TIL: People Build Camping Trailers From Rigid Foam Insulation

OHSCrifle said:

Don't fall asleep with a cigarette on your night stand. 

Yet another thing you shouldn't do  ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶c̶a̶m̶p̶e̶r̶  anywhere.

One other thing to add to this conversation- there's a similar "process" to make really light weight cabinets.  I've seen a few videos where they took thinner material to glue together and then cover cabinets.  Pretty cool.

Still, a lot of thought and process has to be done if you want to wire the camper for lights or other power.  

One can also add a handful of wood frame materials to help screw things together.  And it also would matter how you want to finish the interior- while you can glue luann to the foam boards, it would go a long way to also staple it to some wood.  Plus windows/doors- how do they get attached?

In reply to alfadriver :

It would be a cinch to epoxy in a wood frame for doors. Windows, too, if you didn't want to epoxy the windows directly to the foam. The RC airplane community has has foam aircraft for a long time. We bond foam and wood together all the time.

Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself said:

OHSCrifle said:

Don't fall asleep with a cigarette on your night stand. 

Yet another thing you shouldn't do  ̶i̶n̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶c̶a̶m̶p̶e̶r̶  anywhere.

That's true. 

Looks like it is a cross between SIPs construction, and theatrical techniques (both of which I am very familiar with)

I see no reason why it wouldn't make a good strong structure. 

Appleseed said:

In reply to triumph7 :

My point was more of if Rutan can build safe aircraft out of foam and fiberglass, we can certainly build a camper out of it.

Oh, I know that but I wanted to point out that while it is foam and fiberglass (and I believe wood spars?) that it's not the stuff you find at Depot or Lowes.  Even using the proper materials the measured strength of some kit built components varied between 30% and 130% of design strength.

I went and pondered my trailer during lunch. It might be a good exercise to start small with this foam building process. Right now I use a tarp to cap the trailer which works well, but it is a bear to get the tarp tight so it doesn't flap. And once you get it tight, forget about getting into the trailer itself until we get to our destination. I've looked at finding a truck tonneau cover the same size as my trailer, but the size is just a bit off of a standard truck bed. Maybe I start out by making a low trailer cap from foam and hinge it like the snowmobile trailers. That way I just have to lift it up (or off) to access cargo without using the tarp. If that turns out nice, then I can use what I learned to plan a camping pod insert.

No Time said:

Is the foam structurally sound enough to make a home made clamshell that hinges open for snowmobiles?

Im thinking it could be used for summer storage if I included a floor to make it removable like some of the camper concepts. Essentially a foam storage container. 
 

Sure. It will be fine. 
 

But notice that the "structure" is not foam. The bottom edge (and the hinge edge) are metal- perhaps aluminum angle. 

I've been eyeing one of these for awhile.

Even possibly building a slide-in camper for our truck, but with fuel prices the way they are being able to tow it behind a more fuel efficient vehicle might have some benefits. 

One suggestion I've seen is building a frame designed to capture the foam. It requires welding (most use aluminum square stock) and then fit the rigid foam in between, then cover the outside with aluminum skin and the inside with wood. You can do the same thing with a wood frame.

In reply to slefain :

We worked together for 10 years and had many similar interests, these trailers being one of them. I still plan to build one, but since he's been retired almost 5 years now, he's had the time. He sent me some pics as he was building it and I just found them on my phone. Not great, but you'll get the idea.

He's very happy with it.

In reply to Peabody :

I like it! I'd need to figure out my entrance/exit situation. But that is exactly what I was thinking. Thanks!

triumph7 said:

Appleseed said:

In reply to triumph7 :

My point was more of if Rutan can build safe aircraft out of foam and fiberglass, we can certainly build a camper out of it.

Oh, I know that but I wanted to point out that while it is foam and fiberglass (and I believe wood spars?) that it's not the stuff you find at Depot or Lowes.  Even using the proper materials the measured strength of some kit built components varied between 30% and 130% of design strength.

The Ken Rand designs (KR-1, KR-2, etc) were foam wings with wood spars.

iirc:  Vari-EZ, and 'most' assorted associated designs, were effectively fiberglass-spars.  Really the foam's primary job was to give the fiberglass a shape to follow while the wet epoxy layup exothermically cured... making the building process more accessible.  Although, yes, there is some 'buckling' support provided by the foam to the wings via anti-drag and cantilever bending for the top spar cap and wing skin.