Spray Foam is worth getting

[SFDavis50]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

No.

• The black waste tank sits on top of the floor, not exposed underneath, so it doesn't get foam in any case, and doesn't need it. The piping from the black tank is exposed under the floor, and only gets foamed if foam option is purchased.
• If you don't get the foam under-floor insulation, there is no insulation applied under the trailer at all... not even tanks. That's normal - most RV tanks are just exposed, or above a cover but without insulation.

Oops, bad terminology on my part. I guess the black tank in the picture is actually the grey tank?

[padlin]

Originally Posted by SFDavis50

Oops, bad terminology on my part. I guess the black tank in the picture is actually the grey tank?

Correct. The black sits directly under the toilet which is raised a bit from the trailer floor. In the 5.0TA it runs from under the toilet to under the closet.

Here's the rest of the undercarriage in the 5.0TA if you're interested.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by SFDavis50

Oops, bad terminology on my part. I guess the black tank in the picture is actually the grey tank?

Sorry, just an invalid assumption on my part (that "black" meant blackwater waste) - the nearly-black coloured tank is indeed the greywater waste tank, and the freshwater tank is further back. It's the nearly white tank in the first of Bob's set of photos (and again to the right in the third photo), which work forward from rear on the street (driver's) side of the 5.0TA.

Same answer, though... no foam on any tank unless the under-floor foam insulation is ordered, and that's normal RV practice.

[SFDavis50]

Thanks for all the pictures and explanation. Even though I am in Colorado and would use it some in the cold months (and my sons would plan on doing some parking lot weekends in the ski country) I would probably opt out of the spray foam and tank heaters. I would probably cut up some of the 1 inch foam boards from Home Depot and lay them on the floor under the cabinets with the reflective side up if I needed more insulation.
RV antifreeze in the black and grey tanks and a 12 volt heater with some foam on the white tank seems like a better option. Maybe some bourbon hidden away in a cabinet.

[Ron in BC]

[QUOTE=SFDavis50;151984
I would probably cut up some of the 1 inch foam boards from Home Depot and lay them on the floor under the cabinets with the reflective side up if I needed more insulation.
[/QUOTE]

There is another alternative. I added 2" foam to the flat sections and since they are under the floor above they likely have some benefit in cold weather.

They're pretty easy to fit. Mine almost stayed in place by themselves but I still put some adhesive on them. And being a belt and braces kind of guy also put longitudinal light aluminum angles as back up for the glue.

I painted them black for appearance sake and also to add protection.

They've held up very well.

Ron

[SFDavis50]

They're pretty easy to fit. Mine almost stayed in place by themselves but I still put some adhesive on them. And being a belt and braces kind of guy also put longitudinal light aluminum angles as back up for the glue.

That looks great, I was wondering about doing that but without seeing one up close I wasn't sure how to attach the foam boards so they wouldn't fly off at 70 mph.

[nickh]

Foam is definitely the way to go, no question about it.