Cold weather considerations

[chuck]

I was (am) having second thoughts about a fifth wheel for my use, as I chase the snow during the winter rather than running from it. Fiver has some issues in the cold, i.e. going down the road on the furnace to keep warm, no engine heat etc. Did a search to find a vehicle designed for winter and found the www.bigfootrv.com site.

Looked at some of these class Cs in Bozeman Montana and they do some good things when it comes to insualtion etc.

They use spray urethane foam in the walls, ceiling and floor for a R value about 12.

They fill the square aluminum tube frames with foam to help insulate.

They have two floors, with about a 6 to 7 inch gap, where they run the heat and other utilities. Both floors insulated.

They run the engine heat into the holding tank area which is fully insulated, as well as the furnace heat.

They do some good things, worth a look at when you are making your dream coach.

chuck

[WalliK]

In the class C community Bigfoot is very well knows as a real 4 season coach with perfect insulation and quality.

BUT, did you also look at the prices? A 34 ft (thats overall lengh, not box) onthe new Kodiak 5500 is listing around 200K. Ouch.

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

....polyisocynate insulation costs about 40 cents a board foot sprayed in.....the rest is just like any other motorhome....I build it into my trailers and VOlVOS...My whole house in sprayed with Polyisocynate foam insulation.... I have a superinsulated home.....I'm remodeling a home in another town right now and it is 4.5 inches of polyisocynate foam....for a R-32 wall and an R-60 ceiling....with NO air leakage.....my heating costs are about 20% of others on the same street at about the same size 3000 sqft.......geofkaye

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

....chuck If you want warm and at areasonable price....build your own or have a custom builder build you one......specify polyisocynete foamm sprayed in and forget about any other method of insulation.....fiberglass is an air filter and styro self distructs in vibration and turns to dust and round balls of styrofoam.....newspaper is usless....poly in boards is good if sealed with spray can foam-just time consuming and it is about 32 cents a square foot one inch thick now....geofkaye

[Warpath]

That is a really, really nice, well thought out rig. Love that interior. I have heard alot of good things from BigFoot on the Slide-in side, didn't even know they where building motorhomes now.

But the chassis maybe another story. We where coming down from the U.P. of Michigan last year and ran across a Jayco on that Kodiac chassis. There was a decent cross wind and that guy was having a heck of time keeping that thing between the white lines. It turned out the same guy pulled into the campground we where staying in that night and came over and asked a couple questions on how my M2 handled. He didn't even realize we blew by him a couple of hours earlier. He had moved up from a smaller class C and said it was a improvement, but still struggled with handling in the wind.

To be honest I didn't really thing the winds where even close that bad. Make sure you test drive one with some wind blowing.

Tell Bigfoot to put one on a M2 or Columbia for and than you may have a winner. Although from the sounds of it it may cost ya.

[chuck]

geoff:

I agree polyiso is the way to go on new homes and any other place you want to reduce energy use. How did you insulate the Volvo, did you take out all the inside panels and spray? At menards they have inexpensive foam guns, but not sure where to get the polyiso. What do you use to foam and where to buy?

Thanks

Chuck

PS I have to do this myself don't have any "ladies" to help me.

[vapoppa]

bill, i didn't even finish reading the replys before i went to the bigfoot link. after i looked at the link i thought, wonder how that runs, drives, and stops?---- it would make a nice unit on a 350- 450 hp rig with a full auto and a 3 way jake, plus i would spec 12,000 front and 22,00 rear. then you'd have a rig that would last nearly forever and not give worries on the road. ----- mase

[KAYE RIVERCITY]

....chuck: I removed the interior and had Miss Dorthy clean it with the extractor in the sunshine and let it dry over nite and then clean it again the next day....Miss Dorthy only has one eye that works and she will miss spots now and then-but she got them all on the second pass.....the interior is cardboard backed so you can't get it too wet- I don't use a wetting agent in the extractor-just a commercial carpet cleaner and hot water[140d]......with all the interior out I used mostly Poly board/liquid Nail [scraps from another job] to fill the gaps and had a friend spray the rest with his foam rig same as with the trailer....I did do a lot with spray cans but ran out of time and had him finish the insulation for me......I gave him 2 houses to spray so me made off like a bandit on the deal......the trailer is 2 inches thick[minium] and the tractor is 4-7 inches thick except the doors and they are bubble wrapped 2 times inside and out.....maintaing heat and cool is not an issue to -5 and as hot as 100 in the sun-[no matter how much the wind blows]....I'm all electric heat and cooled by generator or shore power[13,000 btu's max.]......as soon as I get this house done in Fairfax, Ohio and move I'm installing a foam unite in a trailer and doing small contractor jobs-DIY's- and RV's and other easy jobs along with building custom RV unites myself.....it works so well and is so profitable it is like stealing without a gun or gyn shoes.....MAX insulation value for buck -you can't beat it.....It eliminates the problem with air blowing threw the cracks[infiltration] and blowing all the heated/cooled air out of any structure......you can build with less mass and use the polyiso to fill the voids-strengthen the unite and increase the insulation by a factor of 4-eliminate vermin and bugs-add fire resistance...very easily.........and it works every time-with no come backs.....You might call North Corolina Foam Industries to see what they can tell you about prepackaged unites.....I know that they are on the market as I have seen them-but I wasn't interested in them as I want a mixing unite and all that goes with it for commercial use.....I'd ask for Barry Culp he and I know each other and I'll be buying my stuff from him-he is a "good old boy"....he supplied the foam for both of my remodeled houses through Jeff Combs here in Ohio last month and in '95......Jeff is mostly interested in Commercial Roofing and rarely uses his foam rig.....geofkaye