Thrifty Alternatives ..Building Foam Campers

[eaglesdare]

[

please excuse me if I'm out of line here, but you said you drove towing the foamy home from your trip right? why not hook it up and take it to the scale by yourself, or with your son?

I'm really curious of the weight too

no problems.
yes i did drive it home. but someone else hooked it up to the car. all li did was drive. and i hate to admit this, but i would not be comfortable enough to do it alone at the weigh station, too many big rigs pull in there. this is just something i won't do on my own. i can't life the tongue on my own, i mean i could, it is light, but i am not suppose to life anything heavy for a while. i had surgery in march. i dont want to push that part of it either. trying to be good so i don't have to visit the doc again.

[GPW]

Eagle , you have the invoice for your trailer ?... shipping weight should be on there... We'll just calculate the weight and save you a trip (gas) and all the hassle (hubby) ... Bet we can come close enough ... few pounds either way won't matter ...

[eaglesdare]

Eagle , you have the invoice for your trailer ?... shipping weight should be on there... We'll just calculate the weight and save you a trip (gas) and all the hassle (hubby) ... Bet we can come close enough ... few pounds either way won't matter ...

gpw, read 2 threads up. info is there. the trailer is 265 lbs.

[GPW]

OK, That's good ... 265 lbs plus a sheet of plywood , sat @ 50 lbs .. that's 315 right there... How many sheets of foam ???

Yes , PLEASE do take it easy and get well !!!

[Wobbly Wheels]

I normally just lurk and steal ideas *evil laugh*, but I wanted to poke my head in and say thanks for all the info and the pics. I picked up a tent trailer a while ago and fixed it up to use it as is this summer and in the fall I'll start tearing it down.

My last trailer project was steel stud and 1/4" ply but, based on this project, I think I'm going to do foam on this one instead. I'm towing with a 4cyl truck, so getting a full-headroom trailer (my design is similar to GPW's sketch) light enough for my truck to pull means that all I need to deal with is frontal area.

Couple questions though....
Does it have enough weight to behave itself on washboards and in side-winds or does it feel like it would jump around ?
Mine will be quite a bit taller

As yours is built, does it seem like it would be rigid enough to hold up to logging roads or would the corner joints vibrate themselves apart ?

[GPW]

I'll find out about the washboards pretty soon ... my dirt road is washboarded and potholed so bad , it's like an off road course.. That will be a good test ... and if you have real heavy springs , it will probably bounce a bit without adding some weight .. camping gear , igloo , all that will help most likely .. I think you'd just want to drive at a Slower speed over a rough or logging road ... Maybe go with one of those torsion axles for the supposedly softer ride at any weight , or so says their advertising ... but it seems they're about 3 times the price of the old spring axle... Thinking the less mass of the trailer would be an advantage ... and the foam and cloth is more flexible than wood would be ..

Searching around found the 2X4X8 sheet of 2" styrofoam is about 10 pounds ... That makes it easy ..

[GPW]

Just figuring (guesstimating) Eagle used 5 sheets of foam =50lbs. so we're up to 365# now , and then I weighed a gallon of T2 which is 13.5 lbs .. so eagle used what , Four gallons ... that's another 54#... so that's roughly 420#... the little wood and canvas,paint, etc. probably another 50 # so that brings us somewhere in the neighborhood of 500lbs... That's my Guess
Hmmm ??? That seems pretty LIGHT , and Eagle's TD is wider than the usual 4 footer.. so add another 50#-100# as a fudge factor ...
At that kind of weight , we could even go with the lighter trailers ... but there might be a point of diminishing returns as far as the quality of towing ...

[eaglesdare]

Just figuring (guesstimating) Eagle used 5 sheets of foam =50lbs. so we're up to 365# now , and then I weighed a gallon of T2 which is 13.5 lbs .. so eagle used what , Four gallons ... that's another 54#... so that's roughly 420#... the little wood and canvas,paint, etc. probably another 50 # so that brings us somewhere in the neighborhood of 500lbs... That's my Guess
Hmmm ??? That seems pretty LIGHT , and Eagle's TD is wider than the usual 4 footer.. so add another 50#-100# as a fudge factor ...
At that kind of weight , we could even go with the lighter trailers ... but there might be a point of diminishing returns as far as the quality of towing ...

i used less than 2 sheets of the 2" stuff on the sides. we cut up some 1" stuff for the roof. but total is probably 1 sheet of 1" foam. s take away 5lbs. LOL

when its empty, it makes a horrible rattling sound on the tongue. but when loaded, that sounds goes away. i am not too sure how it would handle on off road type roads/paths. but we do have a stip of wood on each side on the insded that runs front to back. sort of like a base board. the foam is glued and i think screwed into that also. added support. that is a thin piece of wood though. the thinking on that was to prevent folks from leaning on it and eventually moving the foam.

i would think if you use something like that in yours it will do ok on bad roads and go slow. lol

about those side winds, i know when we were camping we had a bad storm hit us and the winds were aweful. my camper did not move. the only movement felt was when one of us insde did some tossing and turning. but nothing from the winds.

i was worried about that wind factor also when going over the bridge. but i am using cinch straps to add more seurity to hold to frame. i do not think it will be a problem, but i still worry abit about that. if i can get over that nose bleed bridge withou it blowing off, then it will pass the test for me.

now having something a bit taller, well i might have to go back to being worried

build yours and let us know!

[GPW]

Wow !! It may be even Lighter ????

[lm248]

Four gallons ... that's another 54#... so that's roughly 420#...

Buuuut when the T11 dries wouldn't it weigh less??????
It looks to me like there is a lot of liquid that would be gone when it dries,

Or am I being dense????
Les

[eaglesdare]

Four gallons ... that's another 54#... so that's roughly 420#...

Buuuut when the T11 dries wouldn't it weigh less??????
It looks to me like there is a lot of liquid that would be gone when it dries,

Or am I being dense????
Les

hmm, would that be like dry noodles vs cooked wet noodles? the dry verseion is a lot less weight. if so, that would make the tear weight even less on the approx.

[lm248]

hmm, would that be like dry noodles vs cooked wet noodles? the dry verseion is a lot less weight. if so, that would make the tear weight even less on the approx.

I would think that anything that had liquid in it would weigh less when it dries,,,,
Les

[GPW]

Only one way to put an end to the guessing ..... To the scales ....

[GPW]

Just another drawing for a bigger Foamie ... with a potty and shower ...

[Ratkity]

I think the larger foamie would have a few issues with side to side motion. The smaller profile that eagle has is perfect. I think making it a 6 wide would be a great alternative to added room.

Hugs,
Ratkity