Foam Trailers

This has been brought up in another thread, but thought I would start my own tread on the subject.

Foam trailers, or foamies, are trailers that are built using mostly XPS foam and then covered with canvas. This makes them super lite. I have built a simple 4'x8' that came in at 372lbs and a more involved 5'x8' that came in at 510lbs.

They are much stronger than people would think and are simple/easy to build. I am currently putting together a YouTube Channel where I will show people how I am building my 3rd foamie so they can follow along.

That sounds fun and looks good.

I'll subscribe as soon as your video is up. Including the trailer, will you under a thousand in it?

Dingfelder said:

That sounds fun and looks good.

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Thanks!

Dingfelder said:

That sounds fun and looks good.

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The trailer in the upcoming video I am into $1450.00 That includes the manufactured window and door, interior cushions, wheel spacers, 13" wheels and Harbor Freight type trailer. All items where purchased new except the window was a surplus unit. If you did not do the wheel upgrade and made or sourced door and windows "used" it could easily come in under $1000.00.

This YouTube Channel is still a work in progress. I have a lot of footage shot just have not had the time to put it all together. I hope through the winter to get most of it edited and posted. There are some videos up from my last build to give you a idea of how it goes together plus some other videos to get a feel of a foamie.

YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3xVuHPVJm1kSSiploqPyrw

The latest video from the last trip out and a demo on how strong a foamie is.  

I don't have time to check it out right now, but want to encourage you. I think foamies are interesting and I'm thinking about one, myself.

seak said:

I don't have time to check it out right now, but want to encourage you. I think foamies are interesting and I'm thinking about one, myself.

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Thanks! Hope that what I do can help you out. George.

So many people on here with a vehicle not capable of pulling the lightest manufactured trailers and others buying small cargo trailers to build out need to take a close look at this. I would suggest that one of the complaints you will hear often is since most boondock and have had break downs or failures due to poorly manufactured trailers with cheap overloaded axles and tires is the Harbor Freight trailer's poor proformance record. Finding a source for a welded studier frame with an axle more in line with what people will load in the trailer rather than what weight you should carry is a huge factor. Trailer brakes should be an option. Add to that it is difficult to find a sturdy tire in small sizes that will resist rock punctures and gravel roads as well as go down the highway the number of miles when moving every fourteen days while fulltiming. Most of the people here will have a full complement of camping equipment, solar with a freezer, some type of propane heat with the proper clearance as well as a 20 lb propane bottle or two and everything they own. Standing room, portable potty, and an area you can shower in come in handy. I, like you, have used Poor Man's Fiberglass and instead of light weight foam slightly heavier interior doors filled with spray foam to build a trailer and a large pickup topper. I over loaded my trailer but since my box was removable I was able to transfer it to a better utility type flat bed trailer. Because mine was a standup built exactly to my height I could still tow it with a small 4 cylinder Toyota truck barely. The trailer has grown from 80" wide x 90" long to 138" long . The first version was just a sleeping / storage compartment the longer second version is basically a bathroom with storage. Without the trailer it is less than 1500 lbs. loaded. I firmly believe foam will work but if stand up height interior build outs must be structual as well. Because these are waterproof boxes it makes more sense to build one of these on a light weight utility trailer than paying more to get a new leaky cargo trailer. You would do well to go to the RTR and do a demo on construction so people can see how easy it really is to build with these methods of construction. I will be watching and I hope lots of people here will too!

Thanks. My channel will include how I address some of these issues you brought up. This is just a simple build that anyone can build in a couple of weekends and with not much cash out.

Upgrades can be made once I figure out a weak spot. I have already changed the wheels and tires out to a larger size. The original tires and wheels are fine for pavement and light dirt, but really lack on rougher roads. The tire/wheel conversion cost me $150.00 and made a huge difference in off road/rough road performance.

Future upgrades will include a 1' tongue extension that will also run the distance under the trailer and provide a receiver on the back. 3500lbs axle with brakes and 33" tires and wheels to match my Jeep. Tongue box/rack for extra stuff, Roof rack, rear tire carrier, Solar, slide out kitchen, A/C, Heat. Trying to push this build to the limits just to see how far I can push a foamie and document it's progress along the way.

I figure if someone wants to build a foamie that they can add what they need.

George.

Yea! Funny we started out with an 1988 Wagoneer but now have a beefed up J10. If your gonna do AC better plan for a generator. One of the reasons I went with interior doors was strenght to hold solar panels and boat racks etc. Where with foam you insert chunks of wood to do atachments I simply use a 1" hole saw, Gorilla glue in a perfect fit 1" dowel, then drill 4 holes a few inches out and fill the entire area surrounding the dowel with the dense window and door Great Stuff spray foam. After allowing it to set up I cover the area with PMF drill a piolet hole for what ever fastner I need. It will hold at least 60 lbs vertically in most cases. Using larger diameter windshield ribbon installing vents and ports or windows I don't even need fastners and if they need to come out they have to be cut out. Something I learned a long time ago while building wooden boxes in the back of jeeps for chains and recovery equipment in wet swampy enviroments was not to use metal fastners as the wood would rot around the screws and pull apart. Now I use hardwood dowels and glue alternating with screws until every thing is set up and dry then remove the screws, drill and replace the screws with more dowels. No more stripped or sheared screws and the wood joint lasts years longer I have very few metal fastners in my builds. Get busy doing more great things I'm getting old and someone needs to show the RV industry that it doesn't have to be heavy or fall apart every 10 years if that. One more thing the floors should be 1/2" plywood with 2 x 2 lumber framing with 1/4" plywood bottom with all voids filled with spray foam, then completely covered with PMF. It is much stronger than plywood foam plywood panels and will not flex even with over 200lbs walking on it. I use spray on undercoating or bedlinner on the bottom because rock strikes don't seem to affect the finish.

It helps to bring in more traffic to a blog when you add it the the extra keywords for SEO, search engine optimization. That is why I am adding this information as lots of traffic will be nice to have and help bring in revenue as well. I am underlining all of the SEO tag keywords to put into your blog.

"Foamies" are a type of structural insulated panel also referred to as "sandwich panel" or "SIPS". The skin on the panels can be done with a variety of materials including fabrics such as canvas, carbon fiber, fiberglass, mylar, plywood, metal, plastic, mdf, glass, ceramic tile and more.  If you are going to write a blog about them it is good to know a little more about what classification of structure they are in engineering wise.


Light weight cabinets can also be built with gluing canvas or strips of plywood over a lightweight wood frame without any core material inside. Those are called "stress skin panel".  Works great for lightweight cabinet doors as well. Or cardboard instead of foam, you see those done quite often in houses where they are called hollow core doors although they are not actually truly hollow, they are actually in the classification of "honeycomb panel". So a Foamie Trailer is a foam cored panel or  foam sandwich panel with a canvas skin.

Best of luck with your new blog and use some of those underlined words for extra research on the subject

maki2 said:

It helps to bring in more traffic to a blog when you add it the the extra keywords for SEO, search engine optimization. That is why I am adding this information as lots of traffic will be nice to have and help bring in revenue as well. I am underlining all of the SEO tag keywords to put into your blog.

"Foamies" are a type of structural insulated panel also referred to as "sandwich panel" or "SIPS". The skin on the panels can be done with a variety of materials including fabrics such as canvas, carbon fiber, fiberglass, mylar, plywood, metal, plastic, mdf, glass, ceramic tile and more.  If you are going to write a blog about them it is good to know a little more about what classification of structure they are in engineering wise.

Light weight cabinets can also be built with gluing canvas or strips of plywood over a lightweight wood frame without any core material inside. Those are called "stress skin panel".  Works great for lightweight cabinet doors as well. Or cardboard instead of foam, you see those done quite often in houses where they are called hollow core doors although they are not actually truly hollow, they are actually in the classification of "honeycomb panel". So a Foamie Trailer is a foam cored panel or  foam sandwich panel with a canvas skin.

Best of luck with your new blog and use some of those underlined words for extra research on the subject

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Thanks, I do try the SEO stuff, but yes you are correct on the engineering terminology and is something I should have though of myself since we talk about that from time to time on the TnTTT.

bullfrog said:

Yea!  Funny we started out with an 1988 Wagoneer but now have a beefed up J10.  If your gonna do AC better plan for a generator.  One of the reasons I went with interior doors was strenght to hold solar panels and boat racks etc.  Where with foam you insert chunks of wood to do atachments I simply use a 1" hole saw, Gorilla glue in a perfect fit 1" dowel, then drill 4 holes a few inches out and fill the entire area surrounding the dowel with the dense window and door Great Stuff spray foam.  After allowing it to set up I cover the area with PMF drill a piolet hole for what ever fastner I need.  It will hold at least 60 lbs vertically in most cases.  Using larger diameter windshield ribbon installing vents and ports or windows I don't even need fastners and if they need to come out they have to be cut out.  Something I learned a long time ago while building wooden boxes in the back of jeeps for chains and recovery equipment in wet swampy enviroments was not to use metal fastners as the wood would rot around the screws and pull apart.  Now I use hardwood dowels and glue alternating with screws until every thing is set up and dry then remove the screws, drill and replace the screws with more dowels.  No more stripped or sheared screws and the wood joint lasts years longer  I have very few metal fastners in my builds.  Get busy doing more great things I'm getting old and someone needs to show the RV industry that it doesn't have to be heavy or fall apart every 10 years if that.   One more thing  the floors should be 1/2" plywood with 2 x 2 lumber framing  with 1/4" plywood bottom with all voids filled with spray foam, then completely covered with PMF.  It is much stronger than plywood foam plywood panels and will not flex even with over 200lbs walking on it.  I use spray on undercoating or bedlinner on the bottom because rock strikes don't seem to affect the finish.

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Good to hear you have a old J10! That is too cool. Thanks for the info on the hard points. We have discussed attachment points before on the TnTTT. I have not played with them too much as of yet because I have not had a need for them as of yet.

My main concern is strength on washboard roads. One of two things or a combination of both I think will have to be applied for attachment points to work on these road conditions. Either real strong attachment points that really can spread the vibration across a large area and/or really supple suspension that will not transfer the jolting to the trailer body. I am not too concerned about the foamie as it is now on washboard, but start attaching things to it and it could go bad if not done right. Washboard roads will literally destroy attachment points if not addressed properly even on traditional built trailers.

George.

I can almost guantee any thing you build with this system will out perform a manufactured trailer or something owner built using traditional methods. Some of the older cargo trailers are close but just like Air Stream are so heavy built the suspension really takes a beating over time. Yes attachment points are crucial and why I build the floors so heavy in the form of a reinforced box which is completely glued internally and stressed by Poor Man's Fiberglass (PMF). I would be tempted to frame this with angle iron on two sides for suspension mounting if it was staying on pavement it is so strong but then that is thinking like most camper manufacture's. Because I have used materials that could be affected by moisture instead of foam I try to insure water does not get or sit against the underside of the trailer. The trailer frame is underneath and inside of the box and because my PMF is applied to the sides last it forms a drip rail of sorts as I extend it around the bottom edge. I don't know if I am right in my thinking that I need twice as much axle as the weight I am going to carry but it sure makes me feel better after having too little on my first build.

Latest video on my Build. If interested check out the channel for more videos. George.

[video=youtube]

George drip rails and rub blocks are a good idea. I PMF the entire box after building the entire box including and starting with the bottom. I lap the material up over sides several inches, next the sides laying the material several inches onto the top and extending the material past the bottom overlapping the bottom material. After the material and glue have dried I trim the material a 1/4 or 1/2 inch below the bottom surface making a drip edge. I then paint it and finally cover it all with truck bed linner. I did mount it on an expanded metal floored trailer once and noticed the bed linner did wear so adding spacers or mounting blocks would be a good idea. Usually my box is larger than my trailer so the water just runs off the built in drip edge of the box.

A foamie demonstration at RTR wouldn't even necessarily be building a trailer. The technique is also useful for lightweight shelving and other bits that can be used for vandwellers and cargo trailer folks who want to save weight on fixtures. Something like that would allow folks to go ahead and make something useful for themselves right there along with the demonstrator for their rigs.

We've been using the basic idea with model airplanes that take a lot of abuse, for years, and it's demonstrably tough.

Yeah... as mentioned previously, I don't think I'd put a tall one in the wind without some internal reinforcement, but even that would come out pretty danged light.

velojym said:

A foamie demonstration at RTR wouldn't even necessarily be building a trailer. The technique is also useful for lightweight shelving and other bits that can be used for vandwellers and cargo trailer folks who want to save weight on fixtures. Something like that would allow folks to go ahead and make something useful for themselves right there along with the demonstrator for their rigs.

We've been using the basic idea with model airplanes that take a lot of abuse, for years, and it's demonstrably tough.

Yeah... as mentioned previously, I don't think I'd put a tall one in the wind without some internal reinforcement, but even that would come out pretty danged light.

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I use to be into canoeing and read all about making canvas canoes. I actually started one, but never finished it. I later got into RC aircraft, about the time of the foam park flyer craze was hitting. Built a few park flyers and a few kit bash from foam poster board.

I always wanted to build a teardrop trailer and when I read about the foamies a light went off. What a great idea, canvas and foam..... together! So that is how I got to this place.

There are a few tall foamies out there. They seem to work just fine.

I have heard about the RTR before, but have no idea what it is. George.

RTR = Rubber Tramp Rendezvous. annual event hosted by Bob Wells owner of this site. go to the top of the page and click on gatherings. highdesertranger