Page 1 of 2

foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 6:05 pm
by SamIAm
Hi everyone,
with building foamies so light, I am wondering if anyone has had problems with them blowing over at all in high winds. I tried to do a search, but it didn't come up with anything.
Thanks, Brendon

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 6:17 pm
by GPW
It has happened... :o

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 9:39 pm
by wagondude
99667

Very little damage to the cabin (Catherine did a quality build), but it did bend the tongue members. She is doing a new build on the old frame ( viewtopic.php?f=55&t=54919 ).

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Thu May 23, 2013 11:16 pm
by SamIAm
wagondude wrote:99667

Very little damage to the cabin (Catherine did a quality build), but it did bend the tongue members. She is doing a new build on the old frame ( viewtopic.php?f=55&t=54919 ).


Oh, that sucks! just for kicks & giggles, how strong was the wind, and how light was the trailer?

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2013 12:20 am
by atahoekid
I'm sure someone, especially Catherine remembers the wind speed, I do believe it was fairly significant and there has been a fair amount of conjecture on this board about whether design parameters such as weight, weight distribution, height v width, etc. had anything to with the blow over.

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2013 2:16 am
by mezmo
General consensus was tall and narrow 'not ideal'.

Low and wide is 'better'. Try to keep CG low. Do not
tow in high winds. [Obviously easy to say, but you can get caught
unawares when you are out on the road, as she was.]

From what I recall, the winds were very high in speed and
when they turned into a crosswind vector, the very light, high
and narrow TTT keeled over - so-to-speak. But with minimal
actual damage to the foamy body other that a case of "road-
surface-grater effect" on a front corner and the bent frame.
Any vehicle with a similar profile and surface area will be
affected similarly, but most commercially built vehicles are
more likely to have had their suspensions designed to help
deal with such conditions, but very few would be considered
'immune' to them.


I would say that it'd probably be a good rule of thumb to say to
"don't build higher than wide" or maybe "not higher than wide +
a 'reasonable' road clearance". And it's the best idea to, again,
keep the CG as low as possible and to balance the built-in features
weight as much as possible. Remember to concentrate your 'portable'
loads, if possible, along fore-to-aft and side-to-side center lines and
as close to the axle as possible. [I.E., don't cantilever a heavy load
off of the back or pack everything up in the front. [One needs to pay
attention to where you locate the axle too - see angibs work-up on
that, as well as the tongue weight work-up he did - both in the TD
plans area on here.]

I don't consider Foamies inherently unstable. Environmental and
design considerations need to be considered in the build. It is a vehicle,
so we need to remember to consider what that means when we are
designing. A dynamic moving "room" is built differently than an always
stationary "room". Look around and read all the various approaches
that have been taken in constructing a TD/TTT. You'll get an appreciation
for what will work, which methods you think are 'better' or 'best' [Everything is
'relative' to its circumstances IMHO.] for you. The good weight savings
Foamies allow has a great benefit in positively affecting towing costs.
[But remember too, that weight is one of many considerations in those.]
And the quantity [And its inherent weight.] of personal equipment you can
include in your camping trips can be increased when the structure itself
has a lower weight when using the same chassis's capacity.

Just some rambling thoughts on it...

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2013 5:16 am
by GPW
There are some conditions when it’s not advisable to be out on the road towing (or driving) ANYTHING ... :frightened: Good judgement is far better than any design considerations, and if you do find yourself in a dangerous situation , it’s Wise to stop and seek some type of shelter from the wind , or at least park the vehicle and trailer INTO the wind ... Much like being in a boat ... some days it’s just not advisable to travel ... :thinking: That being said , it was the only incident we know of involving a Foamie trailer , out of the many Foamies already constructed and the many thousands of miles already travelled.
The best thing that happened from this incident was the Foamie cabin stayed together perfectly and did not fall apart as we’ve seen in some of the other wooden trailer video incidents ... The damage was minimal and could have been partially repaired on the road (rigged) ...and travel continued till proper repairs could be made ... ;)


viewtopic.php?f=55&t=44431 Read it and judge for yourself... Page 9

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Fri May 24, 2013 2:26 pm
by SamIAm
Thanks for all the great info. I found her description and subsequent discussion of the crash (for those who don't know, 48" HF frame, 62" body and pretty tall 6.5 - 7' I'd guess and 10ish feet long.) About as high as wide seems like a good rule of thumb. I am looking at a foamie for behind my Civic, so I won't want to go too high anyways. I've been thinking 5' * 10' * 5' high. I will be camping in S Alberta where winds can get pretty strong.

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Sun May 26, 2013 10:22 am
by GPW
BP, if it’s any consolation , my FoamStream is 75.5” high (plus the trailer height) and 79” wide on a 56” wide trailer ... so mine’s a little Tall-ish’ ... but the rounded top should help in cross winds , and I WILL have the requisite ballast on the floor .... Just sayin’ ... :beer:
Likely will be only traveling before the Nasty weather... :rainy:

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Mon May 27, 2013 5:04 pm
by SamIAm
It's all about the beer .... er... ballast after all, isn't it? A foam trailer was built just to keep all the beer cold; that it is light only means we get to bring more beer! :beer:

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Mon May 27, 2013 6:05 pm
by GPW
EXACTLY !!! ... for Safety sake !!! :beer:

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Tue May 28, 2013 2:51 pm
by SamIAm
Ok, a little about me, I love Math! WooHoo for numbers!
In my perusings, I found this explanation of the forces required to tip a trailer:
viewtopic.php?f=21&t=47980&start=15
The explanation is about 1/2 way down the page.

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Tue May 28, 2013 3:40 pm
by GPW
The math shows why the Beer is important ... in Windy weather ... No wind , you can leave the beer home .... but who wants to do that eh ? :roll:

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Wed May 29, 2013 10:11 pm
by Mary C
I hope wine bottles would work too and maybe even a couple of wine boxes. and as far as the wind tipping it over, wind gusts can tip anything over. A big truck got blown over last month at out local truck stop. so I plan to just not pack anything I cant live without!!! gotta go refill my glass........... :wine:

Mary C. :)

Re: foamie crashed or blown over?

PostPosted: Fri May 31, 2013 6:30 am
by GPW
Mary , the more stuff (weight) you carry on the floor , the less likely you’ll have any problems ... Now you can carry all the gear you ever wanted to bring (or Beer/wine) and still not overload the trailer , and it’s safer too ...
But then any empty trailer , no matter what it’s made of is more likely to be affected by wind . (the math ^ )