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Furnace Questions About The Furnace

Bear said:
Well, Sir, I'll do my best to respond to your questions and good ones at that. Also, thank you for your enthusiasm and compliments.

Well over a decade ago, Craig and I discussed in length how to best insulate a 550 as only I would use it. Since then I've taken added measures to increase the R-value of the insulation. The first order of business was to insulate the floorboard with double-bubble foil insulation and to seal it off with aluminum foil tape. The insulation must be laid flat, for any bump or lump will lead to condensation pooling in the newly formed air pocket. And because it will be sealed off, the collection of water may possibly lead to other problems.

Craig's knowledge was priceless, but it wasn't enough due to the condensation that would collect beneath the mattress and leave a film along the foil insulation. So I added a layer of auto carpet between the mattress and insulation. Auto carpet was preferred because of its mold resistance factor, lightweight, machine washable and inexpensive.

This, too, wasn't enough. The BEST insulation and heat redistribution has been windshield sunshades. Sunshades positioned beneath the bedroll and over the mattress reduces the heat penetrating the mattress. Sunshades with a dull finish on one side and a shiny surface on the other work best. Place the shiny side facing up from the mattress, this will allow the shade to reflect body heat back into the bedroll and body.

Over the years, I have purchased four additional sunshades and placed them loosely over the double-bubble floor insulation. This works wonderfully in further reducing the condensation build up beneath the mattress.

It doesn't end there. I'm not a fan of the signature windows at the front of the camper. Reason being, on two separate occasions, while reading in bed, I had the distinct feeling I was being watched. Both times when I looked up eyes were starring down. An uncomfortable feeling to say the least. So the curtains have remained closed since 2005.

In the interim, blackout fabric was stitched to the back of the curtains that cover those windows. Later, double-bubble insulation would be plastered against those two windows. The same insulation would be used to seal off the moonroof (some might refer to it as a sunroof, but I never used it for that purpose).

All of the curtains now have blackout material fastened to them, and between it and the insulation the camper is a bit cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

As for condensation on the walls, its not as bad as it was before all the insulation was added. That does not mean that I have eliminated it. Sleeping with the windows open year round helps and having a rag handy works, too.

Where I've been chasing my tail for years is the two cabinets in the upper tier. Because the hatch hinge mounting bracket runs right through those two cabinets, the clothing in those comparts sucks up the condensation a sponge as the cabinet interior walls slowly rot. That hinge rains---all---winter---long. This forces my hand to transfer all clothing into large sealed bags. But it doesn't stop the rain from abusing the wood.

And last, but not least, the door aluminum door frame has an interior well that follows the entire circumference of the door. Inside that well I dropped in weather stripping. Now the frame doesn't sweat as much as it used to.

As for covering the bolt head to the fender, nothing that I have tried has stopped the bolt from sweating down the wall.

And there you have it. How did I do?
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Very well said and thorough, thank you!

I am reading about floor condensation elsewhere...and taking yours and Cary's advice...
will be looking at a vapor barrier, as needed.
 
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Sweeney said:
Winter is tough --- salt is the true enemy of aluminum. We had a couple scars from an unexpected road salting on ours. If I get mine early enough, I'll SURELY be putting on a thick coat of wax. I want to explore ceramics as well. Ceramics is oversold --- but it does have its uses, and based on what I've seen in the auto-detailing world I'd consider it.
I use a quart of the cheapest vodka I can get to winterize my trailer. Drain out what I can in the spring. Don't fill and drain. Just drain and fill. I don't drink or cook with the water in my tank though. I use either bottled from home water or on extended trips buy bottled water for drinking and cooking. Love the ease of winterizing. I'm in western Washington so not extreme cold winters.
We have camped down to about 28-30 degrees is fine with your furry variety of heaters :) It was still quite good as long as you have electricity to run a heated blanks. We found a 1200 watt ceramic heater + heated mattress pad would do very well even with a side tent and the door open. It wasn't toasty --- but in was comfortable enough. The biggest problem we had was the worry about knocking it over and igniting something. Not terribly likely --- I feel slightly safer with the furnace. Perhaps even bring that temp down to low 20's.

Cold hasn't been a problem --- its condensation. We had the sunroof option that CI used to offer -- it would quite literally drip when it got that cold outside. The '21 we're waiting for woin't have that, I'm hoping it will be more adaptable to cold.

I fully expect that most of our camping in the future will be done in the cooler months. Frankly, it's far more enjoyable....50 degrees and a camp fire is the best therapy there is. 90 and AC beats the office...but there have been times where I wish we weren't there.

We can get out usually in Mid-march --- by then there's usually been a rain to wash the streets and April is a safe bet. In autum, November and December are perfectly fine....we don' tsee snow typically until January.

THis leaves March, April, May, November and December pretty much wide open.....June and October are 50/50

I hate the loudmouth campers who insist on playing loud music and using their "outside voices" at 11pm. Let them have the June/July/August months.

On the hardware note, there is definitely no room for the leveler -- those go more like 12-13inches. Even though this area is smallish, its better than nothing - which is what I had in my head.

Honestly, I'm not sure these are needed --- in our 2012 we always leveled fine with the tongue jack and the scissor stabilizers in back. They aren't supposed to be used for "leveling" just stabilizing --- but the CI weights so little, as long as 1 wheel is firmly planted on the ground to keep from side loading, I doubt lifting the other is likely not going to cause issues.

I have to keep reminding myself --- simple is best. Maybe adding the Anderson is really not needed after all.

We bought into the lie that bigger was better, add more options when I watched a class A roll in, and push a button to stabilize, another to extend his slide, and another to extend his awning. Then he pulled shore power off an extension reel to the power pole. After that, he sat inside for the whole time we were there.

I thought that is what I wanted, except we would of course still go outside.

The reality was we didn't, and I was always worried about dependability of the hydraulics, the slides going off their track, electronics failing, awnings being blown away in the wind. During the years I owned a 'big rig' I DID have problems with all of those systems....and beleive me, they aren't easy to fix. Even if you know they they all work.

"enough is as good as a feast" --- and campers like CI are small, simple, and easy. The ONLY thing they lack is shower and head. The head I'll take care of with a Portapotty and a tent. The shower with some wet wipes.

Frankly, these are VERY capable little campers that even if you care for them meticulously, they are still 1/10'th the work of a poorly maintained full size trailer or worse, a class A/C.

I almost feel bad for the 30 somethings who buy towables or Class A/C. B's maybe not so much they don't typically have the slides and awnings. Seriously, anything with a slide, awning and/or rubber roofs are nightmares to own.

My neighbor has one sitting in his drive that is 7 years old....and its falling apart.

The irony is, I bought RV antifreeze to winterize my Class A just before we sold it. In my garage I have at least a decade to 12 years worth of campinn winterizations paid for already :) 1/2 gallon versus 10.
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I looked at the photographs, now that is some hard core camping if you are out in that. But that said, it certainly appears you have plenty of experience in cold weather camping. Carry on MAHKWA
 
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