Foamie cabinets...

[dbhosttexas]

As folks know, Life kicked me in the, well take the buttons and spin the male person around and you get the idea...

I had to shift to a van camper, and specifically sourced up an old Ford Econoline based Sportsmobile, with the MDF cabinets that are doing what MDF does... Which is un pretty... I mean most of it is intact and useable to camp in, but some spots are just thrashed... I need to redo this thing.

I am going to need to redo the cabinetry in this thing, with weight as a consideration as my van is an E250 not an E350, so weight is a consideration, and am considering doing fiberglass over foam, and wondering about a couple of issues.

Fastener retention. For things like door hinges, mounting up the DC to DC charger / MPPT Charge controller etc... I am figuring even with the fiberlgass skin, the foam just isn't going to hold fasteners well, so I will most likely be reinforcing wherever fasteners need to be with wood, making the panel, fiberglassing it etc... and then installing the fastener directly OR using thread inserts into the wood.

Foam thickness. The factory interior cabinet panels seem to be of 5/8" MDF, I figure if I can find the stuff, 1/2" foam with fiberglass / epoxy resin would make up the rest.

Panel to panel attachment. The factory cabinets, particularly the Dinette cabinet is beasically a box made of panels that attach at the corners to a metal frame and to each other via steel angle brackets.

Coloring the Resin. I know epoxy without any colorant will dry clear, NOT what I want... Do colorants in epoxy weaken it in any way that you can think of?

The long term goal will be to Raptorliner coat the body in the sand tan. Yes bedliner all over the body. Old van, don't want to perfect the body work and it will resist wilderness pinstriping... I figure a light tan colorant for the epoxy, and any wooden trim will be something like Pecan / Hickory (I Have a LOT of pecan lumber in my shop) and dark walnut. I am thinking specifically of the counter tops as I will be making butcher blocks the same way I made my wifes cutting board and clocks, Except those will get a clear epoxy coat just to keep water from messing it up...

Anyway, any other construction considerations would be helpful.

[tony.latham]

Do colorants in epoxy weaken it...

No. But epoxy without glass or other appropriate fibers is brittle.

Tony

[RJ Howell]

I built my pantry and overhead cabinets with ups foam. Issues are as you ask about.. attaching anything! It's the foam breaking down, not the fiberglass bond failing! Each panel separated with a bonded layer of fiberglass on it.

I used some of my fiberglass panels I used as my camper skin. this is 1/16" thick fiberglass composite in sheets. I had to apply on both sides and run the fasteners all the way through (through bolting) to in a sense squeeze the XPS. Only what any fastener held. There's a guy on YT that shows testing anchors in XPS, I call BS! None worked as shown in my testing. All pulled out with XPS on it. You have to go through.

Mounting to your side walls is simple enough, but wall cabinets have to be supported under. I have. length of aluminum angle under my overhead units. I will have to though bolt the hinges at some point.. Don't even attempt draws, the slides I even tried under mounting just won't hold on either the draw or sidewall if not through bolted.

I'm still testing ideas because I like having the overhead cabinet light. My camper is top heavy enough already! I did a video on YT of the cabinets while I first started building them. So much has changed from that that I should take it down and redo another..

Just my experience so far with XPS cabinetry.

[TCJ]

There are tons of YouTube videos on building foam cabinets for vans; you might want to check them out.

Instead of fiberglass, have you considered laminating panels between thin plywood and then using normal construction techniques? Fiberglass can be tricky to work with, especially the part about getting a nice finish, while wood skins can be finished like solid wood. I've laminated several parts for my trailer build using XPS and thin ply, and they're incredibly strong and look exactly like wood. You do have to think about where fasteners will be used, but it's easy to throw in some solid wood blocking when laying up the panels.

These cabinet doors are all XPS+2mm ply + veneer composite:

[RJ Howell]

There are tons of YouTube videos on building foam cabinets for vans; you might want to check them out.

Instead of fiberglass, have you considered laminating panels between thin plywood and then using normal construction techniques? Fiberglass can be tricky to work with, especially the part about getting a nice finish, while wood skins can be finished like solid wood. I've laminated several parts for my trailer build using XPS and thin ply, and they're incredibly strong and look exactly like wood. You do have to think about where fasteners will be used, but it's easy to throw in some solid wood blocking when laying up the panels.

These cabinet doors are all XPS+2mm ply + veneer composite:

2mm? That's the same size as my FG panels. You built the entire cabinet form this? Or just the doors? How are you holding the sides and bottoms on? Very curious if you found something I did not and improve what I've done!

[Pmullen503]

I think you could make a perimeter of 1/2" Sq wood (wider on the hinge side and maybe the pull side depending on how you plan to do those) and fill the center with XPS. Then glue on the thin ply panels or you FRP panels.

I would make the same wood framed foam center if I wanted to cover it with glass cloth and resin instead of ply or FRP.

[RJ Howell]

I think you could make a perimeter of 1/2" Sq wood (wider on the hinge side and maybe the pull side depending on how you plan to do those) and fill the center with XPS. Then glue on the thin ply panels or you FRP panels.

I would make the same wood framed foam center if I wanted to cover it with glass cloth and resin instead of ply or FRP.

Did just that with my 1.0 build for doors and FG'ed over. The wood contracts/expanses but the XPS is inert. That becomes the issue. Live combined with inert. My next step is to try PVC edging with XPS interior. Thinking that may be equally inert? It would have structure to assembled, suability of to hold...

There is an answer out there.. I haven't found yet and still hope to!

[TCJ]

There are tons of YouTube videos on building foam cabinets for vans; you might want to check them out.

Instead of fiberglass, have you considered laminating panels between thin plywood and then using normal construction techniques? Fiberglass can be tricky to work with, especially the part about getting a nice finish, while wood skins can be finished like solid wood. I've laminated several parts for my trailer build using XPS and thin ply, and they're incredibly strong and look exactly like wood. You do have to think about where fasteners will be used, but it's easy to throw in some solid wood blocking when laying up the panels.

These cabinet doors are all XPS+2mm ply + veneer composite:

2mm? That's the same size as my FG panels. You built the entire cabinet form this? Or just the doors? How are you holding the sides and bottoms on? Very curious if you found something I did not and improve what I've done!

Sorry, I wasn't clear . . . 2mm skins, both sides, over 1/2" XPS foam. Then I veneered one side to match the interior wood. The total thickness is a little less than 3/4".
The rest of the cabinets are 2.7mm plywood over solid wood framing (1/2 x 3/4). Tried to keep is as light as possible.'

Also, although a vacuum press would have been ideal, I just compressed the entire sandwich with bricks and large buckets of water.

[Pmullen503]

Did just that with my 1.0 build for doors and FG'ed over. The wood contracts/expanses but the XPS is inert. That becomes the issue. Live combined with inert. My next step is to try PVC edging with XPS interior. Thinking that may be equally inert? It would have structure to assembled, suability of to hold...

There is an answer out there.. I haven't found yet and still hope to!

It's the opposite, XPS has a large thermal expansion (makes sense; all that air in it) compared to wood, especially parallel to the grain.

But the point is well taken. I have 2" XPF walls with solid wood around the doors. The first winter the wood frame telegraphed through the canvas because the foam shrunk so much! Trying to use materials with similar thermal expansion coefficients if you live in an area that has a large temperature range makes sense.

That said, a wood frame with thin ply faces would be pretty stable and much lighter than MDF.

[pchast]

I've been surprised by the strength of light door skins when in an enclosed frame.
Sounds like time to experiment a little.

Still, I don't expect you really want to store great weight high in the van.

[dbhosttexas]

Do colorants in epoxy weaken it...

No. But epoxy without glass or other appropriate fibers is brittle.

Tony

I sort of thought the glass was assumed. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

[dbhosttexas]

I've been surprised by the strength of light door skins when in an enclosed frame.
Sounds like time to experiment a little.

Still, I don't expect you really want to store great weight high in the van.

Nope. Looking at just duplicating what Sportsmobile built in 93 but with lighter, stronger and less moisture destroyable materials...

My van being a 3/4 ton instead of a 1 ton, I am planning on a 4wd conversion and want to keep it under the GVWR. Not sure I fully understand how that works though. My axles and the 1 ton van axles are exactly the same. Brakes are exactly the same. Springs are different for sure, but I am planning on using 1 ton rated springs during the conversion, But I will be carrying 25 gallons minimum of fresh water, fuel, cast iron cookware etc... as I head out. The heavy stuff loads in down low, the light stuff, coats, sleeping bags, changes of clothes etc... load in high up. Same thing in the pantry lighter boxed goods high up, heavy canned stuff at the bottom...

The idea is to keep the center of gravity down low...

[RJ Howell]

This is my new lightweight cabinet of the back of the camper. Aluminum framed, FG panel over and plywood door hollowed to have a FG panel oner.



This is the lower portion and will hold the hot water shower unit (and goodies). I see the FG panel and plywood playing well together as the aluminum and FG will (yet I also riveted these).



Lockable slam-shut handle. I'll probably end up painting the FG panels to match the camper. Just an example of lightweight and sturdy. I may change out my over-heads and pantry inside to something along this path.

[rjgimp]

I've been following this guy "NØMAD" on youtube. He has built out an impressive transit van with plywood laminated 1" foam cabinetry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWkTqKjxKNg

[RJ Howell]

I've been following this guy "NØMAD" on youtube. He has built out an impressive transit van with plywood laminated 1" foam cabinetry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWkTqKjxKNg

I've communicated with him off channel about the failures in the system and how he's attempting to cure. Basic floor cabinets with doors have little issues. Draw slides are the crux as mounting into XPS. I've found that even the doors hinges are an issue unless you have denser skins and through anchor. He and I have talked about this and he's chasing another path.
Haven't checked in with him in a while.. Has he changed the skins he's using? He was fiberglassing, then veneering.. Believe he was headed towards 1/4" ply for skins..