ultra lightweight floating popup camper

Design & Construction of anything that's not a teardrop e.g. Grasshoppers or Sunspots

Postby Esteban » Wed Dec 31, 2008 7:35 pm

birddog1148 wrote:Do you think the delamination would have ocoured if he had used a light colored paint as opposed to the dark color he chose?

Gaston would need to be the one to answer that. As best as I recall he said there's a crack between the side walls and fenders and that once the weather cooled the bulging fiberglass flattened out again. In the cool weather under the redwoods at IRG I didn't see any bulging.

A little off topic - I plan to use white paint over the outer fiberglass skin atop the plywood walls, roof and hatch of my teardrop to reflect heat better than a darker color would on hot sunny days. On my TD the epoxy/fiberglass is well embedded into the plywood so no bulging or delamination is expected. Perhaps the epoxy saturated divots where the outer plywood skin was stapled to the wood frame will give extra anchoring to the fiberglass skin of my TD.
Steve - SLO, CA
Esteban
Donating Member
 
Posts: 1684
Images: 15
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2006 4:39 pm
Location: California, San Luis Obispo

Postby angib » Thu Jan 01, 2009 11:12 am

coal_burner wrote:One thing i noticed while testing some of the 1" by 6" pieces that i cut off the top of BUB's base is that they were about 5 times as strong as my original test samples.

Or, looking at it another way, what you were really testing was fiberglass channel sections that happened to have some foam inside the channel. It's no surprise that with the fiberglass connecting the two skins, the channel was so much stronger.

KTM, those are some useful tests you've reported. As expected the weak strength of the pink foam means it's not a useful structural core - though it's a decent insulation core.

But like you say, finishing a glass-skinned sandwich is a lot of work - plywood is wonderful that it comes ready-made with a nearly-finished surface on either side! And if you're going to use ply skins, why bother with the glass? One more sandwich that you might try is ply-corecell-ply with thickened epoxy as the glue.

Andrew
User avatar
angib
5000 Club
5000 Club
 
Posts: 5783
Images: 231
Joined: Fri Apr 30, 2004 2:04 pm
Location: (Olde) England

popped up pics

Postby coal_burner » Wed May 13, 2009 9:57 am

The whole extended family went to my parents blueberry farm to help with this year's planting. I could either sleep on the floor in the 70' housetrailer with a half dozen other people, or bring BUB... The choice was obvious.


I've been too busy to build a door for BUB so a HF tarp gets clamped to the roof. At night, a 3 foot tall piece of plywood gets clamped over the bottom of the doorway to keep curious critters out.
Image

Image

Image


yeah it's a mess but it's a queen sized mess.
if tou look closely at the upper left and right sides of the picture you can see the 3 foot long 2 by 4s wedged in place to hold the cap up.
Image

It got down to a breezy 38 degrees F at night, and even with only a 500 watt heater and a leaky tarp for a door, it was still comfortable sleeping weather inside.
We may have philosophy and opposable thumbs, but most humans show all the wisdom of starved raccoons. It's amazing that more of us aren't found flattened on the side of our own roads.
the original bub build thread http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19227
User avatar
coal_burner
Teardrop Advisor
 
Posts: 75
Images: 92
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:08 am
Location: Berkley, Michigan
Top

Postby Micro469 » Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:39 pm

BUMP>>>>BUMP>>>>BUMP>>>> Where ya at now???? Any progress???? :thinking: :thinking: :thinking:
John
Image
User avatar
Micro469
Super Lifetime Member
 
Posts: 3185
Images: 382
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:46 pm
Location: Brampton,Ontario,Canada
Top

Postby Micro469 » Thu Jul 02, 2009 10:39 pm

BUMP>>>>BUMP>>>>BUMP>>>> Where ya at now???? Any progress???? :thinking: :thinking: :thinking:
John
Image
User avatar
Micro469
Super Lifetime Member
 
Posts: 3185
Images: 382
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:46 pm
Location: Brampton,Ontario,Canada
Top

no bub updates. too busy

Postby coal_burner » Sun Jul 05, 2009 12:09 pm

BUB is taking a back seat to this summers project. I'm adding 1,100 square feet to my house.
Image
the right side of the picture shows my original roofline, the left half shows my new roofline.

Image
Thats me standing under what is going to be a 17 foot cathedral ceiling.

BTW does anyone know of a football team in the greater Detroit area that i could borrow to help me raise my back wall?
We may have philosophy and opposable thumbs, but most humans show all the wisdom of starved raccoons. It's amazing that more of us aren't found flattened on the side of our own roads.
the original bub build thread http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19227
User avatar
coal_burner
Teardrop Advisor
 
Posts: 75
Images: 92
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:08 am
Location: Berkley, Michigan
Top

rigidity

Postby charlesshoults » Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:30 pm

What do you think of the rigidity of your foam and fiberglass? I started looking at roof-top tents today and while the Maggiolina Extreme is a nice looking unit and presumably durable, I'm not interesting in paying $2600 for one. From their specifications, the upper and lower shells are constructed of marine-grade fiberglass with a foam core.
My thought is blue or pink foam sheets from Lowes, layered, glued and contoured to the desired shape along with grooves and ridges for strength, then three layers of fiberglass and three layers of gelcoat. All-in-all, it would still be a few hundred dollars to complete, but much cheaper than the real deal.

Image
charlesshoults
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2009 10:07 am
Location: Sidney, Nebraska
Top

Postby coal_burner » Thu Jul 30, 2009 10:24 am

The rigidity of BUB's rooftop is fantastic. When bub was collapsed to travel home from my last trip, I stood my 200LB self on the roof right in the center of bub. The family said that there was less than an inch of deflection across the entire five and a half foot wide span.

I've had about 75 pounds of miscellaneous stuff setting on BUB's roof for months on end with no apparent effect. If you wanted more rigidity than that, you could put more than BUB's 2 layers of cloth on each side.

Ridges are pretty hard to do when using cloth as thick as the stuff i used. While wetting out, the cloth tries to convert many sharp ridges into one big bubbly bow. I think that the bow that i put into BUB's roof is the right choice for a roof. The grooves and ridges in the Maggiolina Extreme are only there because it is a straight fiberglass(not composite) structure.

(NOTE) When using the pink or blue foam, you must paint the roof a light reflective surface. otherwise there will be a lot of foam/fiberglass delamination occurring when it heats up under intense sunlight.
We may have philosophy and opposable thumbs, but most humans show all the wisdom of starved raccoons. It's amazing that more of us aren't found flattened on the side of our own roads.
the original bub build thread http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19227
User avatar
coal_burner
Teardrop Advisor
 
Posts: 75
Images: 92
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:08 am
Location: Berkley, Michigan
Top

Postby darkghost » Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:01 pm

bump was woundering whats new with BUB
darkghost
Teardrop Inspector
 
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2008 1:22 am
Top

Postby pete42 » Wed Mar 10, 2010 12:15 am

I just finished reading all the post and am amazed with the build.
great job.
I built an all fiberglass airplane designed by Burt Rutan called VER-EZ.
One of the first pieces you are taught to build is a test piece, made from green foam that comes with the kit. It was about 12 inches long and 1 inch wide with the top edges rounded over. bidirection and unidirection fiberglass was used to cover the foam the fiberglass bottom was about 2 inches wide wetted out laying on wax paper then the foam was applied leaving about 1/2 inch on either side. The top was fiberglassed over the foam and out over the bottom fiberglass it was allowed to dry and then it was subjected to a strength test I and others could not break the piece. with out hitting it with a sledgehammer. the foam core only gives shape and adds no strength to the work. some people built the gas tanks by cutting and sanding to shape fiberglassing the shape then drilled a hole poured in gasoline and melted the foam all that was left was a tank for the gas.
cutting groves into the foam to add strength is not needed.
when I built my front wing it was placed between two milk crates and I in my stocking feet stood on the wing I weight over 200 lbs, it didnot bend.
so a sandwitch of foam covered with fiberglass would be over strong for a trailer. remember scamp trailers are only 1/4 inch thick with no substrate.
again nice build :thumbsup:
User avatar
pete42
Super Lifetime Member
 
Posts: 2203
Images: 13
Joined: Sat Nov 07, 2009 11:52 am
Location: SouthWest Ohio
Top

Postby Vindi_andy » Wed Jun 16, 2010 10:12 am

So glad I found this thread. I am looking at building a traditional shape tear using axactly this method.

Reading your build and subsequent usage and "testing" has given me a lot more confidence.

Kennyray and glass ice have also given their input regarding structural strengths etc but there nothing like reading something where there are some real life tests i.e. you standing on the roof not that I plan on doing that but it gives me a good idea as to how strong things are that I can relate to
Boys never grow in to men the toys just get more expensive and more dangerous

How true :)
User avatar
Vindi_andy
Teardrop Master
 
Posts: 176
Images: 49
Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 10:13 am
Location: Leicestershire, UK
Top

Postby kennyrayandersen » Mon Jul 05, 2010 12:22 am

Vindi_andy wrote:So glad I found this thread. I am looking at building a traditional shape tear using axactly this method.

Reading your build and subsequent usage and "testing" has given me a lot more confidence.

Kennyray and glass ice have also given their input regarding structural strengths etc but there nothing like reading something where there are some real life tests i.e. you standing on the roof not that I plan on doing that but it gives me a good idea as to how strong things are that I can relate to


Actually I just spotted this thread myself and am glad you bumped it up (or I might not have seen it). There was some really good and also practical information about the build. I’m evolving my own thoughts on how to do this as new information comes in. I too was thinking about closing everything out with wood, but now I’m starting to think that maybe a bit overkill (actually I think Andrew suggested that was the case earlier, but the woodworker in me has a hard time letting go!) and so just putting some back-up structure (wood) where the body attaches to the frame (ala Andrew’s Pico frame), just around the door and a 1X1 around the periphery might be plenty.

It is tempting to use a bit of 1/8 inch plywood for the floor – I’m thinking of doing a test by using my knee on the fiberglass sandwich to determine the minimum for compression (local). It probably wouldn’t be that bad anyway since there will be a mattress down, but if it will satisfy that test then it will surely be OK with the mattress down between you knee and the composite and the plywood won’t be necessary. I think for someone wanting light-weight construction without having to do all of the fiberglass work the 1/8 plywood would be an excellent option (1/8â€
User avatar
kennyrayandersen
1000 Club
1000 Club
 
Posts: 1750
Images: 38
Joined: Sun Apr 29, 2007 10:27 pm
Location: TX
Top

any news?

Postby cappy208 » Sun Aug 08, 2010 7:04 pm

How is the popup floating camper coming? You left off with the roof addition to your house.

Any more progress or thoughts?

I am in the middle of designing an aluminum frame, 1" thick walls, with a lifting top, and folding sidewalls. My only dilemma is how to lift the roof. How have you dealt with the roof? I see you simply manually lifted it. Do you have plans to make a mechanical or pneumatic lift for the roof?

Thanks for the reply
User avatar
cappy208
Teardrop Builder
 
Posts: 36
Images: 1
Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Cape Cod Ma.
Top

Re: ultra lightweight floating popup camper

Postby coal_burner » Sun May 20, 2012 8:50 am

BUB still sits in the garage, un-worked on.
the prius i now drive is big enough to sleep 2 comfortably but gets horrible fuel economy (35mpg) towing bub.
if anyone is interested in purchasing BUB to finish, or for parts, i'm hoping to sell him for the $350 i have invested in torsion axle, tongue, LED lights, and plate.
if nobody is interested i'll probable sawzall the body apart and put him on the curb over the course of several weeks.
We may have philosophy and opposable thumbs, but most humans show all the wisdom of starved raccoons. It's amazing that more of us aren't found flattened on the side of our own roads.
the original bub build thread http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=19227
User avatar
coal_burner
Teardrop Advisor
 
Posts: 75
Images: 92
Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:08 am
Location: Berkley, Michigan
Top

Re: ultra lightweight floating popup camper

Postby mezmo » Mon May 21, 2012 12:04 am

Hi coal burner,

Since you were on here doing your build, a Foamie section was started for
those trying to build with foam.

I put a link to your build in the main thread there mentioning you were planning to sell BUB,
or break it up if it doesn't sell [God forbid!].

viewtopic.php?f=55&t=39373&start=4320

It'd be a shame to lose one of the initial Foamies. Maybe someone can rescue
it.

Why don't you put it in the 'For Sale/Wanted" section too.

viewforum.php?f=18

It's light weight should draw interest from the community interested in small
lightweight campers, and other incomplete builds have sold before on there.

Good luck with the sale.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmi
If you have a house - you have a hobby.
User avatar
mezmo
1000 Club
1000 Club
 
Posts: 1817
Images: 194
Joined: Fri Jan 01, 2010 4:11 am
Location: Columbia, SC
Top

PreviousNext

Return to Non-traditional Designs

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests