Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[Fiddlin'Billy]

Congratulations on making it thru the big thread and welcome to the forums!

You can, in fact, select and go straight to any particular page of a large thread, just click on the "page XX of XXX" indicator in the header and it will open a window that you can input the page number you want to go to.

Geez, I had no idea. I wonder how many other forums I visit have that feature.

[GPW]

KC, that’s Cool !!! Thanks !!!

Billy , you’re more than welcome to do any testing you can imagine , just Please tell us your results… In the beginning ,as you know , a lot of people thought that Foam trailers were impossible and were going to implode if driven over 20 mph . It’s only by TESTING Everything that has kept this Foamie idea alive and proven it’s Reliability and practically …
Not to mention , it’s cheaper , easier to build , and tows like almost nothing is there.

[spacer]

I still have a lot of reading through this thread, but a couple things got me thinking...

I'm still at the point where I have some options. A foam teardrop seems like an ideal solution to my HHR's low tow rating. It gets about 26 mpg on average, day to day.
I'm not sure how much that mileage would suffer towing even a light teardrop. I think I would keep the front relatively high, at or just slightly above the roof of the car, and taper normally off the back.
I would hope my economy wouldn't suffer much at all, except of course in start/stop traffic, where it's all about weight.

My Suburban, on the other hand, gets about 16 mpg, mixed city/highway, though I can edge closer to 20 if I spend more time on the highway. If I can build a larger foamie teardrop with the same sort of design as
I was considering for my HHR, it seems that I might be able to get away with a very small loss of economy, even staying above the level of your average conversion van or 'boxy' camper... the latter would probably put me
just barely into two-digit range. I know this would be less of an issue if I'm only transporting myself to useful places on occasion, but I am thinking about some longer trips in which gas, even as relatively cheap as it is now, would be a major
expense.


Thoughts? It'd be bigger than the ones I've seen in here so far, but not horribly so. I'm thinking about 5' vertical inside, and whatever length I can find a deal on a trailer for.

In the meantime, I have over 400 pages left to go back and read... unless someone's condensed the useful bits into something more compact.

[GPW]

Spacer , we think it’s all been useful … Good Luck , good reading …

[John61CT]

MPG won't increase much, only if it fits in the slipstream.

Going to the guzzler TV and a bigger tear will cost you a fair bit on those very long higher speed trips. Assume 5mpg increase and do the math.

Only you can judge if that trade off is worth the extra comfort.

[spacer]

Yeah, that's the thing.

Seems like the smartest idea is to get rid of my two "extremes", and find some middle ground, like a Tacoma or Colorado.

I really hate buying and selling anything, particularly vehicles, but sometimes you find yourself in a spot where ya just gotta jump.

[John61CT]

I'd say build a superlight foamie see how you go with the HHR.

Make it look nice you can sell it if you decide you really need to go bigger.

[GPW]

Anybody tried the new spray Gorilla Glue ? …. says Foam

[tac422]

I'm still at the point where I have some options. A foam teardrop seems like an ideal solution to my HHR's low tow rating. It gets about 26 mpg on average, day to day.
I'm not sure how much that mileage would suffer towing even a light teardrop.

My HHR tows the Big Pink really well. It weighs just about 1000 lbs. Mileage doesn't suffer to bad.

[jondbar628]

Hmmm....Spraying G.G.?........What are you pondering GPW? Are you thinking as a glue for bonding, or as a finish coat ala Rowerwet's buddy who used it as a finish on a kayak? Either way, it seems like it would be very tricky to accomplish. MAybe 80% (or more) mineral spirits to 20% G.G.? Then have to be in a decently controlled environment, humidity-wise for an acceptable cure. If you're talking finish, you obviously don't want expansion & foaming. Interesting concept though. Could provide a more durable, paintable finish to PMF. May want to contact the GG manufacturer to put a bug in their ear. Cheap(ish), durable, paintable sparay-on finish for a multitude of applications........ Then again, if you're going to that trouble, maybe just use epoxy.......So much to consider ......jd
OK........I guess I misread your post. GG has a spray available? Haven't seen it......Boy do I feel dumber than usual.........jd

[GPW]

We just wanted to know if anybody tried it ?  …. we did try the Gorilla Tape and it’s EXCELLENT ...

[DaddyJeep]

I finally made it to the end. That seemed like it took me forever, but I am pretty confident that between this monster and the advice I have received in my build thread I have a pretty good idea how to move forward. Now I just need to get through Christmas and I can get started.

[GPW]

DJ , Well Done and Good Luck !!! Help is always available for the asking !!! Please send pictures as you go ..

[DaddyJeep]

DJ , Well Done and Good Luck !!! Help is always available for the asking !!! Please send pictures as you go ..

I will certainly have lots of pics in my build. This might be mt first build on this forum, but I have builds out there on other forums for my Jeep, my truck, and some of our RC rock crawlers.

[GPW]

OK, we’d like to see pics of those too … around here we all love the