Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Posted: **Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:10 am**

Tim , Na Unh !!!! ... 350#

My whole Foamie cabin weighs less than that , with all the gear inside .... Sure you weighed it right ???

Posted: **Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:38 am**

i can see that floor being heavy. its a big floor, lots of wood and frame all in one. but they are already way over the weight of my entire unit.

Posted: **Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:33 am**

Just thinking , 800+ lb. is really Not that heavy at all for such a Big trailer ... :thinking:

Still a Featherweight in the trailer world ... a wooden trailer that size could be easily MUCH Heavier ...

Posted: **Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:24 am**

Oh dear.. I lost a post. Let me try again.

I was concerned over the floor length and the only supports being the long metal box that attaches to the axles.

I don't want to stifle any creative engineering or ideas, btw. I was just concerned there would be floor flex at that length without additional support. I can envision metal fatigue near the axles and possible foam breakage in the center of the trailer box due to the downward flexing of each end when traveling.

Hugs,
Ratkity

Posted: **Tue Oct 18, 2011 4:15 pm**

Rat , I think the unibody construction depends on the entire structure sharing the loads ... At my brothers Body shop , saw unibody cars repaired that were a bit flimsy without the sides and top all joined ... once all welded up , were very stiff ... Maybe the same will happen here ... :thinking:

Posted: **Tue Oct 18, 2011 4:18 pm**

Ratkity
I do not think there will be that much of a problem with flex our biggest concern will be tree limbs from going down two tracks and logging roads

Tim

Posted: **Tue Oct 18, 2011 4:29 pm**

GPW
That is exactly my thoughts to and hope :thumbsup:

that the walls and roof will stiffen it up a lot more. Right now there is about 1/4" flex corner to corner and the center sags about the same. So we should be all good :thumbsup:

Tim

Posted: **Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:11 pm**

I'm excited to see the final product!

Only a 1/4 inch so far? Way better than I would have guessed. See? I'm not an engineer. I'm the traditional "overbuilder".

Hugs,
Ratkity

Posted: **Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:29 pm**

Ratkity
Ya but you should have seen it be for we put the 3/8" plywood on top it would flex almost a foot. and sag 3" i was worried then. But now that the floor is done all is good

Tim

Posted: **Wed Oct 19, 2011 8:35 am**

Iâ€™d think most any trailer would have a degree of flexing involved with the roads we have ...

... and if planned for, might do less damage than a totally stiff chassis/cab ... seems Foamies would have a bit of give to them , less likely to shake apart, and the â€œsock" ever holding it all together ... Even Airplanes are made to flex a bit ... all planned ... better flex than break , which would probably require a LOT of TD miles , or ten minutes down my street/road :roll:

Posted: **Mon Oct 24, 2011 7:28 pm**

Here's an update on our foamie. The walls are cut to shape and ready for window and door openings which we'll work on tomorrow.
We're hoping to get lots done this week as Tim is on vacation. I think I'll put the crock pot and porta potty in the garage, blow up the air mattress and just keep working.

Joy

Posted: **Tue Oct 25, 2011 5:15 am**

Whoa !!! That's BIG !!!

Coming along Nicely !!! :thumbsup:

Posted: **Tue Oct 25, 2011 6:45 am**

GPW wrote:Whoa !!! That's BIG !!! Coming along Nicely !!!

ditto!

Posted: **Tue Oct 25, 2011 8:19 am**

I canâ€™t recall seeing a Foamie this BIG before ... This size is what I was planning with the FoamStream , so Iâ€™ll be intently watching this build ... :thumbsup:

Posted: **Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:14 pm**

Huge!!!!

Im envious.

M.

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