Friday 4 May 2012

The Expanding Foam Monster!


The curved section of the overcab bed area had us searching for a filling option as it needed something fairly rigid to support its shape but that would also be lightweight and insulating. In the end we decided on using expanding foam against the metal, capped with a layer of the grey squashy foam I got from work to give a clean working edge and finished with a plywood board to form the wall against the bed.


The grey foam cut in half was a perfect fit and stuck to the expanding foam nicely, though once I had enough in place I realised that the expanding foam cans really don't want to stop halfway through and it just kept coming out! I laid the can on the floor in a plastic bag expecting it to slow down once the pressure eased off and went out to the garage, but on my return the bag was nearly full of foam and still growing like something out of Ghostbusters! :S

Not wanting to waste any I grabbed another pair of gloves and worked my way around filling all the gaps in the insulation and down the gaps in the replaced floor battens etc until it had finally had enough. I then spent the next week gradually picking of patches of the foam residue from my arms, hands and wrists where I'd managed to accidentally lean in some of it in the panic - it really doesn't wash or scrub off so you basically have to wait for it to come off in time with your skin!

On Ryan's day off he cut the protruding foam flat to the floor and fitted the bed boards. He's also in the process of adapting our old king size foam mattress to fit the space which includes a 'bumper' at the open edge which he's found makes climbing up (and not falling out!) much easier.

2 comments:

  1. Again great to read about all the progress made!

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