foam insulation

[SJESCAPE]

just put down deposit on 2018 5.0TA
wondering the pro/con of adding the foam underbelly insulation.
thank you for the useful information provided on this forum as we put together our build list

 

[thiggins]

We ordered the spray foam on our new 21, which we pick up in about 2 weeks! The spray foam (obviously) provides excellent insulation, and should help keep your feet from freezing in colder weather. In our now gone Casita, we'd put camping pads and carpet on the floor to make it more comfortable. Hopefully our spray foam will negate most of that extra effort.



Spray foam also help protect the underside of the trailer from damage. The Good and bad is, it does cover plumbing, tanks, etc,...Some people will argue that's bad, but if you need to, you can dig out the foam, do a repair, and re-foam it. I've had years of experience spray foaming houses, so I'm not afraid...don't be afraid.



Believe it or not, it also adds structural integrity and rigidity to whatever it sticks to, as well as quieting things down, providing thermal and sound insulation.



It's good stuff IMHO, though others will give contrasting opinions...which this forum is really, really good at...

 

[padlin]

Adding to what Thiggins wrote. I agree accessing the underbelly if you need to is not impossible, it added a few hours labor to my replacing a broken waste gate bracket. If you are reasonably handy it's not a big deal.


I find I still need carpets on the floor, when it gets near freezing the floor is too cold for our comfort when hanging out at the dinette.



It has saved me from some possible damage when I ran over a semi's retread, and at another time, a hunk of 2x4..


The foam isn't the prettiest thing.


The main benefit to me is I'm camp down into the 20's at night as long as it warms up above freezing during the day.



I can't comment if the foam helps to stay cooler in summer or warmer in winter as I've never compared foam to no foam, makes sense that it would though.

 

[SJESCAPE]

Thanks for info
How much foam coverage is there on bottom(Length x width) and thickness?
Any pictures?
Thank again for taking time to reply

 

[padlin]

I don't have any pics. From what I can tell it's about 2" thick, more then half the depth of the frame. Runs side to side between the frame. On my 5.0TA it starts in the front just behind the frame cross member below the propane tanks and runs to the cross member a little bit before the bumper. It also covers the waste pipes up to the gates, that's the part of it you can see walking around the trailer.