extreme weather package ha

[northstar1960]

Added my own insulation underneath and wrapped water tanks and lines . no need to pay for a so called FR extreme weather package . hooked up to power and a small ceramic electric heater in the bath room set at 750watts and the unit stayed toasty all night . in fact had to turn heater off as it was getting to warm about 2am . furnace finally came on around 6:30 am for about 15 mins . it pays to do your own work as what you get from FR is just a self started kit on wheels

[InTheSticks]

Nice, don't the Extreme kit come with double pane windows also?

[breezyhillfarm]

NO NO NO! This cannot be unseen.

[Kilday4]

Yes you are correct Sticks. Along with extra R factor on the insulation and heated holding tanks.


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[teddy]

Originally Posted by northstar1960

Added my own insulation underneath and wrapped water tanks and lines . no need to pay for a so called FR extreme weather package . hooked up to power and a small ceramic electric heater in the bath room set at 750watts and the unit stayed toasty all night . in fact had to turn heater off as it was getting to warm about 2am . furnace finally came on around 6:30 am for about 15 mins . it pays to do your own work as what you get from FR is just a self started kit on wheels

Care to expand on how you did the insulating? I have a Surveyor Sport 220. I would like to do this. Did you have to remove the undercover?
Also, does anyone know the fesibility of replacing the stock windows with double pane ones?
Thanks.


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[codespy]

Originally Posted by InTheSticks

Nice, don't the Extreme kit come with double pane windows also?

I can say this...on the FR Wildwood/Salem models, this is definitely not the case.

The extreme weather package is a sheet of foil (supposed calculated R-38 value) on the top and bottom of the camper. I had to pay quite a bit extra for the dual pane windows and dual pane patio door, also paid extra for the double insulation (R-14) for roof and floor only (N/A on walls) in lieu of the standard R-7 insulation.

So at least on some models I am familiar with, Extreme Weather Kit does not include the dual pane windows/patio doors.

[rana]

Originally Posted by teddy

Care to expand on how you did the insulating? I have a Surveyor Sport 220. I would like to do this. Did you have to remove the undercover?
Also, does anyone know the fesibility of replacing the stock windows with double pane ones?
Thanks.

Yes.. you have to drop the underbelly. Add foam insulation around all pipes/wires... but don't foam seal up anywhere you're going to want to get back into for rapair/mods/etc. Any gaps leading up into your rig should be filled with solid materiel and foam sealed. Once you get that far you can stuff lengths of standard insulation up and around things as much as you see fit, but the bulk of the insulation can be formed into the underbelly itself before raising it back up.

Don't forget other weak points for heat loss. Outdoor shower compartment, vents, pass thru, etc. In my pass thru I just insulated the two doors and the sheet of ply separating the underbed storage area.

I don't see why you couldn't have double pane windows installed. I would check with FR first though to see if the window framing will take the new windows. But you know they have to have them if for no other reason then as a replacement part. The West coast factory is where I would call. I don't know if they would sell you the double panes, but they might. I would imagine they would sell for a premium since they weren't installed from the get go by the factory. If you're paying for a 3rd party professional to switch them out I would also hazard to guess that it's going to cost you your first born.

If I didn't have mine, I would probably consider it cost/hassle prohibitive.

There are some things you can do to your single panes that will help to a degree.. adding cellular shade (honeycomb style shade) and heavy curtains. Your creating air and layers to help block cold from seeping in. Insulated window film can help as well.

You COULD use foam board to close off your windows, but the above are less intrusive and don't distract from curb appeal.

[teddy]

Thanks for the ideas. The insulation sounds like major work. Would it help to just add a thick piece of foam boad to the inside of the underbelly? Also, I thought of directing some heat from the furnace down into the underbelly to prevent water from freezing.
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[WolfWhistle]

I stapled Reflectix to entire floor bottom (did not drop tanks) including toy bay; and made tight fitting covers for all windows out if the stuff. I wrapped all underbelly water lines.. Not including the flush and fill lines. Recently added Northstar's furnace mod. I did install a Wave 6 catalytic in the kitchen / living too. No problem heating now. A cheap electric on 1000 to 1500 watts will do it, when available. The wave will do it alone down to about 40 Fahrenheit with no 110vac. Our Extreme Pkg includes dual pane windows and virtually stops sweating. I wish I had gotten them

[rana]

It's really not all that bad. Sealing access points up into your rig is just a good idea anyway, and it's much easier to do from underneath. Well.. to me anyway.

I'm sure foam board might help some, but unless it's insulated right up and tight across the whole underbelly the benefits to cost may not be quite what you hoped for.

I don't know what options are on yours, but mine has the Northwest "arctic package". The tanks themselves were somewhat insulated, have electric tank heaters, double pane windows, and the underbelly is ducted.

I don't know how cold is cold for where you camp, but it only has to stay above freezing down there. You'll have to decide if it's worth it, but I've never had a lick of trouble and I don't really run my furnace. It's a small rig and easy to keep heated for the most part. I'm sure radiant heat down through the floor in conjunction with the fully insulated underbelly does a fairly decent job.

I've had mine in 20 below, tank heaters off, and a catalytic on low. I probably should have hit the tank heaters. They won't go on above 40 degrees anyway, but didn't have any problems.

LOL I just remembered. Nothing with the house, but I DID forget to plug my block heater that day. Of COURSE I set the timer before I went to bed! Just forgot to plug my rig in and had to wait for 2 hours to get my morning java. THAT sucked. lol

[WolfWhistle]

Teddy, foam board between frame and coroplast will absolutely work; the only issue is clearance to the axles. 3/4" to 1" wouldn't present much of a problem. It is work. I spent 3 days under there.