Construction Planning questions.

[rustytoolss]

Somewhat thinking of building a foamie. Questions about planning construction. I have a basic plan in my head. How important is it to plan where every piece of wood for interior structures, would be needed ? Or is planning it "on the fly" OK ?
What I'm getting at here is, once I would have my basic walls up. I may decide that I want to change my complete floor plan. So for me , I would not want to recess channels in the foam, before hand.
Also I keep reading about so many people "over constructing" . Just how much/strong does the frame have to be for a 900-1200lbs trailer ? Is boxed 2x3 tubing really needed ? or could you get by safely with 2x2 angle iron (weight savings)
What things did you not install, that later you wished you had ? .. What did you install that was a waste of time and money ?
Just looking for advice from those that have all ready done this. Trying to learn from others mistakes and or good planning methods.

[KCStudly]

For me, I'm a mechanical designer and engineer by trade, so I prefer to have a detailed plan. It helps to avoid unnecessary rework and associated material waste, and allows you to work on various aspects of the build with more flexibility in scheduling, and still have the confidence that things will fit together later in the build.

However, mine is a fairly complex build. For a nice simple build like GPW's little foamie (now Bonnie's Nookery), the same level of planning is totally unnecessary.

It all depends on what you want and how confident you are in your building skills.

On your chassis question, my answer is about the same. It depends on what you want your finished camper to be and how you plan to use it. For a simple pure foamie build with a light weight goal and a plywood floor, the ultra light chassis (see Design Resources/Design Library tab above) would be an excellent choice.

For a heavier build like mine that will be towed on forest service roads with the potential to bottom out on rocks and other obstacles, I chose to go with a full perimeter tube frame and will mount the cabin on top.

[GPW]

" prior planning prevents poor performance... “ Maybe a good idea to make a rough sketch first ... that and take some critical measurements that you’ll stick with.

A little ‘over-building’ is always acceptable unless you end up too heavy . With a Foamie , too heavy means you used too much wood and not enough foam ...
Remember foam is 2lb./ cu.ft., and plywood is 57 lb./ cu. ft. ... Big difference ...

[rustytoolss]

" prior planning prevents poor performance... “ Maybe a good idea to make a rough sketch first ... that and take some critical measurements that you’ll stick with.

A little ‘over-building’ is always acceptable unless you end up too heavy . With a Foamie , too heavy means you used too much wood and not enough foam ...
Remember foam is 2lb./ cu.ft., and plywood is 57 lb./ cu. ft. ... Big difference ...

I have made some sketches, and have a general idea of what I want as a floorplan. But I would think that once you have your 2 side walls standing. Your given preception of the interior space will change. (maybe more, or less room than you thought) So at that point if you have cut notches in the foam ahead of time. You may have wished you had waited.
Did not realize the weight difference was that much.

[KCStudly]

I took care to maximize interior volume. The Benroy profile helps with this a lot and I tweaked that basic concept out by arching the roof slightly; bumping the hatch out into a bustle to allow for the depth of the hatch spars while still letting the counter come all the way out nearly to the rear edge of the floor; and, since I would not be restricted to 4 ft skin sizes, stretched my wall height by placing the 4 ft foam core panels on top of 2x sills, which sit on top of the floor. From there I put the roof on top of the walls (still building inside out in the spirit of the Steve Fredrick's method, just not nested down inside of a rabbet), with thick foam walls you can get away with that. That got me nearly 49-1/2 inches of headroom at the peak. I also built at 64 inches wide (which knowing what I know now I would have stayed with 60 overall).

I also made sure to hold my cabinet face frames from encroaching too far out over the mattress. In my 3D model I drew an arc centered at the hips from head to toe and did not let any cabinet cross that line. I probably could have cheated that some at the foot end and had a little more storage depth.

I can tell you that the space inside seems really roomy. I may have given up a little storage space inside, but it does not feel claustrophobic at all.

[rustytoolss]

I have been sketching on graph paper . To get an idea of floorplan and headroom. I've also drawn a human figure to size, to help me be sure of how things should fit.

[GPW]

Best thing still is to draw or tape off the floor to the size you think you want , then actually sit within that space and “visualize’ the room you have ... You can even include all your gear so you know how it will fit ... or not .

[rustytoolss]

good idea. I'll try that.