Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Between the foam sometimes being thicker than nominal, and the GG expanding out, usually it was a matter of sanding the foam fair to the wood. Mind you that my "frame" for the walls is only a 2x2 base board and surround around the door. All the rest of my blocking is 1x let in with the router and glued in. I got pretty good at setting the blocking just barely over flush so that it required a minimum of sanding to bring it in. Any trouble areas and dings got filled and faired with light weight "ceiling" spackle.

To tell the truth, since I haven't put the canvas on yet, I can't really say how it will do, but I have gone to great lengths to try and make the walls as flawless as I can so that warty stuff doesn't telegraph thru. Fingers crossed.

Cool that makes sense
So your ceiling is just glued directly to the tops of your walls?
I see you have spars on top of the ceiling with foam inlay so I was wondering about the wall/ceiling joint method

There are 1x2 blocks, about 3-1/2 inches long just inside the wall skin under each spar end (pocketed out and glued in after the walls were up ). At each cabinet face frame there is a 1x4 x 3-1/2 block. The ceiling skin (which was pre-finished) screws down into these, the bulkhead, across the cabinet face frames, and is PL'ed everywhere (tho I might have used TB2 on top of the face frames ). The spars were glued to the top of the ceiling skin in advance and have no screws.

Cool thanks for that. All clear now

I did some "off roading" of a different kind to test foamie strength and durability. I built a small kayak out of 1" foam, sheathed in bed sheet cotton, adhered with TBII. On the first float I took the boat over to the egdes of the beaver pond with all the drowned trees. I kept running over stumps rocks and downed trees with the boat, and would force the boat over rather than flaoting back off.
When I got back I found only small shallow grooves, none of the fabric was torn, and the paint didn't even show a scratch. My 180 lbs dragging over the stuff in the water couldn't tear through.
This was with only thin cotton bed sheet skin, with 8 or 10 oz. Cotton you would be ever tougher. When you do get some pin stripes, or larger grooves, a steam iron has been proved to " iron" the dents out. The foam and TBII are both activated by heat.

Row, Thanks !!! Inspiring words !!! Beginning my Foamie boat build soon ...

Wow that is cool.
Care to share some foam can oo plans.thats my next project since I have to sell my boat to fund my build

https://m.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a ... 212&type=1 the build album.
I came to conclude foam is great, but the bottom panel of the hull should be plywood, the rest in foam. For some great free plans check out flo-mo weebly, lots of cool stuff free.

GPW wrote:Foams .... Many types of foam available ...
1. EPS expanded polystyrene ... what we know as the Blue/pink/green stuff ... and what beaded board is made of ... just a different process... Commonly available at the Box stores (HD , Lo’s) in the 2lb.’cu.ft. density ...

While blue/pink foam and white foam are all polystyrene, there is quite a difference.

The blue and pink foam are commonly known as "XPS" and they are an extruded polystyrene.
The white foam is commonly known as "EPS" and it is a expanded polystyrene.

That's not to say that one is better than the other, just different.

As I live in the great state of California, I have no choice but to use the white "EPS" foam. Our state legislature has decided that we common folk aren't smart enough to determine what is "safe" to use in our building projects. "XPS" foam has been added to the list of controlled substances that are illegal. I wonder if there is a "Mexican Foam Cartel" ready to jump in to the underground foam business?

#1. You elected the CA Legislature... Don’t like the rules ... contact your representative..
#2. White foam works Fine for trailer building... The FoamStream is made from white beaded foam ... And White foam comes in many different sizes and densities , and is usually much Cheaper than the pink or Blu’ foams .

.....I'll be bhack. .[WHITE SMILING FACE]

You know , if you think of it , the foam type is relatively unimportant as all the foams are mostly AIR ... True !!! The foam merely serves to keep the skins apart ... (compressive strength) That’s where the real strength comes in ... For camper trailer building , the nominal 2 lb per cubic ft. probably is the best compromise between weight and compressive strength. No matter how the foam is made ... Granted , extrude foam sheets have a slightly different working quality than the beaded foam boards/blocks ... all part of the magic and understanding of a Foamie’ ... (all discussed before in the BIG thread... )

GPW wrote:#1. You elected the CA Legislature... Don’t like the rules ... contact your representative..
#2. White foam works Fine for trailer building... The FoamStream is made from white beaded foam ... And White foam comes in many different sizes and densities , and is usually much Cheaper than the pink or Blu’ foams .

No, I didn't elect the Legislature. All the fiscal conservative's that I voted for lost.

I've read through every page of the "big thrifty thread" as well as the "FoamStream" build thread. Your building skills and ability to "think outside the box" are to be admired.

I'm still planning my build but I hope to achieve the trifecta of a frozen turkey safe, bear proof trailer that can carry 500# of beer.

Whether you voted for them or not , they still, are "Public Servants" , whether they realize it it or not ...

Er, we’re still not sure of the "Bear-proof" ... Not even Bear-resistant yet ...

Frozen turkey reality shock... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg2pRyQKcD4 So , theoretically , anything’s possible ....

RR, Over the years we’ve made (and stress tested) waaaay more beaded foam wings and parts (model planes) than anything else ... so we know the standard white 1#/cu.ft.EPS works great and is a reliable building component ... And although using foam of a lighter density , we did over compensate on the FS with thicker foam (3.5”) to make up any imagined differences in the foams strength vs the XPS ... (although my back wall is Blu XPS) That , covered with the 18 oz. canvas (somewhat excessive again ) produced a firm , strong structure ... yet very light and certainly well insulated ... ( and was Thrifty too )
The Foamling’ rule is .... Use what you can get !!!

Foamies’ ...The “thinker’s “ trailer ...

Edit: One thing we still are amazed at is how well these trailers hold up living Outside ... So far we’ve had two Foamie trailers long outlive a standard “RV” ... (True!!!) With nothing to rot they are only subject to “natural” forces like paint fading in the Sun , and the occasional bird poop ... even self- recovering from a really extreme hail storm ...