So, I think I have a plan that will work for a foamie camper shell that will easily remove from my utility trailer if I ever want to haul anything. I know, the holy grail and all, but I think I really have it!
I am a SAHD, and drive a 1981 Pontiac Bonneville Safari station wagon as my DD, and as my TV. We try to take at least one major road trip every year, or a couple minor road trips if we can't get a big one in. So far, we have visited 36 states in the station wagon, and are planning on visiting all 49 before we're done, (maybe even Hawaii...)
When we had 2 and 3 kids, they sat in the middle seat of the wagon, and we had the whole back for storage. We just had #4 in the fall though, so now we have two kids in the way back, and two in the middle.
This really cuts down on our storage room, especially for big things like the cooler, canopies, tents, etc... Also, we now have luggage for 4 kids and 1-2 adults, which adds up.
The most reasonable course of action is to build or buy a teardrop camper to give us more storage room, and also to let us camp in even more locations and conditions. Given the fact that my station wagon only has the Olds 307 motor, which was never a powerhouse, I was limited by the amount of weight I could reasonably pull up a mountain with a loaded station wagon. This is mostly what drew me to the idea of building myself a foamie.
After reading a BUNCH of builds on here, and seeing the results, I told my wife about it, and she was cool with me building one.
First issue to address was the trailer. I wanted an all-aluminum trailer for a number of reasons. First, being weight. I wanted this trailer to be as long and as wide as I could, yet still be super light. Second, I didn't want to have to mess with rust and rust protection of the steel, or wood rotting and trying to prevent my floor from getting wet. I already have a 36-year old car that I have to deal with rust issues with, and I didn't want a trailer doing the same.
After extensive searches online, I finally found a single company who builds an all-aluminum trailer, that was at least 5 feet wide and at least 8 feet long.
Silverwing Trailers. They are out of Utah, but you can buy their trailers through Costco online, with free shipping! It comes to you boxed and packaged on a pallet, and you have to bolt it together, but it is super easy to do.
I wasn't sure how I was going to attach the foam to the aluminum flooring, because I wasn't sure I wanted to start putting a bunch of holes in the trailer.