If you have not tried it yet a technique that I wish I had discovered earlier in my foil insulation process was to hold a large piece of foil in place and press it tight to the ribs underneath. You can easily enough feel where the ribs are and when you press down in those areas you get marks where you can cut the foil to fit the odd shaped spaces.
Malcolm
An old carpenter's trick that I've used in the past when I needed to transfer a marking to the back of something where I can't see, is to rub chalk along the surface in the back, and then press the surface in the front onto it.
In this case, you could lightly rub the rib with some fairly brightly colored chalk and press the insulation up against it (you obviously need to hold it fairly steady). Then pull the insulation down and turn it around with the backside facing you, and the chalk line will show you where the rib was located, and therefore where you need to cut. Should work okay in this application.
Just a couple of words as an update. We've got all of the foil insulation up now except the bathroom area. We should have that up next weekend. If I can get enough pre-work done during the week, maybe we can even get the end caps back in and the vista-view window covers back in there.
Looks like we're going to use about 300 sq. feet of the foil. About 5 rolls of the aluminum tape and approximately 30 tubes of of the adhesive, just in case anybody is interested. Total cost so far is around $250. Total time spent is around 70 hours now.
By the way, thanks for the tips everybody. Malcolm, I used your "press n' cut" trick in many places. Makes for a nice, tight fit.
A couple of pics:
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
A Forum member read in an old thread that I needed a small piece of Rub Rail trim to cover over the area where somebody had installed an awning mount in the past. Low and behold, look what showed up in the mail yesterday! It’s perfect! I’m ecstatic!
I’m no word master, but isn’t this a nice gesture by somebody I’ve never even met? I gotta tell ya, there sure are some nice folks on this Forum (especially a certain fella in the Rockies!). Airstreamers are the best. Wanna hear the best part of the story? He wouldn’t even let me pay him for it. Great folks, great place.
Jim
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
... I needed a small piece of Rub Rail trim to cover over the area where somebody had installed an awning mount in the past. Low and behold, look what showed up in the mail yesterday! ...
Jim
I need a small trailer to go with a piece of rub rail I have. Any chance of that showing up in the mail?
Got a bunch more stuff done this weekend. First and foremost, I gotta say a BIG THANKS to our secret parts donor. The trim piece that he sent fits perfectly. It took some bending and cutting and grunting, but it looks great. Once the polishing and painting are done, you’ll hardly be able to tell it was an add on.
I also had to rework the tag light. We went back and retested all the exterior lighting just to make sure we hadn’t damaged anything in all of the processes going on lately. Turns out that light had rusted some and needed attention. One more thing to check off the list.
A couple of pics.
Jim
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
We are almost finished with the foil insulation. We ran out of materials middle of the afternoon Saturday, so we switched over to getting the front end cap in there. More on that in a minute. We had to buy another 50 sq. ft. of foil and another roll of tape. Total time looks like it’s gonna be around 85 hours and about $300 in materials. Still tedious, but I think worth it in the long run.
Now for the Jack Benny side of me to show (again). We had a couple of rolls of R-13 pink stuff insulation left over from a room addition a few years back here at the house and a small barn/shop we built for Dad and Mom around the same time. That stuff is 3.5” deep and can easily be peeled off into 1” layers. Guess what we’re using on top of the foil? We’re attaching it with a few cans of 3M spray adhesive that my brother got for nothing at a hardware store close out sale. Total cost: Zero. Jack would love it. Here’s a pic.
Jim
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
We should be able to start cleaning the walls and starting on that reinstall by this weekend (yeah, baby!). The walls in this camper are, umm, NASTY! I read here on the forums someplace that a good way to do that is to lay some old carpet on the ground and place the wall sections on top of that for cleaning. The sections are so large that there really isn’t any better way to do it. I’ve purchased a product called “Jomax” that is used for cleaning the siding on your home. It can be used on any type siding (vinyl, aluminum, brick, etc). I thought we would try that on a smaller piece of the wall that will be hidden, just in case…..
Jim
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
I went through all your pics today and I am just really impressed how detailed you have been with this trailer. It looks awesome! As far as cleaning the walls try Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. It is amazing. It made my interior walls look like new. It really works. It cuts through everything.
I use TSP, the powdered stuff that you mix like soap flakes, which takes wallpaper glue off (at HD for about $5 a box). I think it must be a pretty strong base, cause it will make your hands tingle if you don't use gloves. When applied with a sponge, it's fine. If you use a spray bottle, be careful. I doesn't get you right away, but you will be coughing later.
I thought TSP was a no-no for aluminum? I've got a box of that stuff out in the garage. Have you had any problems using it? If not, I'll save the Jomax for the back portch (yet another item on the honey-do list).
Jim
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What is that line from "Miracle on 34th Street"? Something like "Maybe he's only a little crazy, like those men in Washington."
No problems with the TSP. You do have to do a thorough rinse(s), but I'm only using it on the vinyl coated interior skins, so there's no "appearance" issue. Some may have dripped through open rivet holes to the inner side, but a few drops aren't going to eat the skin away. If you're doing it with the skins off, a hose rinse should enable you to totally get any residual off.
At least two other members have recommended TSP to get the 30-year cooking oil fumes and smoker's goo off the inside. It works.
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