Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[Wolffarmer]

I will have to put my projects on hold for a while. Probably a long while. I burned my shop up today. It is still standing but will be a total loss and much inside is going or very damaged. Oh well.

Randy

[KCStudly]

Well that is bad. What happened?

Did you loose everything (TD, tools. lift, etc.)?

Sorry for your troubles.

[Wolffarmer]

Tear drop is in another building. Many tools are gone or will need lots of cleaning/servicing. but now no place to put the bigger stuff. Or place to use them. My lift was outside so it is ok and the jack for it is okish if a bit black. The trailer frame I was working on is not to bad other than it got wet and is rusting as I type. LOL

[Wobbly Wheels]

Sorry to hear about that Randy. Had a fiberglass shop go up once after a shop monkey thought it would be a good idea to put a leftover pot of over-catalyzed resin into a cupboard. The hardest part was remaking the templates we had used for years and getting everything back to being 'just so'.
I don't envy you the road ahead - hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised when you start the remediation by how much is salvageable.

Still, that's a streak of misfortune I wouldn't wish on anyone.
Bummer

[Wolffarmer]

I no longer have the income to replace much of anything. If I have insurance it will only be on the building and that will barely pay to haul it away. I hope I have that.

Fires are a mess. I have seen so many shop fires out here on the farms. Last sep. a guy a neighbor was welding on a 500 gallon diesel tank. Don't do that. He was lucky. the explosion killed him out right as he was covered with burning fuel in the shop.

At least I did not do that. I think if my knees was better I would have gone out and checked on things like I normally do. but they was screaming a blue streak, still are and it is 4:31 am here. Oh well. guess no more teardrop building for me.

Randy

[tac422]

Wow, I'm really sorry to read this Randy.
I hope you can salvage some things.
Any idea how it started ?
What was "screaming a blue streak" ?

[dales133]

Realy soy to hear your misfortionate situation and hope plenty is salvageable

[eaglesdare]

Sorry to hear this Randy.

[Wolffarmer]

Tac. my knees was screaming a blue streak, or I may have not gone in the house to rest them .Or gone back out right away and avoided the mess. Building will be total loss. can salvage some of the contents but probably little of the wood working tools I been gathering up the past 8-10 years. My welder might still be good. But no place to use it now. oh well. sun coming up now, guess I will now probably be able to sleep. knees are feeling a bit better now unlike a few hours ago. Stupid things, some fat ass been walking on them for the past 30 some odd years.

[Mary C]

Oh Randy I am so sorry, Having experienced 3 losses within the last 6 months I now can say loss is loss, the main thing is to stay in touch with your friends(us) and family and reach out if you get depressed find a way to communicate with others even if not on your own subject. I have had lots of days where I just decided to make a phone call to a friend for a moment or two, beginning with I'm depressed and amazingly our God above provided just what I needed in that moment. I could then look up and find peace. Don't let this one thing be who you are. Let us know if you need anything.

Mary C.

[mezmo]

Sorry to hear about your shop Randy. At least, and best, you were not in
it when it burned. Things can be replaced if they need to be. Such a
harsh way for things to get thinned out though. If our thoughts help,
the Foamlings are with ya.

Cheers,
Notm/mezmo

[Shar]

Very sorry to hear about this misfortune. I see it's been a couple of weeks now- hope things are clearing up and some salvage is possible. Hope the spring weather is a comfort.

[Wolffarmer]

Weather has been dry and warm here. way to dry. I try to drag myself out there a few hours each day and clean up stuff. Not that I have anything else to do. Have only had 10 hours of work in the past 5-6 weeks.

Most of my wrenches, sockets, hammers, chisels are ok, just sooty. Wood working tools are a lot worse. Some power tools made it, some didn't. Lost 2 radial arm saws. One is sort of a unique collectible. Motorcycles while they did not burn got very hot and melted plastic and rubber and paint about 2 feet from the floor. Can be fixed but will take a lot of work. Now I do not have a place to work. ugh.

Randy

[tagalong]

Wolf, sorry for your lose. One of my big fears is to loose everything that I've worked hard for in a fire. Well, that and having some low-life thieving scumbag taking it as Mary recently experienced.

Anyway, I started reading this thread a couple of weeks ago, thinking that foam would be a good medium to build a camper to tow behind my motorcycle. But that's farther down the road. I originally joined here to research a larger build for me and the wife to be pulled with my van. Was going to go with the traditional wood construction, but after tearing into a pop-up that was given to me (thrifty huh?) And seeing the extent of the wood rot I was swayed to the foam side. While I haven't nailed down a design yet, I do plan to use the frame from the pop-up to build on. I'm thinking I may have to replace the axle with something beefier, but won't know until I get the demo finished and can inspect what I have to work with. I originally was thinking of building something like a Sawtooth XL, but the more I look at the traditional TDs the more I like those. Maybe I'll come up with a plan soon and can get started.
BTW, I did read this whole thread and have learned much. I have only read a couple of the build journals and plan to get started reading more to help make a choice in my design. I'm looking forward to being a part of the group.

[Wolffarmer]

You read the whole thing????? There should be a t shirt someplace for people that read the whole thing.

I found in the fire that the foam sort of melts long before it burns.

In there was an old refrigerator from the 50's, or earlier. I kept some filters, oil, grease, parts and plastic things. It was right next to the hottest part of the fire. A 12 ton press about a foot from it had the paint burned off. Walls and shelves next to it gone. On the shelves was gallons of oil, paint, wood finish to burn. I opened the fridge to see the damage and there was almost none. I can even keep using the fridge for storage. Grease or plastics had not melted. Fiberglass insulation I suppose as it would not melt and let heat in. Strange things like that. To bad it wasn't the house. Then I would not need to worry about cleaning it.

On top of the fridge there was a box with a new set of brake shoes. Box gone but the shoes look just fine. Heck I would use them .If the car they are for runs again.