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kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
I think it might come to a head. Dealers are left trying to polish a turd and customers are getting pissed.
meh

what you built is rad

what most people build themselves is rad

I bought a two piece fiberglass bathtub that's rad

the stuff built inside a solid van chassis is fine (although still usually a ripoff)


I'll never feel sorry for lazy money. I mean hey, that's how capitalist free markets are supposed to work right?

just an opportunistic grift industry like everything else at this point
 
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Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,015
Sleazattle
Anybody know of any companies or kits for installing small hydronic floor heating systems?

Would need to box in the bottom and put a controller in and plumb it with propane. Could use the graywater tank as a reservoir in winter maybe?

Wouldn't you want a dedicated closed system you could use antifreeze in so it doesn't uh freeze when not running? I would also think cooking gray water could get nasty and would probably clog up or kill efficiency in heat exchange.

What electricity source would you have? I assume you would need a recirc pump at the minimum.

Something like this would be a ghettotastic heat source. Probably wouldn't need a large reservoir but perhaps a pressure accumulator to prevent air from getting into the system and allowing for expansion.

 
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kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Wouldn't you want a dedicated closed system you could use antifreeze in so it doesn't uh freeze when not running? I would also think cooking gray water could get nasty and would probably clog up or kill efficiency in heat exchange.
It would be dedicated in the sense that I'm never using the grey water system in winter so it's just a switch seasonal setup thing. I flush the grey water tank pretty well after every use. Not married to the idea, it's just existing infrastructure and the tank sits right where I'd want to heat anyway.

One of those little tankless heaters is what I was kind of picturing too.

Honestly just getting the thing boxed in would probably do half of the heating. The floor just a heat sink right now.

But yeah, propane and battery something something. I've got a monster solar panel that's proving to be overkill so I might as well have a bank for winter.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,232
20,015
Sleazattle
It would be dedicated in the sense that I'm never using the grey water system in winter so it's just a switch seasonal setup thing. I flush the grey water tank pretty well after every use. Not married to the idea, it's just existing infrastructure and the tank sits right where I'd want to heat anyway.

One of those little tankless heaters is what I was kind of picturing too.

Honestly just getting the thing boxed in would probably do half of the heating. The floor just a heat sink right now.

But yeah, propane and battery something something. I've got a monster solar panel that's proving to be overkill so I might as well have a bank for winter.
Have you considered hydrogen?
 

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,187
13,447
directly above the center of the earth
It would be dedicated in the sense that I'm never using the grey water system in winter so it's just a switch seasonal setup thing. I flush the grey water tank pretty well after every use. Not married to the idea, it's just existing infrastructure and the tank sits right where I'd want to heat anyway.

One of those little tankless heaters is what I was kind of picturing too.

Honestly just getting the thing boxed in would probably do half of the heating. The floor just a heat sink right now.

But yeah, propane and battery something something. I've got a monster solar panel that's proving to be overkill so I might as well have a bank for winter.
1" pink foam board on the floor with a solid overlay would really add light weight floor insulation.
 

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR
1" pink foam board on the floor with a solid overlay would really add light weight floor insulation.
That's what I used for my floor was 1" foam with 1/2" plywood over.

I hope to weight my truck soon, I'm dying to know what the curb weight is before I decide to bump up the rear spring rate.
 

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,187
13,447
directly above the center of the earth
That's what I used for my floor was 1" foam with 1/2" plywood over.

I hope to weight my truck soon, I'm dying to know what the curb weight is before I decide to bump up the rear spring rate.
My rig with 2 kayaks on the roof two bikes on the rack camper in the bed. full fuel, water and propane, food and gear the two of us and the 3 dogs tips the cat scale at 13,000 pounds. Truck is registered at 15,000 pounds
 

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,187
13,447
directly above the center of the earth

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
It has to be a mid layer with a hard surface over it. Lots of guys have it between the bed of their truck and the bottom their truck campers and it holds up well
Mine is a tow behind camper so that would be interior, not exterior like a bed camper.

I aint breathing styrene dust.

Not saying tossing some insulation on the floor wont happen just not that stuff.
 
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jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR
My rig with 2 kayaks on the roof two bikes on the rack camper in the bed. full fuel, water and propane, food and gear the two of us and the 3 dogs tips the cat scale at 13,000 pounds. Truck is registered at 15,000 pounds
I think the chassis tag on mine says 9800#, but I'd have to double check. I will use the dump scale I think. It's accurate and big enough. I'd like to get a "built weight" minus water and crap.

The reality is a box of chips doesn't weigh shit, so my truck wasn't hauling tons of payload before me. :rofl:
 

maxyedor

<b>TOOL PRO</b>
Oct 20, 2005
5,496
3,140
In the bathroom, fighting a battle
Mine is a tow behind camper so that would be interior, not exterior like a bed camper.

I aint breathing styrene dust.

Not saying tossing some insulation on the floor wont happen just not that stuff.
We have some spare kids play area foam tiles we lined the floorwith because toddlers are clumsy as shit and fat dogs make too much noise hopping down from the bed. They actually make for pretty good insulation, haven’t camped in real cold weather since doing it, but laborday Got down to the high 50s overnight, huge difference between underfoot temps in the bathroom without foam and rest of the camper with them. Carpet squares may be even better.

Heated floor sounds nice, but without full hook-ups wherever you’re parking, I’m not sure I’d want to deal with the energy consumption. It does however seem like it would be really easy to build, if you’ve got the interior height to sacrifice you could even just slap it on top of your current floor and place a second layer of floor over it.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
We have some spare kids play area foam tiles we lined the floorwith because toddlers are clumsy as shit and fat dogs make too much noise hopping down from the bed. They actually make for pretty good insulation, haven’t camped in real cold weather since doing it, but laborday Got down to the high 50s overnight, huge difference between underfoot temps in the bathroom without foam and rest of the camper with them. Carpet squares may be even better.

Heated floor sounds nice, but without full hook-ups wherever you’re parking, I’m not sure I’d want to deal with the energy consumption. It does however seem like it would be really easy to build, if you’ve got the interior height to sacrifice you could even just slap it on top of your current floor and place a second layer of floor over it.
I think I can do it. Im talking like 5deg nights so I think it would be worth doing. Im assuming just boxing in the frame would accomplish most of the insulating so it really wouldnt require much fluid volume or long term heat input.

Theres a heater in the thing. I could probably just pull the gas and electric from that and take the air heayer out. If the floor heating works all that mess becomes irrelevant.
 
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eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,187
13,447
directly above the center of the earth
If you are going to box in the under frame, perhaps you should consider filling the space between the floor and what ever you are going to use to box in the frame with expanding foam. Its super light weight , waterproof and has a good R value. You can even get fire retardant foam
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
40,939
13,133
Portland, OR

@jimmydean . Related to the article you posted a few days back. This squares with my experience.
I'm just pissed I used wood. My buddy bought an old camper and redid it in metal framing and it's both solid and wicked light.

FB_IMG_1632066076316.jpg
 

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,187
13,447
directly above the center of the earth
My camper is a 2008. No Structural issues (main reason I went with a unit with no slide walls) We had one small plumbing issue that was just a sink drain fitting, an easy fix. Yeah the cabinet latches were shit but I swapped them out. This year the fridge cooling unit finally died and again that was an easy swap out. I reseal the seams each year with fresh dicor and I replace the vent and skylight covers as they yellow. We use our camper at least 100 nights a year and travel all over the united states. I think truck campers which are more high dollar low volume units are built way better that the travel trailers in that respect. My unit has all welded Aluminum framing .
 

Toshi

Harbinger of Doom
Oct 23, 2001
38,030
7,549
Lance makes a travel trailer.

Plus there's always Airstream, no? Heavy and expensive for the floor space but maybe not a creaking pile of shit?
 

Adventurous

Starshine Bro
Mar 19, 2014
10,261
8,767
Crawlorado
Airstream is probably the best made of all the mainstream travel trailers
FTFY. There are a number of well made travel trailers out there, you just have to have $100,000+ to spend on them.

And TBH, I wasn't that impressed with some of the newer Airstreams I stepped in. The interior felt like every other travel trailer, and neither the appointments nor the quality of work looked significantly different.

Best you can do is find something with an aluminum structure so it doesn't completely fall apart when you get that inevitable leak. If I were to get back into the truck camper market, I'd be after one of those composite paneled creations. Much better solution than the traditional construction in my opinion.
 

eric strt6

Resident Curmudgeon
Sep 8, 2001
23,187
13,447
directly above the center of the earth
FTFY. There are a number of well made travel trailers out there, you just have to have $100,000+ to spend on them.

And TBH, I wasn't that impressed with some of the newer Airstreams I stepped in. The interior felt like every other travel trailer, and neither the appointments nor the quality of work looked significantly different.

Best you can do is find something with an aluminum structure so it doesn't completely fall apart when you get that inevitable leak. If I were to get back into the truck camper market, I'd be after one of those composite paneled creations. Much better solution than the traditional construction in my opinion.
Or something like the fiberglass bigfoot clamshell