor spaces.

[Martiangod]

Living room builds are always fun, where in AB are you?

[Shar]

We're in Calgary. If you're in Alberta, I'm sure you know all about how cold it gets at night in summer.

[Shar]

Tonight's work consisted of using GS to glue the sheets of insulation in place, on the underside of the floor frame. I had the insulation layered 10 deep, meaning that there were about 80 pieces (various sizes) of the stuff altogether, and I just wanted to prevent them from shifting around later. Mark said it wasn't necessary, and probably he was right, but it only took an hour and made me feel better. Some folks on the foamie thread advised me to test the flammability of the stuff, so I took a couple of little pieces outside and tried to set them on fire. They didn't burn. One of the flimsier pieces melted a little, that was all. The can says the GS will be cured in 8 hours, so I will wait till tomorrow to skin the bottom of the floor.

[Shar]

Boring talk of weights & designs now. My concept of this trailer was that it would be empty inside (like a cargo trailer) with no cabinets, but with lots of anchor points on the walls for hanging and attaching things. I wanted a fold-down counter surface, hooks for hanging bags & clotheslines (for rainy days at the campsite), and brackets in the wall that would allow for knock-down shelves. The biggest sticking point, when I considered changing to a foamie build, was that I wouldn't have all those wall studs (2x2s)to attach things to.
My current plan is to build a minimal framework of 2x2s on the INSIDE of the foamie shell, so that I can have some of those anchor points. I don't mind having the wood show; it's like exposed rafters in a rustic cabin, but smaller. Gluing smaller pieces of wood into the foam, traditional style, will not give me enough anchor points IMHO. We'll see how it goes.
Weight wise, my trailer frame is 260 lbs and the floor is 100 lbs. That's a total of 360 lbs so far. The rest of the materials- foam, 2x2s, canvas, a little 1/8 ply, 2 windows (10 lb each)- I can't imagine they will total much over 200 lbs. As GPW said, a cubic foot of foam weighs 2 lbs, and a cubic foot of ply weighs 57 lbs. So I feel optimistic about that.
After work tonight I'm hoping to skin the underside and flip it over, so that tomorrow I can waterproof the top of the floor. There will be pictures!

[Shar]

Stuff came up and I didn't get to work on the trailer yesterday, but this morning before work I attached the corolan sheets on the underside and we flipped it right side up again, so that I can start waterproofing the top. I'm dithering now about what colour of finish to use, but I should be able to decide that and put a coat on before work. Once the floor is done, we will bolt it back on the frame and use it to bring the foam and plywood home from the store. That part won't be today because I have work and it's snowing again! Picture of painted floor later today though...

[Shar]

First coat of stain is on!

[Wolffarmer]

Looking good Shar.

Yet another build I want to keep an eye on.

Randy

[be_a_jayhawk]

I love the living room approach, but I fear my wife would kill me if I gave it a try!

[mezmo]

Hi Sheryl,

Your idea to have an interior "frame" so that you can attach
various items at your convenience/need is certainly a very
straightforward approach - and will save all the fiddling detail
work that inserting hard points requires. The only "rule(s)", to me,
are to do it the way(s) you want to do it.

Don't forget, GPW's Foamstream is built exactly that way, except
his interior wooden frame was CNC cut, not just the more usual
dimensional board sizes.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

[Shar]

Thanks, Norm! Those are encouraging words. One of the great things about these little trailers is that they are customized to the needs and wishes (and budget) of the maker.

And thanks, Randy! If I can't be a shining example, I will at least be a source of macabre humour.

[Shar]

Today's update. No pics, because nothing looks different yet. The floor is all done, but before I can bolt it back on the trailer frame, I need Mark to back his car into the yard and hook up to it, so that we can test the signal lights. If the lights need tinkering with, I want to do that BEFORE the floor goes on. It looks like the soonest we can do this test will be Thursday. Once the test is done, we will put the floor back on, I will bolt it down, and we can use the trailer (asap) to pick up the foam and other stuff from the hardware store.
The upshot is, the next few days will be quiet on this journal, but once the trailer is roadworthy things will kick into high gear again. I shall return.

[Martiangod]

We're in Calgary. If you're in Alberta, I'm sure you know all about how cold it gets at night in summer.

At least its not -45 in the summer
- 20 feels nice compared to that...lol
too bad your not closer, I come up with " parts " at times. have an entry door right now that need a small fiber and foam repair, other then that, its complete and a progressive dynamics converter, also an rv stereo/dvd/bluetooth

[Shar]

Another delay- our lovely May weather- but tonight we will be able to bring home some foam and wall construction will commence. Pictures of that later today...