Foamie td for ev across Canada

[Foamietdforev]

Hi from Saltspring Island on the west coast of Canada. I have been thinking about a td for the past year. The idea is to build an ultra light td to tow behind our ev and do a 3 month trip from coast to coast ( and back again hopefully). Want to keep it super light and low to help with range but will keep the traditional td look. I have reviewed a lot from this forum already but some of the posts are rather old which in some cases would be good if the writers could let us / me know how things have held up. Plan on using almost all foam with as little wood or other structural material as possible. Exterior will be pmf or fiberglass or .03 aluminum sheet glued directly to foam. Interior formica and door skin again glued directly. My concerns are as follows
Pmf seems easier to work with then fiberglass but will it hold up glued directly and in our humid wet climate. Also what kind of impact resistance does it have.
Fiberglass costly and looks messy. Glue seems to jump out of the tube on to me at the best of time so this could be a nightmare
Aluminum how to glue especially with its expansion. I have built a 39 ft offshore sailboat out of aluminum and know how much it expands and contracts.
I have seen Lucy's utube on her td build for a vespa where she tests glues. She really likes the foam fusion unfortunately I can't easily get it here but will if it's the thing to use. I have tested epoxy with silica and that seems to bond foam to foam very well but will it stay that way ie go brittle. Have also tested 3m super 77 and it works well on aluminum and door skin but seems to stay tacky and enough force will pull layers apart. So to review
1. Pmf directly to foam
A. Does it work and is it long-term ?
B impact resistant ?
2. Aluminum how to stick it and do I have to worry about expansion on a 8 ft length?
3 Epoxy will it stay stuck to foam and not go brittle both as a foam to foam joint and an exterior cover with fiberglass?
Well that's more then enough for now if anyone reads this thanks inadvance and thanks for this forum and to all the contributors for their ideas and suggestions cheers

[Pmullen503]

The adhesion tests kind of miss the point. The main purpose of the canvas is to add tensile strength to the foam. There is so much surface area in the direction that matters that the strength of the bond in the peel test really doesn't tell you much.

My foamie is over 10 years old, lives outside in Wisconsin, and is still going. The methods worked out over time work. No need to make it more complicated or expensive.

Use glue or primer and enough latex paint to completely fill the canvas. If you want more dent resistance, use a heavier canvas.

[TimC]

10 ounce canvas is very tough and easy to work with. I've used it on three TDs and have had very good results. Make sure you have scored the foam and liberally applied glue to the surface before applying the canvas.

I'm taking my latest foamie, which weighs about 700 lbs, on a road trip of about 1200 miles to southern Indiana for the April 8th eclipse. I have plenty of time and will be towing with my '23 VW ID.4. Published range is about 275 miles. Real world is undetermined as I just picked it up in November (winter is not a good time to determine its warm weather range) and when towing I am guessing I'm going to lose about 30% of range. So I'm looking at around 200 miles range. At least three charging sessions on the way there and again on the way back home. If I think of it when I return I'll post range results.

Different EV (which a deer took care of in October) towing the new foamie 4x8...


After the deer...

[Foamietdforev]

Ouch looks like it is / was a22 kona. I just took my sister to a dealer and she put a deposit on a 24 kona ev today. I had a deposit on an ioniq 5 last spring but the delivery date kept getting moved back and a nissan ariya came available so we bought it. I would be very interested in your range towing. I have heard a third lost but hoping not that much. Your design looks a lot like what I'm planning. I like the look of the curve on the front bottom but just takes away too much room and I'm 6 5. Thanks for the reply and advice.

[TimC]

'21 Kona. Only 18k miles on it when that deer decided to run in front of three oncoming cars traveling south and me going north. I was blinded by the oncoming lights enough to be looking down at the white line on the right side of the road and bang. I dont know how the lead southbound car missed it. My first deer in 47 years of driving. The air bag hit me. I felt it for sure. It knocked the wind out of me but wasn't painful as some folks have experienced. I rolled to a stop on the shoulder just barely off the road and that was that. No ignition. Luckily the hazard flashers worked until the county cop arrived then everything went dead.

I really liked that car. Somebody has a great 62kW battery pack with a lot of years left on it to power their home. I couldn't find a reasonably priced replacement so began considering other models. The ID.4 has about 25 more range miles, is more comfy, quieter and is easier to keep warm in the winter. Towing capacity is about 2k lbs. It's a RWD model.

I don't know how cross Canada charging stations are spread out. Hopefully better than my area. Once I get about 50 miles south or across the Mackinac bridge that improves.

[TimC]

1300 miles... traveled from home through Chicago (I-294) and on to Spring Mill State Park, Indiana. Then on the return traveling through Bloomington, IL, Rockford, Madison, Appleton and home. I took the long route home after a nightmare traveling through southwest Chicago and NW Indiana. 80 miles took 3 1/2 hours!

Anywho, my range wasn't great towing my 750# TD. Averaged from 2.3 to 2.5 miles miles/kW. Wind was fierce from Appleton, WI to home so my range suffered even more. The VW ID.4's battery is about 77 kW (advertised 275 mile range). So 177 miles per charge. I adopted a strategy to stop at every high capacity DC charger that I could, even if it was only 80 miles from the last. On the way home I charged at Champaign, Bloomington, Rockford and Madison. Spent a few days at my daughter's plugged into a wall outlet and with the wind yesterday I had to stop in Crivitz, WI.

Not ideal. EVs are not for everyone. I had the time and was not in any kind of hurry. I'm a kind of "stop and smell the roses" guy. Traveling on my own so I don't have to listen to complaints from my better half about all the stops. At least until I call on the way and face the questions about where I was.

So foamietdforever, if you are traveling across Canada plan to take your time, take advantage of each DC charger along the way and chill out. Do not limit yourself to going close to your range as you will find a charger not working and may get stuck. Even though I don't consider myself an "Early adopter" or an expert I do want to describe my EV towing experience in the real world accurately.