by vigilant1 » Fri May 20, 2016 4:27 pm
The Scamps, Casitas, and other "egg" fiberglass trailers can easily have compound curves because they are "sprayed" into a female mold. These molds are quite expensive to make, and not very practical for a one-off trailer. Also, the resultant skin isn't very thick and would be floppy if not structurally reinforced in some way (the compound curves help, but these trailers almost always have interior bulkheads that reinforce the shape and support the roof (usually found between the rear dinette/bed and the rest of the trailer, and another bulkhead farther forward).
A foamie is a different beast, since each wall is quite stiff on its own due to the thick core and the strong skins on either side of it. A useful by-product is the insulation value of that foam--about R5 to R6 per inch. The Scamps and Casitas have some thin insulation glued onto the inside, but it's only enough to prevent condensation, maybe R3 or so (do >not< believe the claims of R15 for the super-space age "reflective" bubble insulation that some use--it's just not true in this application).
It's not too hard to make 2D curves in a foamie (apply the skin to the outside, cut slots/kerfs in the foam to allow it to bend without crushing, then apply the inside surface to "lock in" the curve). A 3D "compound curve" that bends in two dimensions is a lot more complicated, and folks who do it typically use a special (and expensive) core material.
From a drag-reduction standpoint, just rounding off the square edges/corners of a flat-panel (or 2D curved) trailer can bring a significant improvement, and isn't hard to do with foam-core construction.
I like the "egg" campers a lot, but they have their particular shape as a by-product of their manufacturing method. To replicate it using a different method (foam sandwich composite construction), rather than use the inherent advantages of foam composite construction to make a trailer in a shape more fundamentally suited for it (flat and 2D curved panels) would probably be lot of work for not a lot of payoff. But, I'm sure it could be done.
Just my opinion!
Mark
Last edited by
vigilant1 on Fri May 20, 2016 7:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.