"Affordable Adventure" Budget-Friendly FOAM Trailers 

Tom, if you’re reading this comment, make sure you give us an update on how your trailer is holding up. And if I didn’t remember to say it in the video, Tom, thank you so much for sharing this with all of us!

This is what the tear drop trailer market needed. We don't all have $29,000 to make our camping dreams come true.

Boat builder here. Sometimes foam needs to release gases. I would recommend doing the interior fiberglass first. Make sure to use a metal roller to saturate all of the fiberglass. For the outside after glassing Then wipe the whole thing down with acetone, so long as there is no external foam. Then spray on the outer coating. Do the coating in an area without humidity. Dont spray it on an 80 degree day.

I was one of the first foamie builders. They said that a trailer made of foam would blow apart going down the freeway. We proved them wrong. I really wanted to push a foamie to the limits. I have been beating on a square drop that I built in 50 hours for over 4 years in the back country. It is still going strong. Can't go wrong with a foamie.

Hey Drew... I have made a few changes to the camper... I changed out the cork ceiling with a carpeted one, i think it makes it a little quieter inside and seems to be holding up better. I also added a wire shelf inside, it gives me a lot of space to put things that I like to have handy like my phone, change of clothes vs having a lot of that stacked up along the sides. I can't remember when I did this, but I took the whole thing off the trailer and fiberglass the camper to the floor. Before that I had the camper foam glued to the floor with "great stuff" and strapped it down to the trailer in fear that it would break free and fly off on the road.

Try diamond plate for the front cap. The extra weight would actually help at highway speeds.

Another thing that cut the price down is Tom knowing a guy that just happens to have a CNC, willing to play around with Tom's project. Nice work, too bad we cant buy the pre cut pieces to assemble in a kit or a template.

We just “finished” our foamie and love it! No fancy cnc machine but we got it done. Get 21 miles to the gallon and stay comfortable in all weather. Foam all the way!

I had the best time of my life camping from 15-21 yrs old. When I was homeless. You'd be surprised at how little you need to feel safe and comfortable.

Many schools are adding CNC routers (ShopBot trade name) to their Fabrication Labs. If you don't have access to one you may want to check the schools in your area. Teachers are always looking for projects the students can use to learn the design process and equipment setup. Many labs need revenue to keep them going since most were initially funded by seed grants. Offer to pay $100-$200 and they'll probably be very interested. Thanks for bringing this project to us and thank you Tom for sharing with us!

At Lowe’s or home depot or any large store like that you can buy sheets of pvc, that would probably be a great fix for the front. It’s light weight and pretty sturdy to hold up against rocks, wind, weather, etc. and it can probably just be glued on

This may have already been pointed out in the discussion stream, but Tom could have a tidy side business offering his CNC files for sale. His build is pretty impressive.

So I’m sitting on my sofa sketching plans to convert my utility trailer into a camper. I’ve been watching RU-vid van life videos for ideas and came across your video! Talk about perfect timing! Thank you SO much for sharing this video with us.

Good job. West Systems Epoxy does not melt foam and is SUPER strong. It's not cheap but it would really make this indestructible... (realitively).

Creativity never ends! Just loved it. 350 pounds = 158.76 Kg, are you kidding me? Super impressive. How good will this go into a truck bed camper? Into raining? Into hot weather. His way is just awesome! Thank you for another great find Drew! I bet you got impressed, didn’t you?

The weight savings is amazing. I would have never thought of a form teardrop camper.

You dont need a cnc machine to cut these, a custom hotwire cuts foam cleanly and quickly, good luck on your builds everyone!!

Tip: if you first prime foam with KILZ brand latex based primer, the foam can then accept any kind of paint without melting.

Awesome! Love seeing people build their own travel trailers. We just got into teardrop trailers a little over 7 months ago and love seeing how other people take on the small trailers. Wants me to make my own.

Thanks for the overview of this amazing trailer, Drew. It would be wonderful if someone produced these commercially to give a low-priced option for those that are not able to build a DIY version. It would also be great for someone to host a workshop/course to build these together, like those that offer courses to build canoes or kayaks... Foamy Farming 101! 😊

The way it came out, wow. Foam is such a good isolation material too. If done properly, no wood is truly needed. Busy designing my first trailer and Foam panels are playing an integral role in it. Combining Foam with other composite materials (to keep it water tight) to build a 1 piece trailer shell.

$25 a sheet for the foam?!? Where's he getting it at that price?!? It's $60 a sheet here in Tennessee. I have plans to make a 6x12 foamie teardrop similar to the Bend Trailer design. So wish it was $25 a sheet here. Love that he had someone with a CNC machine to help him do the puzzle piece construction.

That's Pretty Ingenious Actually!!! The Fact that you can Choose what type of trailer you want to put it on is a Great Seller as well....Me Likey🤙🏽

I saw one going down the road yesterday. Going north in Illinois. I searched RU-vid to find exactly what I saw yesterday! I was traveling north on 57.

I think what’s neat about the foamie, is this video just barely scratches the surface about what you can build for low coast. Their are a lot of low cost rigid foam products out there, that have specific architectural applications. It will be neat to see what the community does.

Along with what i had in it, I also built an ammo can propane firepit which was easy and fun to do... no more worrying about getting to a wet campsite with wet wood for a fire, this really does the trick!

Great project! For the front, you might want to consider bed liner or automotive stone guard paint. Both can be mixed to any color. It would help with road hazards when towing and be more durable. Thanks for sharing - again - great project!

Drew, Great job on the video again! Thanks again for taking an interest in my Foamie... It was a great project and looking forward to what I might come up with next!

My initial guess is there were some small amounts of moisture under the paint. Any trapped moisture will expand (1600x) as it vaporizes. I also suspect these bubbles will worsen.

Economical, inexpensive, light weight, ease of construction, minimal amount of materials = Go out and enjoy the great outdoors without taking a second mortgage out on your home in the process. What not to love? Enjoyed the vid, here's one for the little guy! 👍

Next time you could try using epoxy on the fiberglass cloth instead of latex paint. You could paint after but the epoxy would make it more waterproof, hard, less chance of detachment of the cloth, it’s much better.

When we use foam for RC planes, we first have to lightly sand the foam to make it *rough* before putting on either paint or another Fibreglass layer. This ensures proper adhesion!

Airplane pioneers like burt rutan have been making planes out of fiberglass covered foam for years, theyre far stronger and more durable than their aluminum counterparts the g loading on a velocity is greater than 9 g's

Thank you for a no-nonsense video! Camping stuff is often loaded with clickbait, but this had no fluff and just the info I wanted about construction, weight, price, and a features overview.

I built an airplane oujt of foam and fiberglass. I used Epoxy adhesive which is designed to adhere to the glass cloth and the foam so it sticks so well it is stronger than the foam itself and will not delaminate. It also cures extremely hard so provides puncture and abrasion resistance. It IS more expensive than other adhesives but the advantage is worth it. You can then paint overe the surface for UV protection and esthetics.

Bears will love the way foam insulates and preserves the goodies inside . 😅

I would suspect that the bubbles in the paint might be spots where the foam may have had grease or oil on it or where it got heated a bit and melted a bit. I'm leaning more toward contamination though. I agree that priming it first might have helped to prevent it.

Really love to hear from anyone with one of these after a couple years of use.

OMG!!! I absolutely loved Tom's trailer. As a single lady who would have to hitch and maneuver the trailer alone, this is a fantastic solution. Is Tom planning on bringing this foamy into production? I would be customer Number 1.

Hey all, someone asked how i attached the camper to the trailer... great question because I struggled with that for a while. I started by using great stuff canned foam as an adhesive to the attach it to the floor. it sealed it all around and on the back interior wall. I also has 1 piece of the 2x4 uses to frame in the back galley so I screwed that down as well. That was my only positive attachment to the floor. After I painted it, I then fiber glassed the camper to the floor wrapping it from the bottom sides to the bottom of the plywood for the only idea that I could come up with for a solid attachment. Once that was completed I did my best to sand it down and make it look good, then I bolted the floor to the trailer frame using galvanized carriage bolts from the inside out. I then covered that with some foam squares I bought from Harbor Freight for the final step in the interior floor. That gives me some insulation from the wood floor and a bit of padding to crawl around on. I hope that helps..

That's kind of a genius idea! I'm just a bit curious of the structural integrity of it. Like, what happens when someone accidentally stumbles and falls into it? Would the foam and joints be strong enough to keep it from collapsing?

Would love to see his CNC files for cutting the pieces. What an awesome job. If he does any kind of formal plans, I hope you will post a link to it.

I love the creativity. What is it like to tow? Is it flying around behind you? Highway speeds? Semi passing? What about rocks flying up on the front end? I would have stopped at the campground and asked for a tour.

Few notes on this after having a client share the link with me. Weight is probably not 350 lbs. Might not be fully 500 lbs, but there is more non foam contents than Tom originally mentions at 3:30. Things like the stabilizers, the doors, fan, lights, paint, storage box on the tongue, etc that he goes on to eventually talk about. I believe the trailer itself is a touch over 275 lbs, each door is probably easily 30 -40 lbs. So close to the 350 lbs without any wood or anything else yet. All to say if you're really counting on 350 lbs and something like 400 lbs is going to be the line on make or break ( say you plan on towing with an ATV safely ), I would look into the weight of all the materials a bit more before starting the build. 10 hour assembly is something that comes from many hours of trial and error with the glues and fitting Tom talks about, as well as the trial and error from it seems other builds if you've gotten to a point of using a CNC machine. If this is your first build, expect in the range of ~40+ hours. If this is your first build, also expect a higher budget. Last I saw those trailers I think was ~$500+ not $350, and if you don't have any bigger tools like a circular/table saw, etc you will find you could easily spend another $300-$500+ in tools. Also, the doors I've seen recently are closer to $400/each. So you can obviously save by maybe just doing one, or possibly sourcing some of the items used, but it seems that maybe these supplies and their prices were purchased more than a year or two ago as all the ones mentioned seem to be what these items cost new a couple of years or more ago. This is all to say that in the end you can definitely have a lightweight trailer that's easy to tow and possibly store, but if you're going into something like this with a hard budget and hard expectations on weight, especially doing it for the first time, do as much research as you can ahead of time to avoid situations like having to buy materials again from measurement or cut mistakes, and possibly having to deal with having a finished project that simply ways too much for what you had in mind.

10 hours is how long it takes to figure out the tools I need.

I'm always surprised that people are surprised, that you can make stuff out of fiberglass covered cloth. They've been doing it with boats for decades.

Hey! I watched a guy make his camper using garage doors, which are basically Phone board on the inside and then on the outside they may have some metal. As a matter fact, I’m gonna attend to similar Build to that.

This is super cool. I actually just got a harbor, freight trailer myself. I’m thinking about putting some sort of removable camper on the back of it. That way I can still utilize the trailer for things.

I would love to see a set of plans for his trailer. The link to the instructables above is for a full curved teardrop. I love his simplified design with no curves.

This is a great idea. Im going to build something similar having seen this. You could double up the foam in some areas and shape it a little more aerodynamic. So many ideas in my head rt now. Typical teardrops have the rear axle about 32" from the back. That will fix the issue of flipping backwards. The doors run about $450 each. Easy to find. I'm estimating he came in about $1800. There are items he didn't mention when he estimated. Lights, stabilizers, paint, fiberglass, etc. A CNC machine would prob cost the average person some $$$. But still probably doable under $2,000.

Really like the whole thing and thinking about making one myself! But one concern I have is...yeah it's light, but that might be to light! Only 350lbsgoin down the road and you hit a nice crosswind, that might not end well😮 Maybe I'm wrong, but doesn't hurt to see how my brain works.

I built a stand in trailer with 1/4 ply and 2x3, elastomeric caulking seamed and glued and screwed. Hard foam glued in insulation and elastomeric exterior paint. It’s not very light but it’s super strong and will last a long time. I have a washroom with a shower and a bunk bed inside to sleep two comfortably. Running hot water, diesel heat, back up wood stove and a 12 volt cooler. I even have a 48 inch tv with gaming pc, PlayStation and surround sound for when I’m plugged in and have internet. I’m just working all the bugs out right now, making sure its water sealed tight before I do the finish panels.

I just love that you work so hard to bring us the latest and best teardrops. Thx

Clever. I'm wondering if, being so light, how much does it bounce when hitting holes in the road or going over railroad tracks. And wonder if the foam helps with sweating inside. My brother would have had ideas, he built his own Fiberglas cars. Maybe this will catch on.

Like contact cement, roll on a layer of tile bond and let it dry. It acts like a primer and a bonding agent when you lay up the glass mat.

Looking into building possibly such a trailer and a foamy boat in the future. I work too many hours working for this so I will wait until I retire to do anything. I am building and testing samples and hopefully a garbage can house out of foam construction panels. I have found that painting the roughed up foam first ( basically use sand paper to remove to smooth surfsce) first and then applying the burlap, old bed sheet, or fiberglass window screening and then immediately painting the reinforcing media produces better bonding & strength to the foam than using wood glue on my samples and foamy winter air conditioner cover I built. I found that after drying that another light coating of water based exterior paint improves the surface finish and weather resistance of the samples. I have place these samples outside during the winter and freeze and thaw weather that exists in Ohio. I have wanted make some samples up with fiberglass cloth from a boat building supply store and exterior paint like in this video. I am looking for a surface with fairly good impact resistance ( toughness verses just structural strength) and decent strength to the structure. My best sample so far has been the fiberglass window screening ( which will break when impacted with my hammer) with a canvas or old bed sheet painted on top of it. Could you be so kind as to comment on how the fiberglass cloth holds up to impacts as in my hit it with a hammer test? Perhaps you or the builder of the foamy trailer haven't tried this. If so please respond by commenting; " You don't know how well it holds up to impacts".

Foam container? This is just Uber Eats for bears😂

Great DIY build. I have a buddy who works in a machine shop, I would probably get some 1/16 sheet steel cut and bent to fit on the front of the trailer to protect it from rocks and move some weight closer to the tongue.

Smart, simple, and lovely.

Great idea, it took me two years off an on t I finish my build. I used PMF and skinned in aluminum. I didn't cut any corners but I have about 6k into it. Next build is going to be a foamie

Very interesting... kinda makes ya think. I'm curious about how it is attached to trailer. Also, are there commercial facilities where you could get the foam cut?

LOVE IT ! But I have a question. How is it anchored to the trailer? Why doesn"t the whole thing blow off in one piece? Thanks for taking the time to put up the video!

I have a $45,000 30 ' camper but have been looking for a small camper I could tow with my 4 wheeler and this looks perfect! 👍

I need to make something like this to avoid paying rent. This is less than one month's rent!

This is awesome. I'm thinking about building a "camper pod" for the back of my Kubota RTV. Basically it would slot into the bed and hang over each side. I have a two pole car lift in the garage that I would use to load and unload it.

Sweet

What a great build! Tom Mesi, from Mesi Madhouse Outdoors, is the King of the Foamy!!!

Very cool. I just did 2,200 miles pulling my toy hauler across the country from Oklahoma to Utah. Once I was in Utah, I wish I had the Jeep. Plus no wife and kids so I didn’t need all the amenities. Small trailer imminent.

I really don't understand going with the fiberglass cloth and then cheaping out using multiple layers of latex paint. For $160 worth of West System epoxy you would have made the foam much more structural, assured water tightness and had a harder exterior. Great job using the CNC.

I wonder if you covered the outside with a vinyl or some other sheet to provide protection from rocks and bumps, plus I'd imagine it would greatly increase the overall strength. Edit: I just saw that it's covered w/ fiberglass cloth. Excellent!

Very interesting but I wouldn’t be surprised that the foam and glue off gases for years. I personally wouldn’t be comfortable having my children sleep inside, but I would sleep in it. Of course, the RV 😢industry is full with materials that aren’t safe for humans. One question, how much of this trailer is recyclable?

If you take your pick (ex. Jayco) built this for mass market it would be 15-20K. You would think a major manufacturer that buys in bulk could produce this for $1000.00 and sell more than they could produce. This is what is wrong with all the builders large and small they have no sense of budget / affordability.

The bubbles are paint "starvation" locations. He did everything right, but there just wasn't enough paint at those sites to adhere the fiberglass to the underlayment. Small metal rollers and tools used in silk screening may wet out the paint better. It's wonderful to see excellent results using fiberglass and paint. It begs the question "would fiberglass and good enamel paint work better?" That's what I'd try.

This opens up a whole spectrum of new ideas !!. Thanks. I can do this

You probably could build a trailer out of SIP panels (structural insulated panels. And would really benefit from added strength and very good insulation

I would add a piece of diamond plate on the lower front behind the battery box to deflect road debris being thrown up from the jeeps rear wheels. Mud flaps would help too.

There is a channel, Drew Builds Stuff, where he builds a trailer for his bike. I love Tom's trailer here, and how cost effective it is. Now I'm imagining some slight changes and making it a bike trailer instead of a car trailer. If that thing were on an aluminum trailer instead of steel, it could weight a lot less... but you'd also likely need to buy the aluminum bars and weld it together yourself, which might not be as cost effective.

Use a Wallpaper Syringe loaded with glue. Inject each bubble and then use a trowel to smooth down each imperfection.

Not only a weekend getaway that can be towed by virtually any car, it can be an emergency shelter if an evacuation is needed.

Nice. I would've used epoxy resin over the fiberglass instead of paint. Polyester resin would work fine too and it's cheaper 🤘y'all have a badass day🤘🍻🤘

❤❤. The first thing I would want is to make it tall enough for me to stand in, being you said it’s foam, and you can do whatever you want.

Imagine making a tuff shed instead with foam? Could be a cheap great alternative

Very cool Concept. My only concern would be the outgassing of all of the foam chems in a small space.blessings

As a fiberglass experimental aircraft builder from plans, not a kit, I can tell you a foam and wet layup fiberglass build is easy and much stronger and lighter than any other material. The only downside is fiberglass and the foam is very very susceptible to UV damage from the sun. You must use a good paint that blocks the sun's UV light.

with foames no bs frame weigh . Easy to fix . The way they cure you get a bit of a preload '. the inside will shrink making the football affec . We found may get off-gassing which may what happen . Maybe try small holes through the foam for off gas and lock paint a bit better . .We found angled holes give a great bite We do glass /foam . for a forever trailer. the next step down would be one of these not much wood to rot easy to fix cost of tools . Won't warp as you build .Great planing and vido

No frills. Perfect and honestly all ya need if you are one man, or a couple camping. Maybe a 12v fridge and AC for me, though 😅. Pretty cool.

Wow, gr8 DIY trailer. A custom insulated economical lightweight teardrop. Best part is the camper can b upgraded w/ new & improved feature as the person continued camping. Thx 4 sharing on Utube.

I would do a few small, but significant, things differently. First, I would get the 5 x 8 Ironton trailer from Northern Tool. It's more money but definitely more space. Secondly, the part with the bubbling on the front I would coat with a piece of metal of some kind to protect what obviously takes the biggest beating while driving. I would also put a few creature comforts in the back like a microwave and maybe a little bit of propane to run a little double burner camp stove and maybe some kind of small heater. Overall though that little camper is awesome! I like the hard lines too for sure.

This is super cool. Granted, he confessed using a friend’s CNC, but like Ron Paulk (Carpenter/RU-vid Creator) states, a router is a poor man’s CNC! This is very doable by the average person that doesn’t have thousands to shell out to go camping.

Use rubber cement to glue a thin sheet of metal to the front part that bubbled up, it probably gets hit with stones from the tires of the truck anyway. Some vinyl wrap perhaps?

This should be marketed as a pre-cut assembly project

Do a Geo art design on the front in black incorporating the bubbles as peaks and plateaus. It might allow the bubbles to be far less obvious.

I saw a video where a guy built a Log Cabin in just 1 day that I obsessed over, BUT the cost and the weight of wood is too much, so the only logical solution is Foam! 🎉 The quick assembly is very similar. I want to make one that 6' so I can stand up. 4x8 Trailer Floor Then add an extra foot 6x10 above the wheelwells to the Roof for Cabinet space.

17 year composite tech. You have bubbles because of a lack of pin rolling to the surface of the foam. Other than that I would suggest a double layer of fiberglass over the front and top. If you use a long pot life glue, 8+ hours you should have no problem covering the exterior in that time.

You can buy a used trashed pop up and use that frame and build a camper too!!

NICE BUILD!!! So you are saying you use fiberglass cloth without using epoxy, but latex paint. Please let us know how it hold up later on.

Wind is entering through pinholes in the laytex in the front due to wind shear and it bubbles up from there. light ply or a plastic diamond plate is an easy fix and rock barrier too

Any chance his plans are available? I absolutely love the design and want to build one for my daughter. I just can't quite figure out the dimensions and angles he used.

Not certain this would hold up due to weight, screw on a steel plate to the front as a protector. No need to deal with the bubbles. And, a bit safer from debris. Just an idea. Super nice trailer

Elkhart Indiana Will steal the design then patent it. Nice work.