A canned ham in foam: Built

[NMMarauder]

I found a picture of the windows during construction. I thought I had lost them. I routed grooves for the pieces to fit in. Mostly so that the grooves would hold the pieces together during glue-up.


Here is a picture of the underside of the trailer and of the cable track for the trailer wiring.



Finally, here is a fire test I did on canvased foam before I started construction. I was worried that an ember from the camp fire could wreak havoc on a foam and canvas trailer. I burned a piece of wood as large as upper part of my thumb until it formed a nice hot ember. Then I dropped it on the test piece and let it burn out. My goal was to simulate a very large ember from a camp fire landing on the roof of a foamie. It melted a depression in the foam and charred the surface but it didn't burst into flames. It's not a conclusive fire test by any means but it did make me feel a little better about the flammability of the trailer. I'll refrain from using my flame thrower while I'm in it.

[tac422]

I got this idea from the post on the Big Pink being built and decided it was a great idea.

(I see what you did there )


This is coming along nicely !

[GPW]

NMM, no flame throwers Please !!!! Foam nor canvas burns well at all.... I’d be more scared of plywood “paneling“ that burns with much ferocity. Testing proves all theories (or not) and comforts the mind. Nice burn test !!!

[NMMarauder]

Tac422 - The Big Pink was a major inspiration for my project. After seeing how well it came out, I thought "What if I make one just slightly larger?" I'm well on my way to finding out how well it will turn out.

GPW - I also tried open flame from a lighter. The foam melts immediately as expected but once covered with canvas and glue it is more flame retardant. Again my goal was just to make sure it didn't turn into a giant candle.

[lthomas987]

There is a great post of how to do this on the board but basically you figure out the difference in circumference between the inside and outside of the piece you want to bend and then you cut enough kerfs to shorten the inside of the piece to match the outside. I let Sketch-up figure out this difference for me. Then assuming my saw blade took out 1/8" with each cut I could figure out how many cuts to make and how far apart to space them. I over estimated a bit. If the calculations said I needed 8 kerfs I would cut 10 just to be safe. Then I actually test fit the piece and had to adjust by cutting a few additional kerfs in areas where it felt like there was too much stress.

I'm glad somebody got some use out of that post about kerf math. It makes me feel better about having looked at your door canvasing method and decided it was pure genius and I am going to use it.

[GPW]

NMM, I missed the puppy damage .... Whoa!!! That was funny , but I guess not at the time . We fix our crashed foam planes like that , cut out the bad piece , glue in a new piece... Ridiculously Easy Foamie’ repair was one of the main reasons I was attracted to this material in the first place .... so easy to fix ... cut and paste so to speak ... Yours is turning out just Fine !!!

I must mention the Hail storm that Foamie #1 was in ... hail the size of a quarter or larger.... put a lot of dents in the roof ... left out in the Sun for a month , the foam swelled and the dents were mostly gone ... I’ve never seen a factory camper heal itself... just sayin’ ...

[rowerwet]

GPW,

I haven't thought about the wheel wells too much so I am open to suggestions. My initial plan was to build them out of plywood and waterproof them the same way I waterproofed the underside of the flooring.

While your ply wheel wells treated with the mix will work, wood will wear away under the abrasion of road grit and stones kicked up by the tires. I would get a plastic 55 gallon drum and cut wheel well liners out of it, they are just about indestructible, they can also be shaped with heat to make mounting flanges, or the outer edge flare that keeps spray down in the rain.

[NMMarauder]

More progress.... I set myself a goal of getting the trailer 95% built in 9 months. (I'm not sure they ever get to 100% built) So by the end of May I need to be mostly done. I did this because I have some time between contracts so I can put in lots of time building now. Plus I want to go camping!


Walls up and my 'clamp' system for holding the walls tight against the guide rails that are mounted to the floor. I used studs and ropes to winch the walls up against the guide rails. It worked wonderfully.


Door frame mounted. For reasons I still don't understand, the hole that I carefully measured for the door didn't line up with where it actually needed to be. If you look closely, you can see where I had to use spray foam to fill in the gap. Overall things turned out fine but I measured multiple times, cut once and still got it wrong. That challenge is what I like most about making things. There is always a new problem to solve and, just when you think you are doing well, it finds ways to keep you humble.


I started gluing on the roof. Here is an important lesson that I learned that I hope helps someone else. DON'T cut the roof to width before you mount it. Cut it with 2 or 3 inches of extra width. Then after it is glued in place you can cut it to width. I wish I had thought of that before I started. Things still worked out but it would have made things so much easier if I didn't have to worry about alignment as I glued the roof on.

[NMMarauder]

wood will wear away under the abrasion of road grit and stones kicked up by the tires.

That's a good point. I happen to know someone who is excellent at sheet metal work. I might hit him up for a favor. The drum idea is very good too. I'll look into it more.

[wagondude]

That is looking nice. I like the way you did the windows and the door.

[GPW]

JMHO, we’ve seen tire failures mangle wheel wells (metal) so best use something easy to fix ... I’d think a 2” thick foam wheel well with some inexpensive flashing (metal) on the underside , that undercoated would be more than sufficient for normal use , and anything catastrophic could be easily fixed or replaced , much as with anything else Foamie’ , just cut out the bad piece and glue in the new piece.

NMM , alignment is the name of the game .... No worries , you’re doing SUPER eh !!!

[NMMarauder]

GPW - Good point about catastrophic tire failures. I've never experienced one (knock on wood) but it's good to have planned for one just in case.

[NMMarauder]

I'm thinking more about the paint scheme. I ran across this picture of a beautiful art-deco car and I love the lines and even the colors. I just can't figure out how to incorporate the elements into a paint scheme for the trailer. I sort of did it subconsciously with my first attempt but my first attempt has lots of straight lines in comparison to the car. Anyone have suggestions?

Car:


Trailer Profile:

[GPW]

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[GPW]

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