Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

saywhatthat wrote:might I suggest you take a small piece of chipboard and see if the mixed will soak in.
I thought you were planning to use those glass foam panels that sure would be nice, all you need to do is just join the two pieces together cut-out you're shape and you're damn near done.
if he was within a day's Drive of here I go get everyone that he had Could probably finish trailer pod probably ever 25 to 30 hours

It’s a 540 mile round trip to get those, unfortunately. Way to much driving for a day for me with my health issues, especially as I’d have to pull a trailer to pick it up. I’d spend over $120 just in gas, so even though those panels are cheap, I’d have too much tied up in gas and my time.

In the Facebook foamie camper group, a number of the posters there are using multiple layers of basic brown coast paper. One guy over there summed up his findings after three years of experimenting:

saywhatthat wrote:might I suggest you take a small piece of chipboard and see if the mixed will soak in.

I thought GPW did that experiment a few years ago. My recollection is that because the chipboard is made of cellulose fibers just like paper or wood, the Mix does soak up into it and is effective.

OBS is referred to as chipboard which is held together with resin but I guess there's also the cardboard one

The " chipboard " we use is the same kind of cardboard material as the back of a writing tablet ( does anybody write on paper anymore ? ) It comes in various thicknesses , is very economical and easy to work with , and once coated with the Mix , becomes not only waterproof , but pretty Tough material that doesn't split or delaminate ... Plus it glues very well to foam , T2 works great , and then after glued on , the mix can be applied without affecting the attachment glue ... Going on ten years now, the FoamStream living outside has been a great test of materials over a long time ... Well tested..
Kraft paper is merely a thinner version of chipboard so I can see the logic . I do still believe a well painted fabric outer skin is the way to go , even bedsheets ... JMHO FWIW.

I see the logic behind using chip board but getting a few big sheets isn't easy. You'll always have at least one seam. The largest sheets I've found is 4x4.

I was thinking that kraft paper might be easier to get and by laying multiple layers, you wouldn't have to worry about seams between panels. A 1000' x 36" roll is only $40.

There’s also “builders paper” which seems to be basic kraft paper, but maybe heavier?

Builders paper is coated I believe to make it water resistant. Might be hard to glue.

A motorcycle trailer has two wheels flat on the pavement, but the motorcycle needs to be able to lean in corners, so they put swivel hitches on motorcycle trailers. The gold standard for swivel hitches is the Helms hitch, which looks like this:

Unfortunately new swivel hitches cost $150-$250, and I only paid a little more than that for this trailer. After extensive searching I found a website outlining a diy swivel hitch explanation. It looks to be a quite satisfactory version of a Helm swivel hitch:

The parts are a Category 1 tractor top link and a long large 3/4” bolt. I found them for $30 at Rural King yesterday. Today I picked up some 2”x2” 11g steel box tubing to replace the current tongue with a longer one and have a 4’ cross piece at the front to mount the foamie camper floor on left over.

On the Facebook foamie camper group, someone mentioned a commercial mini camper trailer, the Helio He3s, that is towed with motorcycles and subcompact cars. I had never seen one before, but this is eaxectly the general shape and size of the Foamie camper I’ve been designing in my head, with a 4x6.5’ floor plan.

I already have the forms for curved panels for my vardo style Foamie and I’ve completed the three roof panels for it, so making the curved roof panel for this style won’t be difficult.

Unfortunately my Honda Silverwing was stored unused for five years by the previous owner, and after I put 150 miles on it, the fuel tank developed a hole in the bottom. Apparently water in the tank combined with long storage and disuse caused the bottom of the tank to rust through from the inside out. The fuel tank on a maxi scooter is at the bottom of the frame between your feet, covered by body panels.I’m no mechanic! So I’ve spent all my free time lately learning maxi scooter mechanics instead of building foamies, tearing out and reinstalling w gas tank and replacing everything else I possibly could on the Honda. Hopefully I’ll have it all back together and on the road early this week so I can get back to building my foamies.

Those glassed foam panels are probably your best bet for a floor, I can't think of anything that could be built that light and strong.

Looks like an interesting project.

JasenC wrote:Those glassed foam panels are probably your best bet for a floor, I can't think of anything that could be built that light and strong.

Looks like an interesting project.

They’re still available:
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/it ... 23527b453b

I guess it might be worth the 500 mile round trip to pick some up. If I do I’ll probably buy enough to build the walls out of this stuff too.

I poked around out of curiosity, I found some 1.5" for $500 a sheet, might be a toss up with current fuel prices.
Maybe you could have a few sheet freighted down, might be a reasonable freight fee seeing they are light and not bulky.

You could spline a couple pieces together with a 6-8" strip or two of 1/4" plywood

JasenC wrote:I poked around out of curiosity, I found some 1.5" for $500 a sheet, might be a toss up with current fuel prices.
Maybe you could have a few sheet freighted down, might be a reasonable freight fee seeing they are light and not bulky.

You could spline a couple pieces together with a 6-8" strip or two of 1/4" plywood

What exactly is this stuff? What was it used for originally?

BrianInVA wrote:

JasenC wrote:I poked around out of curiosity, I found some 1.5" for $500 a sheet, might be a toss up with current fuel prices.
Maybe you could have a few sheet freighted down, might be a reasonable freight fee seeing they are light and not bulky.

You could spline a couple pieces together with a 6-8" strip or two of 1/4" plywood

What exactly is this stuff? What was it used for originally?

The few hits that I followed were associated with the marine industry.