FoamStream...

[pchast]

Good.

[Mary C]

Sorry guys seems when I hit the banana leaf it got stuck under the truck and knocked one of the spark plug wires off and it dropped onto the exhaust manifold and burned in two. I did stop with my brother friend in Gulfport for a couple of days. after leaving Nola I did not have internet service and found that when I did get home mine was off again. Made the call to provider and appearantly it was an opps. I really did enjoy my visit with the head chief honcho of making the foamies............... Wow the foam stream is wonderful and so roomie. Looks like a standie is in my future. Yes indeed...........a standie I get warm fuzzies just thinking about it. I promiss I will not pull a Rosie.



Mary C.

[GPW]

Mary, Glad you’re Home !!!

A Standy ... while the FS was really Large enough on the inside , it was also a bit difficult to build . The hot wire cutting of planks from those huge blocks , and then all the kerfing ...tedious , and made a HUGE mess .

Then there was the carving of the nose , which was even challenging for me ... That’s why I think the Zephyr ( or something similar ) would give the same spacious feeling of the FS with a much simpler build ... I really like the “submarine" look of the ribs inside the FS , but it’s just out of the range of most folks tool kit. Still thinking about all of this ...

[GPW]

Here is a pic of an alternative FoamStream (again) , easier to make , and still possesses similar properties . I think the nose could be more box-like to have room for another smaller storage box up front for battery and such (things you don’t want inside ) . Just some more thinking on the subject ...


Something that Mary brought up .... A Standy for her would be nowhere near as tall as a Standy for me ... So “Standy “ can be a variable factor ...

[kudzu]

Yep, it's all relative. If it was 62" high inside then it would be a standy for me, with just enough headroom for non-recessed ceiling lights. BF would be SOL.

[GPW]

Kuz’ , yeah you right !! No reason for anybody to think a standy' HAS to be a fixed height !!! Build it only as tall as you need it !!! This is definitely an advantage for Normal sized folks ... @ 6’3” , I have to add some extra height , which means no fitting it in the Garage , unless we take it off the trailer ... Which may (or may not) be a possibility with the idea of using one of those very Low “carry on” trailers ... I could see storing it in the garage for the off season , and using it during that time as a small office , reading room , sports bar , or just a place to take a winters nap ... doesn’t take much to get Warm ( tested @ 25F) ... handy during COLD weather ... ( practice winter camping , no bears )

With the FoamStream , the overall height was determined by the straight (lower) sections of the Ribs .... Material could have been removed from the bottom of each rib , so as to substantially reduce the height overall to suit ... The rounded part (top) would be still be exactly the same ... or something similar ...

[Mary C]

being only 5' 2" I think building a standie about 5'5" would work about right. I was thinking of making it wider than the one I have now, I would want to sleep crosswise. I believe I will make it 69" wide. and build in cabnets k a little area to make coffee and a table and chair. a corner closet so I can hang up some clothes and maybe some storage for my kitchen stuff and food. mmmmm so I think I will really work on just how much this will cost me. I will make a wiley window for the door and one for the other side. They work!!! I will have to really do some looking for the wood I will need and a trailer. I will want to build it lower to the ground, I might just save up for the other kind of wheels and axel and build the trailer out of oak. Since I drive like a grannie it should work fine. I have been working on that aspect for a while now.well you got me thinking......

Mary C

[GPW]

Mary , all that would work !!! For an Oak trailer , I’d think White oak and Not the very porous Red oak ... The Vintage plans section has some examples of wooden trailer frames ...

[GPW]

The continuing story ... Finally we’re into a dry spell so we can do the underside repairs on that nose ... I’ve waited till things are dry so we don’t seal any water into the structure .... Plus , we’ve decided to go the most simple way on a drip edge , and sew up a canvas flap, rain drip edge deflector thingie' , that we can simply glue to the trailer sides ... Going for the easiest fix... a Foamie’ fix !!!

[Mary C]

That might work but remember to use some clorox and soap and lots of water and scrub the edge so you wont be just covering over the mildue and dirt. I know it is a little more labor intensive but you dont want to have to do it again. Good luck and as always

Mary C.

[GPW]

Mary , we’re just going to cut away the nasty bits and re cover it from there... There’s just a little ( so far) . Any missing foam bits will be filled in with Great Stuff , sanded flush , then recovered . Already got my '53 HC Singer oiled up to make the canvas drip edge ... The new canvas is not going to go that far under the floor this time , and the remaining floor will be covered with more black nasty stuff ... That’s just under the nose directly in the front ... Confident the new drip edge will eliminate any chance of problems in the future ...
There are a couple of other small areas we’ll be inspecting , and maybe we’ll have to do a patch , an idea we’ve been waiting to try for a while now . I think we’ll use George’s method and apply thinned glue around the patch cutout line before we cut it to shape .... no fraying or such foolishness and that way and it looks NEAT when applied ... We’ve been waiting to do a Foamie “patch" for a long time ... I’ll take some pictures ...

[GPW]

Well then , we had a chance to tear off all the canvas that was folded under and glued to the floor underside ... And the damage was WORSE than expected .. Seems I didn't "size" the canvas after gluing it to the underside (duh? ) , and the gripper did NOT sink far enough in to completely waterproof the canvas , and the glue on the canvas where it attached to the floor wasn't enough either. So naturally,in our swamp climate, the canvas acted like a sponge and actually kept water in the area causing even the tough OSB to swell and lose some fibers ( and naturally one of the spots I missed with the mix) ... going to be some minor repairs , luckily it's only in a few little areas, but let un-repaired could be trouble later . First thing I have to do is dry this out ... It's been 10 days with no rain now and the fibers underneath were still WET ... I hope removing that soggy canvas helps ... But tomorrow I'm going to come up with a temporary "drip edge " and attach it just so it won't get wet any further... around here the Rain is never far away ... Once it gets dry , i can inject in some TB2 and stabilize that , then come up with a more permanent drip edge... I can kick myself for not planning in advance for this ...

Worse comes to worse , I may have to rent a place to store it , just to dry it out completely ... That's the key to the repairs , plus the bleach and washing like Mary said .. Luckily there's not very much mold in the wood , just on the canvas and surprisingly it wasn't that bad ... The few little bad bits of soft wood will get picked out and then foamed in
with Great Stuff .. Not surprisingly , the large areas of the floor painted with the Black nasty stuff and spray undercoating is all fine ... Well that's the report for tonight , we'll get some pics of the debacle tomorrow ...

[tpstorey]

GPW, would a little fan help speed up the drying process? I suppose a small heater would be too much.

[GPW]

TPS, the problem is it lives outside, so a heater won’t do much ... A fan , however, seems like a good idea , and that was one of the things I was thinking about as I tried to sleep last night ...
Another thing thought about was a temporary drip edge made of Gorilla tape and Aluminum( metal) duct tape . I was ready to make a canvas (sewn ) drip edge , but now I have to dry things out to do repairs before doing any of that . The problem as confirmed this morning is, in our HUMID climate there's always a morning dew on everything , and that all drips down the nose and wicks into the canvas underneath . With a drip edge the water would just keep on going past the floor onto the ground , allowing the floor area to finally dry out ,now that the canvas has been removed. Once we solve these issues , we can install something permanent ...

This might be a good consideration for anybody who lives in a Humid climate like ours ... Prevent any problems with a simple drip edge that could be installed at the time of building .
The next trailer build will certainly have one ...

[tpstorey]

TP quickly runs to his notes and adds, "Don't forget the drip edge!"