Hello all. Been lurking for awhile, reading obsessively. I am planning to build a hybrid foamie with/for my son. He has been battling health issues for four years now, but when he has been healthy enough we have taken him camping, and he loves it. Just everything we all love about it, he gets it at a deep level. So as a way to pass time with week long chemo visits, we have been planning a camper. This is important to know so you can understand some of the design decisions we make and why i will try my best to fulfill the wishes of a seven year old boy’s design ideas - which are not always the most practical but they are fun.
Like a deck. He has to have a deck. I am thinking of a back door that lowers like a drawbridge and becomes a deck - somehow, i will do it.
A window to see stars - sure, i like that idea.
A cage for the dogs on the tongue with a dog door in the wall - we argue about this one daily.
We will build a 5X8 camper on a northern tools trailers 5X8 trailer (maybe aluminum). I asked two local trailer makers, one who has built trailers for tear drop builders before, but they don't seem interested in building one right now (can understand a one off custom is not a priority). But a NT trailer will be a lot cheaper, lighter, and i can customize it myself. Thinking of moving the axle back (not sure how far) and getting a torsion axle with 15 inch tires and brakes.
Before we invest in a trailer, i want to build the camper and later attach it to the trailer. The floor we are planning will be 1/8 marine grade ply on the bottom, with 1X2 framing inside the floor, with 1.5” thick foam board, and 1/8 ply as the top layer of the floor sandwich. Some sort of coating will be on the bottom of the floor.
This is where it gets weird. I built a house using standard lumber, layered together to form thicker posts and beams, using some timber framing design ideas to form giant arches. On the outside of these bents was put a wooden tongue and groove skin (which became the interior exposed walls) and on the outside of that insulation foam boards, with an outer skin of wood. (so a foam sandwich basically attached to the outside of 15 large bents). So kinda built a hybrid foamie house.
Being the only construction technique i know, I feel most comfortable copying it for a camper. I will build four arches that span from the left side of the floor to the right side. The bents will be made out of three layers of 1X2 cedar with four arches in each bent cut out of 1X8 boards. Each bent will have 5 sides above the floor - the first bent might be just three sides. (hope the picture helps visualize this) The posts will have a tongue (the middle 1X2 that extends into the floor) that can be attached to the inside framing of the floor - the floor will have joists that span the floor that the tongues will fit into. So each bent is really a full hexagon, without interruptions or gaps.
The two end bents will be shorter than the two middle bents, giving it an angular pill box, turtle shell type shape. The max inside height might be around 50 inches, maybe 48 inches. 1/8 ply will go on the outside of the bents to form the interior wall. Then will go a layer of 1.5” foam glued onto the ply. Then the outside covering will be canvas and glue. There will be lots of seams - (13 panels max just for the roof - yikes.) a real downside, but I want to know from experience if it will work or not (instead of just telling myself now it will never work). The ply on the bents will have (maybe) fiberglass tape on the seams with poly coating. (i want to try some fiberglass because never used it before). I am hoping to make the interior plywood shell water tight by itself as a backup in case the canvas and glue leak anywhere.
I will extend the rear roof panels six inches to form a Kammback that looks at least like it might serve some drag reducing function and be some rain covering for the back door.
There will not be a galley. Not having a galley means i can have a rear deck open to the bed. Not having a galley means i am losing out on some structural strength and to gain some strength is one reason i went with the four bents with arches idea. There will be a rear wall, with shelving units on either side. In between the shelves will be a drawbridge like door that opens up to become a deck. A camping stove and other kitchen stuff can be stored in the shelves. Cooking will be on a camping table set up outside of the camper. A queen size mattress will be used.
Hope to get to work on this soon. Looking for 5X8 or 5X10 sources of plywood so i can start the floor. Also i hope to do a build journal as much as i can. That is the hope anyway.
the sketch below is a bit hard to see, most of the panels are not filled in, so imagine it filled in solid. The tongue box will be a box, but this is the cage design my son likes. on the rear wall, a drawer is pictured as open - they might open towards the middle of the camper. Also pictured is a fold down desk/bunk(?) that might go on top of the shelves.