Just picked up my camper Tuesday 12th, spent 2 nights getting familiar with the camper. I absolutely love this thing! Couple questions for the group: Has anyone applied RV roof coating to the outside top of the roof for heat reduction? How about a futon for a mattress, any experience? I don't plan a big build-out, some minimal storage ideas that I'll share once done.
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- Thread starter aaaslayer
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skyfree
Active member
Better to just insulate the inside of the roof in my opinion. The roof is somewhat reflective and I doubt there is much difference between shiny aluminum vs white rubber as far as it collecting heat. The rubber roof will have a short lifetime and will have to be replaced also.
With an insulated roof (Polyiso + refletex) even in Death Valley at 100F the inside of the camper is not much hotter than the outside air. I run the fan on low while parked in high temps and strong sun.
The pop-up tent material is another issue entirely though. When I'm sleeping and the sun hits that gray rubbery material it turns into a sauna in minutes with the windows closed.
dstefan
Well-known member
What @skyfree said. I’ve in Phoenix, and while I don't camp in the heat for the most part, a lot of my build out sure was.
I never have thought my roof was a heat problem. It’s insulated with double sided reflective radiant barrier with a 1/4” closed cell foam core put up like a headliner.
I get way more heat from the thermal bridging of the camper sill plates and the areas the bed slide won’t allow me to insulate.
And the “canvas” is brutal in full sun above say 75°. I have the thermal pack and frankly used it more during my build out to block heat on the sunny side than I have camping.
As long as it’s below 90 and not humid it’s fine in the camper with the Maxair vent fan on.
I never have thought my roof was a heat problem. It’s insulated with double sided reflective radiant barrier with a 1/4” closed cell foam core put up like a headliner.
I get way more heat from the thermal bridging of the camper sill plates and the areas the bed slide won’t allow me to insulate.
And the “canvas” is brutal in full sun above say 75°. I have the thermal pack and frankly used it more during my build out to block heat on the sunny side than I have camping.
As long as it’s below 90 and not humid it’s fine in the camper with the Maxair vent fan on.
aaaslayer
Active member
Been 95 plus to 105 here in the Inland Empire high desert area every day so I have been refraining from working on the camper. Last mod was the flip up hatches, I was installing bug screen on each one by using velcro tape on the door jamb. I finished 1 and didn't start the other due to the heat. I've yet to do my ceiling still. Not sure if I want to go the route of coroplast up there, or just take out each foam insulation panel I cut to size, and wrap it in fabric. The coroplast would look nicer but it is a lot of work and time is limited
dstefan
Well-known member
Yeah, summer is for the mountains, not building out campers!
How did you, or did you, insulate the frame members in the ceiling? Thats a lot of thermal bridging up there …
FWIW, I also did a velcro screen around one hatch and never went back to the other too. So far in 41 days camping haven’t ever used it. I’m finding that with the top popped, even when hottish outside, the air flow through the ”tent” window screens is plenty with the fan sucking air out.
aaaslayer
Active member
Yeah, summer is for the mountains, not building out campers!
How did you, or did you, insulate the frame members in the ceiling? Thats a lot of thermal bridging up there …
FWIW, I also did a velcro screen around one hatch and never went back to the other too. So far in 41 days camping haven’t ever used it. I’m finding that with the top popped, even when hottish outside, the air flow through the ”tent” window screens is plenty with the fan sucking air out.
So on the sides I did 1" poly iso and then did reflectix.
On the top however, I only did 1" poly iso and left the frame members exposed. I don't plan on laying any reflectix up there. Just lay the coroplast over it, or even thinking about just removing the poly iso pieces I cut, and wrapping them in fabric of some sort so it looks "pretty". But I plan on leaving the framing exposed because I want to put riv nuts to attach some stuff up there. a mount for my ipad, some molle webbing to attach stuff up there, etc etc. The thermal bridging in my opinion isn't too bad. I don't do a whole lot of summer camping to be honest, so not worried about that. As for the cold, I'll just layer on accordingly when camping in the cold. I do a lot more camping in the colder months than the hotter months. The hot months I just enjoy offroading but no camping.
7000'Tundra
New member
dstefan
Well-known member
Congratulations! Great to have another Tundra and ‘Zonie in the fold.
My back fritzes out sometimes and my wife‘s 5’1” ish so we use this:
Didn’t use the brackets (it hooks securely on the bed’s wood rim) and cut a few inches off the bottom (easy) to match the height. Lightweight and has held up well. Don’t recall it it costing this much, but there’s lots of similar ones on Amazon …
dstefan
Well-known member
Congrats also!
VHB here (5259) on both insulation and Coroplast paneling. After 16 months and lots of heat, nothing has budged, sagged, or separated, including hanging from the ceiling.
edit: Rats! did it again … its 3M 5952 VHB (not 5259). I always seem to get it backwards!!
Where I have used self stick velcro (screen mounting around hatches, insulation over my rear window for removability) every single bit has buckled in multiple places and some has come loose, and it was good 3m velcro with a well prepped surface.
For velcro, I’ve had much better luck buying non-adhesive velcro and adhering it with VHB using 3Ms VHB primer, but it adds some time and extra steps. Haven’t had to redo a single one of those.
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aaaslayer
Active member
I too found it a bit tricky to hop up there. I also needed to keep it a truck as much as possible for work use. So I built 2 benches one on each side, I can store all my tools for work and when camping, I can store all my gear in them and if I need to haul sheets of ply or lumber or boxes, the middle section between the 2 benches has support to lay a sheet of ply in the middle and make it one giant platform up top for hauling stuff and/or for sleeping more people when camping. The benches also act as a step to climb up into the bunk bed. Otherwise, if I didn't build benches, I'd just do what @dstefan suggested and get a ladder of some sort. There's plenty inexpensive ones at Lowes/Home Depot for $20-30.
Thank you for the detailed response, VHB it is! I'm planning on some 1/8" lauan paneling with the the reflective foam core insulation you'd linked earlier in the thread. Current plan is Thinsulate in the ceiling with the headliner to hold it in place, I haven't decided on polyiso or thinsulate for the wall panels.
dstefan
Well-known member
Try to think through any future wiring needs before you insulate with VHB! Its worth running some 14 or 16 awg in your ceiling stubbed out to where you can envision your power source to be and where you may want power, especially for ceiling lights and power in the bed. Beats ripping up insulation later.
Also, thinking about the velcro, the problem has cropped up most with long strips of self-stick. It doesn’t roll up well and that buckles the backing every 4-6” weakening the adhesive. Where you want to use it, shorter pieces of self-stick may work ok. You can always slap some VHB in there if it fails.
Also, thinking about the velcro, the problem has cropped up most with long strips of self-stick. It doesn’t roll up well and that buckles the backing every 4-6” weakening the adhesive. Where you want to use it, shorter pieces of self-stick may work ok. You can always slap some VHB in there if it fails.
Excellent point, I'm have some rechargeable lights as my temporary solution so having everything pre-wired with come in handy once I move over to 12v lighting.