Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Since I obviously can't make a decision on my own I am asking for everyone's help. Did you insulate your walls?

Insulation helps keep the 'sweating' of the walls down by keeping the inside walls cooler than the outside walls in the heat and the oposite in the cold. Moisture build up over time in a non insulated tear can cause problems. Just my opinion!

I used 3/4" ply with no insulation. The roof and floor have 1 1/2" insulation. Have not had any problems with sweating. Just make sure you keep the windows and roof vent open a little to let the trailer vent with fresh air.

We don't experience the extremes here in Oz that you do but I have insulated walls, roof and floor. I figure that 40C+ during the day and down to 3C- during the night warrants some form of protection to the occupants. We try not to travel in the extreme heat of summer here i.e outback/deserts, normally autumn and spring are the best times.

I only insulated the ceiling...my walls are 1" with no insulation...1/4 mohogany ext. 1/2 core and 1/4 interior...but then I camp with my auxiliary heater....my golden retreiver....doug

I've never built an insulated trailer. But as Kerry pointed out, condensation can, and often IS a problem. I've never needed insulation to protect me from the elements either. However when I go back into "manufacturing season" I am going to hit a "Midway" area with insulation. My interiors, roof & sides will be covered with a 5/8' foam backed rug. I don't know what the R-factor of the rug is, but its a good interior covering and anything insulation wize is an improvement.

Happy Trails

Len

I find this rather interesting...

No but I wish I had. 0% 0% [ 0 ]

That suggests to me that people who have uninsulated walls are fine with it. All the rest of us are over building, or rather over insulating.

When I built my Baja Benroy it was uninsulated... the walls were 3/4" plywood. I never had a problem with it.

The roof of course was fully insulated.

The only reason I would consider insulating today, is to keep the weight down.

Mike...

I insulated both Teardrops all the way around roof, floor, side walls, galley bulkhead for A/C in Florida. I am glad I did

Woody wrote:I insulated both Teardrops all the way around roof, floor, side walls, galley bulkhead for A/C in Florida. I am glad I did

In CA where many teardrops are, the uninsulated walls are probably fine. Same with MI. But I'll tell you, I've tent camped in FL in the summertime... If I was building a teardrop for FL I'd probably double up on the wall insulation... 1.5 instead of .75. And the roof, 3" instead of 1.5".

And the air conditioner would be optimally installed so that it was very efficient.

And no furnace!!!

Some things are just so easy...

Mike...

It is double alright 1.5 inches in the side walls and floor. The roof is almost 3 inches thick (It was free) so I put it in. I have been in the full summer Florida sun and froze my (censored) darn near off in there. That is one advantage of a digital thermostat vs. mechanical A/C unit. You set it and forget it and it maintains that temp no matter what the outside ambient temps are

I think you should more look at where and when you plan to camp.
I guess you could look at you camping habits up to this point.
We camp in a tent usually at off seasons when there are less people with colder mornings and chance of rain.

We did once take off to NM for a week and the mornings were very very cold as we got higher and higher in altitude. If you travel to the mid west and east you will have more humidity, or where it rains often, the southwest to the coast tend to be hotter and more dry. the Mountain states will have more snow as well as east of the Miss. River. The deep south sees little snow but it can get cold there too.

If you don't you might want to keep extra blankes or bring along sleeping bags incase.

If you do add insolation you will have thicker walls not not only reduce cold at night but thicker walls mean it can keep heat out as well and the difference in pulling weight would be very small.

really comes down to what flavor camping you like. Do you go to sleep and relax during the worm months, or do you go because you want to visit or see sites you have not seen and are not controlled by weather.
or just a need for new sites

How well do you adapt to changes in the weather,
my wife wares earmuffs in tempetures most of us would wear a light jacket in. where she was bung up she has never seen falling snow. am I putting in insolation

The one thing I found by being insulated is that I found myself camping in and more times of the year. It became all weather with A/C and electric heat. You have to consider that, like me, I camped primarily in my area with tents only at the cooler times. The insulated teardrop allowed us to travel just about anywhere and any time of the year now. I can technically go to camp in mountains in the snow one weekend and be on the beach in the Florida keys in the heat fishingthe next weekend. And still be comfortable ,because in reality it is a question of comfort, not a requirement. Insulation makes a big difference to us camping, because you never no where you might end up down the road. So it gives us (the wife) unlimited possibilities on now where to go and not be limited to tempeture and seasonal conditions.

Hey build it how you want too, it's your call

We are planning to insulate the roof (to keep the sun from heating things up inside too much) and the floor (to minimize condensation that can occur on the bottom side of your mattress from the difference in temp between your body heat and the cooler outside air - learned this the hard way living on a boat), but not the walls.

However, I will say I don't like weather extremes one way or the other, so to me it's not a matter of what kind of weather I can be comfortable in inside the teardrop. it is a matter of what kind of weather I want to be outside playing in. Because for me, I don't go camping to stay inside a 5x8 cocoon all the time. If I wouldn't be comfortable sitting outside in my lawn chair or riding my bike, or taking a walk, I wouldn't be comfortable camping, so my tear will be following the weather.

Becky

s4son wrote:Since I obviously can't make a decision on my own I am asking for everyone's help. Did you insulate your walls?

YEP !

Compass Rose has 1 1/2" of insulation in walls and roof and the 5000BTU adapted AC can keep up with solar gain (the 2400BTU Pet Cool could not). This is a high volume 400 cubic foot, tear drop.
Becky one thing to remember is that the sun is directly over heard for a relatively short period of time the rest of the time the sides get direct sun as well.