Dandy trailer tent diy insulation options and ideas

Cazz wrote:Were more made with or without insulation? And what year was it available from? Now there's some questions. Im also assuming it shouldn't be too hard to insulate the bed bases and sides.

I've seen Kevin's photo on the Goodwood thread, it looks lovely.

In the early production i think more where made without insulation,as for under the bed boards and the end board my delta had polystyrene on the end board added by the previous owner and nothing on the bed board,the six has nothing at the moment but i intend to use something like this.



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That's the same stuff we've insulated the campers roof with, it works brilliant. We've used the one which is silver on both sides.

It's so good infact that the cupboard we didn't insulate makes an excellent fridge over night. On one very cold frozen day, there was ice in the cupboard and not in the living area.

I wonder if it's possible to insulate the walls with it as well, have them removable for easy folding. The will need covering so it doesn't look like a space ship,

Should a new thread be started for insulation?

Cazz wrote:That's the same stuff we've insulated the campers roof with, it works brilliant. We've used the one which is silver on both sides.

It's so good infact that the cupboard we didn't insulate makes an excellent fridge over night. On one very cold frozen day, there was ice in the cupboard and not in the living area.

I wonder if it's possible to insulate the walls with it as well, have them removable for easy folding. The will need covering so it doesn't look like a space ship,

Should a new thread be started for insulation?

Thats it had it all set in my mind about wall insulation then you go and do this, it would be light enough to velcro in place,covering it shouldn't be a problem,cheap, equivalent to 55mm polystyrene, my head hurts.

Sorry, I didn't mean to make your head hurt.

A draw back on the silver, is the foil could come off over time with constant folding, but then I guess the fold lines could be cut and rejoined with some sort of hard wearing tape.

Any experience with space blankets, like the runners use at the end of a race. They won't be as warm as the bubble/foil stuff though.

Cazz wrote:Sorry, I didn't mean to make your head hurt.

A draw back on the silver, is the foil could come off over time with constant folding, but then I guess the fold lines could be cut and rejoined with some sort of hard wearing tape.

Any experience with space blankets, like the runners use at the end of a race. They won't be as warm as the bubble/foil stuff though.

You would probably be able to roll it and not fold so avoid damage.

The best aid to diy insulation would be a guaranteed pvc to pvc adhesive,you can buy leatherette/pvc type products with a foam layer on the back,if a panel full size for the bed wall was cut and one inch of foam scraped of all the way round it could be stuck on.

As you can see i have been thinking around this for a while

I was considering folding the insulation and storing it between the beds, ark at me, I've not even got one yet.

Another though to add into your mix is fleece blankets, when our dog was sleeping in our draughty cab on the swivel round seat, he was grumbling about the cold, so we hung a fleece blanket over the back of the seat and hooked it up at the sides and top, so he like had a fleece kennel, well it got really warm in their and he slept all night.

They are also available in many colours, a bit like wall paper.

I like your idea of making it more pernament, but I personally wouldn't want to stick anything to original walls, but then I guess it depends on their condition.

Go on, what else have you thought of during the thought process?

Just having a cuppa then i will start a diy insulation chat and idea thread,we can have all the ideas and options together.


mike

Good idea and fab, and the cuppa.

Right cazz we now have our own thread perhaps we should allow others in i have considered many ways one is the table protector but not in brown,i thought it would be an opportunity to change the dark sides to white,also thought about insulation stuck to ply which would transport on the beds,these could also be painted white,on reflection i think the fleece blankets may get too wet.

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Interesting thought processes, would the table protector offer enough insulation? I've not actually seen one in the flesh. Perhaps the fleece blankets are better off on the bed, cosy but sweaty due to lack of breathability. I like the idea of sticking it too PLY, as long as it's not too bulky and pain to fit.

We use these in the camper, they fold easily, are very robust and make a huge difference. They used to sell a sheet so you could make your own, I can't see it listed anymore. Not cheap though.

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Yes, what is everyone elses thoughts or ideas?

Would you be able to get some pvc or the leatherette with foam backing, they sell white on ebay and cut it to shape riveting it to brackets that will hang over the batwing when in use and tuck it in at the bottom so you can take it off and fold it. Or is this just another of my blue peter idea's Warm air would get trapped in the gap and sort of insulate it.

cazz wrote:Interesting thought processes, would the table protector offer enough insulation? I've not actually seen one in the flesh. Perhaps the fleece blankets are better off on the bed, cosy but sweaty due to lack of breathability. I like the idea of sticking it too PLY, as long as it's not too bulky and pain to fit.

We use these in the camper, they fold easily, are very robust and make a huge difference. They used to sell a sheet so you could make your own, I can't see it listed anymore. Not cheap though.

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I have seen that stuff for sale on a make your own basis if i can find it i will post a link,we used it on our camper and it worked in the sense we kept warm but the windows where running with condensation in the morning,i thought the external ones may be better but never got to try any.

Sorry for the two part answer cazz got called away,i would think the table protector would work,i have been told it does but if you didn't mind coloured its fairly cheap on ebay,but if one side is not sealed it may soak moisture up and grow mould so i cant recommend it just throw it in as an idea.

mike

helen wrote:Would you be able to get some pvc or the leatherette with foam backing, they sell white on ebay and cut it to shape riveting it to brackets that will hang over the batwing when in use and tuck it in at the bottom so you can take it off and fold it. Or is this just another of my blue peter idea's Warm air would get trapped in the gap and sort of insulate it.

Another thought, but would it get wet as mentioned above, where do you use the sticky back plastic? lol

Can you confirm which part the batwing is please.

Going back to a previous post regarding the use of PLY, what about using correx instead, it's lighter and doesn't matter if it gets wet.

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The batwing is the pvc wall ie:- front pvc sides of front and pvc sides of the rear , they fold in when packed.

cazz wrote:

helen wrote:Would you be able to get some pvc or the leatherette with foam backing, they sell white on ebay and cut it to shape riveting it to brackets that will hang over the batwing when in use and tuck it in at the bottom so you can take it off and fold it. Or is this just another of my blue peter idea's Warm air would get trapped in the gap and sort of insulate it.

Another thought, but would it get wet as mentioned above, where do you use the sticky back plastic? lol

Can you confirm which part the batwing is please.

Going back to a previous post regarding the use of PLY, what about using correx instead, it's lighter and doesn't matter if it gets wet.

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That would give you an air gap so should work but i have decided on flexible if nothing else

helen wrote:The batwing is the pvc wall ie:- front pvc sides of front and pvc sides of the rear , they fold in when packed.

I wondered if that was the case, many thanks for confirming.

helen wrote:

That would give you an air gap so should work but i have decided on flexible if nothing else

I'm inclined to go flexible as well, but perhaps I should get a Dandy first.

I know, you lovely people can try out all the ideas first, then report back just in time for me to do ours, assuming we don't find an insulated one.

cazz wrote:

helen wrote:

That would give you an air gap so should work but i have decided on flexible if nothing else

I'm inclined to go flexible as well, but perhaps I should get a Dandy first.

I know, you lovely people can try out all the ideas first, then report back just in time for me to do ours, assuming we don't find an insulated one.

haha i think it might be a lot less hassle for you to source a fully insulated dandy,usually these come with gas heating as well.We will all keep our eyes peeled for you,its worth going the extra mile to buy one,we travelled 230miles to view our current one,460miles in one day was a bit extreme,especially as we went back the following week to collect it luckily we didn't have to go so far the 2nd time.

Dear All

If you were to have any other form of trailer tent or folding camper, it would have a clip on inner tent.
This performs two functions. It's a decorative aid adding colours and possibly patterns while hiding the poles and other such gubbins. The second function is that though light it is in effect a second tent, lessening draughts and providing air gap insulation. Also the bed areas then form into mini tents that reduce the volume of the sleeping areas so lessening the leaching off of warmth into the main tent.
Now I'm not going to suggest improving this with super heavy material, but what came to mind was the very thin silvered material used to line several fabrics.
However at this point I start to have a difficulty describing the product I mean.
At first I thought it was called Thinsulate, but that's just a clever high insulating air trapping fabric.
What I'm looking for is silvered heat reflecting fabric, perhaps something like [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
If you try heat reflecting fabric in alibaba you will get lots of options, but does one of you know better than me what I'm thinking about, also do you know how effective it is?
Eureka moment it's like the silvered fabric used for ironing board covers.

Second part of idea: If such a lining were thought to be effective............

I think I'll get your thoughts on the principal before going any further!

Kevin.

you could make something to hang from the roof bars kind of like a mosquito net but with the silver stuff, but would it be pleasing to look at personally I would go for attaching something to u shaped brackets to hang over the batwing frame and tuck in at the bottom, this would create an air gap and if you also have privacy curtains when they are pulled closed it would create something similar to an inner tent.

Helen

Sorry I didn't make myself clear.
I was looking at an inner tent, as found in most trailer tents but either lined with the silver fabric. Or if suitable fabrics come ready backed to use them.
By U shaped brackets do you mean the bit on the "Batwings" that the inner and outer poles clip in?
With inner and outer poles do these not get a bit full?
Poles themselves or make a different sort of U clip from the fabric to go over the "batwing" ?

Kevin.

Sorry Kevin, I have my dopey head on today, what I meant is attache a couple of U shaped bracket (clips) to go over the metal bar at the top of the batwing to some suitable fabric, just like the ones that you have on the awning poles, they would go over the bar from the inside like the new type dandy shelf ones do. You could then tuck the bottom of the fabric in under the foam bed mattresses or add velcro to the bottom of the fabric and stick on velcro to the inside of the bed frame to keep the fabric in place creating an air gap.

NickB wrote:

cazz wrote:

helen wrote:

That would give you an air gap so should work but i have decided on flexible if nothing else

I'm inclined to go flexible as well, but perhaps I should get a Dandy first.

I know, you lovely people can try out all the ideas first, then report back just in time for me to do ours, assuming we don't find an insulated one.

haha i think it might be a lot less hassle for you to source a fully insulated dandy,usually these come with gas heating as well.We will all keep our eyes peeled for you,its worth going the extra mile to buy one,we travelled 230miles to view our current one,460miles in one day was a bit extreme,especially as we went back the following week to collect it luckily we didn't have to go so far the 2nd time.

Have to agree here you are in the position to buy insulated especially as your not in a hurry,with my 6 it was offered to me by another member and in the right condition and a good price,but now i have to sort the insulation.