Insulating trailer

[Puppy Love Express]

I am considering building my own trailer. I am wondering how best to go about insulating it. Should I remove the paneling installed by the factory and fill the space with insulation or insulate the interior of the walls? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Michael

[gntlgrmrr]

What kind of trailer is it?

Is it a cargo trailer? If so, what kind of panleing is it?

[gntlgrmrr]

What kind of trailer is it?

Is it a cargo trailer? If so, what kind of paneling is it?

[mustluvdogs1]

Insulating your trailer

I live in Arizona where it gets up to 118 or higher in June/July..no exaggeration! I finally got the idea to insulate the ceiling. Wellll, Az has lots of RV places here. I found an auto/boat upholsterer with years of experience only 5-6 miles from my home on Main street, where all those auto places are. I had quarter inch foam glued to friberglass ( was finished smooth) with my choice of off white vinyl. They had to remove windows of hi top, but it only cost 350, as I recall. They had to remove A./C cover and even removed fur up in there. Beautiful job. In 118 degrees I could not tell how well it worked, but in more normal HOT days i know it helps.Also for cold winter. I think the van heated up quickly. Dryer keeps the van warm during the day. In summer same dryers also trap hot air , making it harder to keep cool. A/C must stay on all day from dog to dog, or I could never catch up to cool temp. I have a thermometer from Radio Shack to show how cool it gets if I don't feel it, I know it is cooler. Hope it helps. Boat /Auto vinyl upholsterer ncan do the job.Roof of vehicle can also be painted with insulating paint. RV places know the type with special name. Thick stuff, like melted marshmallow rolled on w/ roller.All insulation is very benificial, and worth the expense.

[Puppy Love Express]

cargo trailer

The types of cargo trailer I have looked at so far have just plain luan plywood paneling on the sides with nothing on the roof. I do have a couple of manufacturers locally that I going to visit also to see wat they have available. Any advice on what to look for would be greatly appreciated.
Michael

[Doug]

insulation

mustlovedogs
It is the one thing you pay for once so it is actually a cridical componant.With out good enough insulation you'll be paying for it for ever and never very comfortable when working or very safe from freeze ups in the cold climates.
Learn your R's and reflective combined with displacement.

[Puppy Love Express]

Foil-Bubble-Foil (FBF) Insulation

I am currently looking at this product for insulating my cargo trailer. It has an R-value of 14.1 which is equal to about 3" of fiberglass insulation. I know that Hanvey uses this product to insulate the water tanks in their sprinter units. I wonder if they also use it to insulate the rest of the van. I am thinking that my best choices are going to be this or foam board insulation. Would a combination of the two work? According to the research I have done thus far, I will need an airspace of preferably 3/4" between the insulation and any wall. This means that I would need to remove the factory installed plywood installed interiorly in order to attach the insulation and re-install it. I will continue to check things out and am still open to any suggestions.
Michael

[marcey]

The factory does it for you...

My grooming trailer, which I designed and had built to my specs, was insulated with an R14 (I believe) value BY THE FACTORY. Most trailer dealerships have a certain amount of inventory on hand, but what you want to do is order the trailer to your specs. For example, most cargo trailers have a 6FT interior. Once you add lights and an A/C, you'll be bumping your head. So order the 6'7" interior, insulation, and any other bells/whistles you need before you begin your own customization. You'll also want to specify where the plug, water fill, water heater vent, etc will go.

If you buy one off the lot, you'll end up killing yourself with customizations.

Also, if you are going with a dual axle trailer, be sure to have it professionally aligned AFTER you get the trailer. The factory won't do this for you and you'll be going through tires like they are being dragged. It cost me $90 for a professional alignment (after I went through hundreds of dollars in new trailer tires).

[Doug]

Michael

One of the problems I ran into was the metal frame work of the walls where there was almost no insulation where the finish wall was atatched to the frame.Those spots would have condinsation on them showing the frame work behind the walls on the gruman box van walls.I looked at some naked trailers last year and noticed it was going to be the same type of situation. mostly it allows a good amount of heat in on those spots in the summer.So you have to put a buffer over the frame any way if you have a number of up right frame peices. Im not really up on bubble wrap but I suspect your not suposed to pop the bubbles or they would'nt do anything at all which is what the space must be for.
So where are you from ,what state?
Out of curriosity how much space is there between the outer wall and the inside edge of the frame rails where the finish wall would go? The trailers i looked at had about an inch and a half of space that was with out any ply wood on the walls.

[Puppy Love Express]

trailer insulation

Im in middle TN. We have talked a bit before. I bought your magic paint to put on the roof of my existing RV conversion last summer. The RV It is starting to give lots of problems. Today I spent $300 on a new carb and install. It is getting to be regular problems like this and I have decided to get into a trailer ASAP. I am going to remove everything I installed into the RV and put it into the trailer. I just have to pick out a trailer first. It's turning out to be more difficult to choose than I expected. I found a couple of dealers/manufacturers locally that Iam going to check out when I have some time.
I had wondered about the heat transfer at the posts in the wall. Would putting a solid layer of 1" foam behind the wall and between the studs be feasable and still maintain structural strength? Hopefully, I will get to go visit a mobiler in the next town up and check out her home conversion.
Alsao, does anyone have steps on their trailer?
Michael