Insulated Skirting

[AnnieOakley1]

What is the best way to attach insulated skirting on our Excella that will not cause permanent damage? Thanks.
Vivian

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Well, hay bales are one answer

I happen to be a fan of inflatable beach toys (bought on closeout). You inflate them under the RV....

Is this a "mobile" situation or is it a "parked for the winter" situation?

Bob

[Lumatic]

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Well, hay bales are one answer

Straw bales are a lot cheaper and don't have grain heads which may attract little critters.

[bka4tcu]

We used 1” foam insulation board to skirt our 30” international. I cut the pieces to size leaving them tall enough to trim them once we got set up. It has worked very well in sub freezing temps. We also set up a small ceramic space heater underneath and that has kept the underside of the trailer above freezing. We used 4 sheets of 4x8 insulation board and had a bit left over.

[Protagonist]

Originally Posted by AnnieOakley1

What is the best way to attach insulated skirting on our Excella that will not cause permanent damage? Thanks.

Depends. If you're parked on gravel or soil, don't attach it to the trailer at all— attach it to stakes driven into the ground instead.

[pt.reyesfan]

Cool idea!

[pt.reyesfan]

Originally Posted by bka4tcu

We used 1” foam insulation board to skirt our 30” international. I cut the pieces to size leaving them tall enough to trim them once we got set up. It has worked very well in sub freezing temps. We also set up a small ceramic space heater underneath and that has kept the underside of the trailer above freezing. We used 4 sheets of 4x8 insulation board and had a bit left over.

Cool idea

[Vitaver]

I went with a similar solution for mine, but the job you did looks muck nicer. The foam boards I found at Home Depot, 2 inches thick, don’t look as cool, especially because I joined them to each other and to the sides of the trailer with that shiny metallic tape used in AC duct work (the only one I tried that sticks below 30F). The RV park ‘requested’ I cover my artistic job with a professionally looking skirt. I obliged with Windskirt, pretty nice looking flexible skirt with pockets for weighting down and I attached them to authoadshesive snaps (no holes needed). A small space heater underneath plugged to city service directly plus a ceramic heat lamp plugged to a thermostatic (I made up the word?) freeze free yellow electric plug, so they backup each other. I placed remote themperature sensors (Accurite) under the coach, outside and inside: I can check the temperature in all three locations while onsite and remotely in my iPad. The bottom inside the foam frame the temp remains a steady 48F. Inside I keep two Vornado ceramic heaters at 71, high setting. Unfortunately all the house outlets work out of the same breaker, so I added another AC outlet on the outer wall of the FC leading to an outlet inside: I plug one of the space heaters to that additional outlet. In Colorado humidity is very low, so I added a humidifier keeping our air at 50% humidity. Yes, there is condensation under some windows, but not too much. I am not using propane other than for cooking, the same 2 tanks for over a month. Clear film on windows. Yes, electricity use is high, last month topped $220. I wonder if AS has plans for better thermal insulation in future models.

[Robert Hart]

Have been trying to travel between hunting sites here in GA during the winter, ie: no furnace while towing and other propane less situations. Have used inside electric heater when 110v is avail. Plumbing still freezes in my Sport16 even when inside is comfortably warm and cabinet doors open. Anyone had success with permanent undercarrige insulation or self temperature control heating tape?

[OTRA15]

Originally Posted by Robert Hart

Have been trying to travel between hunting sites here in GA during the winter, ie: no furnace while towing and other propane less situations. Have used inside electric heater when 110v is avail. Plumbing still freezes in my Sport16 even when inside is comfortably warm and cabinet doors open. Anyone had success with permanent undercarrige insulation or self temperature control heating tape?

Welcome to the forum, Robert! I think you will find that Airstreams are really designed to be a 3-season RV, with a time-out for winter. This Winter Living forum is full of hit-and-miss success stories about Mickey Mouse solutions -- and many more failure stories IMO.

There is a brand of trailer which is specifically designed for winter use:

http://northwoodmfg.com/arctic-fox-2/classic/

. . . and a search for Northwoods Arctic Fox yields these Airforums results, using the new search box above with the blue border:

https://www.google.com/search?q=nort...=airforums.com

We think of our AS as an aluminum tent to be used dry in the winter.

Good luck!

Peter

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Once upon a time, long long ago, we did a removable skirt. It was not at all cheap. I think it got deployed maybe twice. Putting it up and taking it down was even worse than playing with a tent under similar conditions. If it freezes to the ground (and it may) packing it up ... yikes ....

Bob

[Robert Hart]

There's no plumbing problem an engineer can't fix (not). Will let you know if I do. P.S. I got a less than helpful reply from AS about inexpensive dent repairs (my second post as a newbie blogger).