foams and there structural strengths

[angib]

...an article I saw years and years ago in Popular Mechanics ( I think! ) They built a car that looked similar to a Delorean out of glass wrapped foam with plywood bulkheads.

That might have been the Tri-Magnum from designer RQ Riley. One guy in the US kit car industry once suggested he thought the ratio of these designs started and finished was at least 100 to 1 - successful builders seem to take several years to get it done and an awful lot more give up along the way.

RQ Riley isn't using the foam as a core, but just as a buck on which to laminate the body. The hours involved in getting a decent surface finish on this type of build method are truly scary. It makes hand sanding seventeen coats of varnish on a wood body look like an easy way out.....

Andrew

[Tx River Rat]

I did some Rand D on a commercail project a few years ago that used foam covered in epoxy and cloth.
We made a machind that punched a hole about the size of a 6 penny nail every six inches on the foam, it really increased the holding power of the epoxy ,helped with delamination the whole panel was much stronger.
You could take a piece of plywood a foot square drive your nail therough it and then just work the surface of the foam a little at a time untio you have the whole surface covered , put on a heavy coat of epoxy to wet the surface down then aply your cloth.
A couple more places to look are on the Texas safari website ,they had a story there about a 6 man race canoe that was built from foam and raced in the yukon river race ,also check into home built airplanes they use a lot of foam composites
Ron

[RepairmanJack]

We made a machind that punched a hole about the size of a 6 penny nail every six inches on the foam, it really increased the holding power of the epoxy ,helped with delamination the whole panel was much stronger.
Ron

Hi Ron
Thanks! Cool idea with the hole punching! I'm actually thinking of shaping the structure with the foam core with minimal framing ( as little as seems feasible ) A couple of layers of fibre glass on the outside and single coat on the inside with 1/8 paneling on the interior. I'm pretty sure that it should be more than structurally sound enough to handle the road etc. I'm only thinking of doing this as I would like to have a little more freedom with the exterior contours - to hopefully carry the lines of the tow vehicle into the trailers overall shape.
Jack