Folding Foamie Camper a la Casita or Esterel in the Works

[GPW]

Won’t be long now , they all come together pretty quickly , and then there’s the little Details …

[TinkerTailor]

Thanks GPW,

Got a bit of painting done on the outside today.

[TinkerTailor]

Some more work done. Encased the foam wheel well structures in thin plywood, cleaned all the junk that had collected out of the camper base, then painted the interior base walls. I decided to put a coat of primer on the ply floor, which will eventually be covered with vinyl flooring.

[GPW]

TT, You may want to be careful about your vinyl flooring . On an earlier Trailer build we used Vinyl roll flooring ( HD) and it had a paper like (?) backing that attracted and held moisture … Eventually we had to rip it out and have since just used cheap carpet remnants over painted wooden flooring … No problems … only 20 bucks for a scrap big enough for a camper . when it gets worn or ugly , just throw it out … ( recycle ) Just saying …

[TinkerTailor]

Good note, GPW - thanks.

Haven't settled on flooring yet. I was going to use use the vinyl sheet style, but maybe I'll spring for some better stuff. I put some pretty solid vinyl plank flooring over concrete slab in my downstairs that is waterproof on both sides, top & bottom. Might go with that. Can't do carpet since I'm planning for it to be a ski mobile...Keep the tips coming!

[RJ Howell]

I ended up with a foam mat out of the Big Box store. Soft on the feet, helps insulate and removable. I have box storage under the bed and did not run the mat under there. Actually helps hold those boxes from sliding out (didn't expect that, I was just being frugal).

[TinkerTailor]

That's an interesting idea as well, RJ. Thanks. I'll take it under consideration.

Put in jumper cables to fix the ground problem on the HF trailer today, so now the lights are all working. Got to get in to the DMV now to register before I set about modifying the tongue.

[TinkerTailor]

Picked up the 2"x2" square tube (3/16") for the tongue extension from a metal supply shop today. Grade 8 bolts and whatnot coming in the mail tomorrow...

[TinkerTailor]

Ok, so I put in the tongue extension/backbone (a la gchoe) today and yesterday. Grade 8 1/2" bolts (2 on the tongue, 1 on the rearmost crossmember) and grade 8 3/8" bolts in all the other crossmembers. Receiver on the back for bike racks just in case.





Only thing left to do is put the hitch itself on the front of the tongue. I'll be putting the base on pretty soon.

Question: how long do you all think I should make the tongue extension beyond the cabin itself. My cabin is 11 feet long. Relative to the 4'X8' trailer platform, the cabin will sit with 2 feet of overhang in the front and 1 foot in the back. If I leave all of the steel tube extending out front the total trailer length from tail to hitch will be 16', with 5' of tongue beyond the cabin. Is that too much? Should I cut it down a bit? If so, how much? I would like to put some kind of tongue box on as well as a flip-up jack.

[TinkerTailor]

Just to add a clarifying detail, the steel tube currently extends about 3 and half feet beyond the original HF tongue

[TinkerTailor]

OK, so I put some support beams on after the tongue extension, used leftover NRP (plastic sheeting) to shim up the cross members, put the trailer jack on up front, and got the base of the cabin onto the trailer with the help of a neighbor. Haven't bolted the base down yet with carriage bolts. After I do, I'll be attaching the walls to the base with hinges, seeing how that's working, and then making final measurements for the roof. I think I will likely make the doors and windows before the roof since this project is taking up too much of my garage. No place to put the roof while working on other stuff. Starting to look a little more like a camper.

[GPW]

Won’t be long now !!! Looking Good !!!

[YJlover63]

I have 5 feet of tongue to the hitch, sticking out past the box on the front of the trailer on mine, and tow it with a Jeep Wrangler. Tow vehicle makes a difference (width of the vehicle while turning). And mine just clears when making a tight turn. So, in my opinion, I wouldn't cut any off of the tongue, if anything you might have to add to it.

[TinkerTailor]

That is helpful - thanks. I'll leave the tongue as is and see how it handles!

[TinkerTailor]

So, walls are on, and windows are under way. Then door and roof and weather stripping/other small details such as ventilation. After that the wood stove and diesel heater setup (hoping to stash it in the HF tongue box I ordered with a battery to run it) as well as the sofa/bed and counter top.

Question: how many louver vents should I install for my space of roughly 6' X 11' X 6'?

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