Insulation question

[Chip]

ISO insulation is good as an insulator and has a great R- value however unless you can find alum faced material you may have a problem,,the facer sheets on the iso is fiberglass matt and it sheds,,also the iso material will shed off if you rub it,,bottom line is if you dont encapsulate the whole board you will be very uncomfortable,,the iso is a irratant to skin and the fiberglass gets in your skin,,if you ever used fiberglass on anything you know what happens ,,,,,you will scratch yourself to pieces,,,you may be warmer but you wont get any sleep,,,,just be careful with the stuff,,,and it aint cheap,,,1" material is about $10.00 a sheet,,not wanting to rain on the iso material but it would take several other considerations to be able to use it

chip

[tdhombre]

I would strongley recommend that you 86 the air mattress. I am sure that this is the main problem.

Failing that, I have always found a layer of newspaper between the air mattress and the sleeping bag to be a WONDERFUL bit of insulation. That is just a trick I learned when tent camping. It really DOES make a difference!

Good luck!

[Dave Nathanson]

I'm interested & surprised that the air mattresses have gotten so much attention. I never even considered that they might be part of the problem.

These are not ordinary air mattresses, these are ThermaRest air mattresses. Each is just about 1 or 1-1/2 inches thick, and they have a layer of some kind of foam inside the air mattress. They are called "Self-inflating", and although it might have been true at one time, it takes about 10 puffs to inflate them now.

But really, The part(s) of us that get cold are not along the bottom side, it's mostly whatever is sticking out of the sleeping bag - like say my head. We both have to wear hats to sleep in when the temp drops below 45 or so. I haven't actually been measuring it. Oh, and I don't think I mentioned that the floor is 1" plywood, covered with aluminum on the outside, and covered with linoleum inside.

So, although I appreciate & respect the idea that swapping out the air mattress for a 3" foam might be of help, I just have a hard time believing it. :

And I suppose I could just use a thicker sleeping bag, but the whole point is that I thought it would be WARM INSIDE the teardrop at night. I've heard so many people say how they have to crank the windows open, even in the winter, That I was really expecting to at least not be cold. I had planned to build the insulation in all along, but got talked out of during the construction.

Well, anyway, I'm going to re-read all your suggestions & think about what to do next.

Thankee!

[Nick Taylor]

Dave,

You could do some experimenting with temporarily insulating the roof and area in the front.

Almost all of the old factory teardrops had no insulation in the sides. My Ken-Skill has some sort of insulation in the roof but the sides are just 1/2" ply with the aluminum on the outside. Like I said previously I've yet to camp when it's been as cold as you're experiencing. Usually I'm too hot in the trailer at night and don't even sleep under the covers. But that's with it only getting down into the 50s at night.

I'm sure you'll get it straightened out and not have to cover all of that great looking interior.

Nick.

[Dave Nathanson]

Yeah, Thanks for the good words. Louise looked at an upholstery supply today & found some 1/4", 1/2" & 3/4" closed cell foam that we might use on the floor. It only comes in 4x6 sheets, which isn't optimal for a 5x6.5' cabin.

I'm thinking that the place to start is insulating the roof & front, so I'm going to try that first & see how it goes. Gonna check out the blue & pink boards mentioned here.

All I need is time.
and money.
and skillz. Oh, I guess more tools wouldn't hurt...

[beverlyt]

Dave,
We live in Michigan where it gets really cold. We knew we would need the insulation, especially since my husband does some "winter" hunting.
We used the "pink" stuff and it's worked great. We have NO condensation during cool nights. Another reason I wanted it was I thought it would be a nice sound barrier. We insulated everywhere...the floor, sides and ceiling.
I think you're on the right track of insulating what you can.

Also hunting time here in Michigan can include very cold weather and snow..... and NO electricity. I wanted a heat source that would not use our precious 12 volt power. We will go with one of these:

Keep us posted on how you make out!
Bev

[Chip]

Dave,, I think I read that you have a vinyle floor ,,an easy source of some insul is to put down a thick carpet pad and an in/outdoor carpet on top,,,it will give you a little r-value,,, it may be an easy partial fix

just a thought,,,,Chip

[R Keller]

Dave,

Thinking further about your problem, there is one potential reason why a non-insulated trailer might be colder than a tent. For the same reason that sleeping in a pickup truck bed is colder than sleeping on the ground: there is a constant flow of cold air under the floor.

For that reason, the Thermarests (which are an amazing invention by the way: I own several and even my Ultralite one is amazingly comfortable) might not be adequate, insulation-wise for the task. A cushion fitted foam cushion with at least a 3" depth would seal off the coldness from the floor a lot better methinks.

Rik

[Denny Unfried]

Hey Dave,

I used three layers of 1/2" polystyrene in the top and front. It bends very easily and gives a good R value. I take it you will cover it with a thin sheet of plywood if you insulate. It does help keep things warm as I was in the Sierras in May and stayed nice and toasty.

Denny - So Bay