Insulating an Imagine for Hard Winter Use.... Big project for me!

[Dadeo6472]

Last year when temps got down to 15 degrees (ski trip) the pipes to the kitchen sink in our 18RBE Imagine froze each night. I said never again and began a huge spring project.

I removed the corro-plast underneath the trailer. I threw away the old corro-plast and the reflective Mylar sheet, which was a complete mess. I added heat wiring and insulated the pipes. I replaced the two inch heat duct to the underbelly with a sealed three inch duct and made a cold air return from the underbelly in the back of the trailer. I sprayed the inside of the steel beams with about two inches of insulating foam (what a mess!). I glued an inch of reflective foam insulation to 6 new corro-plast panels. Once I installed the new, now insulated panels of corroplast, I sealed the gaps around things like drains and pipes (where things went thru the corroplast) and between the steel beams and the new corroplast panels with more spray foam. I sealed the seams between each panel with several layers of heavy duty vinyl corroplast pipe tape. Then we took off on a 6000 mile summer trip across the country and back. I had been worried that the tape between the 6 panels of corroplast might not hold in heavy rain and wind, but it did.

On our trip we immediately noticed that the air conditioner didn't have to stay on as long to maintain a comfortable temps in extremely hot weather. Once we got back I parked the trailer in the driveway waiting for cold weather, leaving the fresh water tank full and the inside thermostat at 50 degrees. When outside temps went down to 10 degrees for days in a row none of the pipes froze. Added bonus, the trailer is using much less propane to stay at 70 degrees.

It was a two week long project, about 6-10 hours a day, but it cost less than $500 in materials. The most expensive part of the project was the new corroplast and heated wiring for the pipes. I also destroyed two pairs of jeans and several cheap long sleeve cotton shirts because of the foam. If I had to do this again I'd get a couple of cheap Tyvek bunny suits to keep the foam off me.