Lots of questions from a noob!
This one's a little all over the place. After reading this entire thread, I feel slightly more confused re: condensation vs insulation. Plus I have a couple of other practical questions and the solo road trip is coming up fast.
I have the low roof, shorter, 2017 10 seater XLT wagon. We plan on using it for sleeping only sparingly, as we prefer tent camping, but I am planning a short "test" road trip wherein I will try sleeping in the van with a cot in place of the 3rd row seat, which I need to remove tomorrow. I don't have the roof vent which I have seen in several videos and which seems to be the end all be all, & at present have no plans for one. Besides, I know I will figure out a way to ruin the van even if I did know how to cut through the roof. I am going to test the van as is (minus the rear bucket seat & rest of the 3rd row) and the single mounting bracket that a friend removed for me, from under the floor, which left the big screw hole open to the road. I bought a long roll of approx 1/2" rubber matting to install under the seats, but over the carpet - the extent I think I can handle given my limited skills (anything bigger than a dremel is a little out of my league). But that will only dampen the sound a bit and is more for dirt and debris control.
Right now, that screw hole is a huge source of road noise. Also, without that short mounting bracket which was sticking up from the carpet, that corner of the floor bends downward, so I will also need to stick something in there temporarily to add support back to the floor. Maybe a short piece of PVC 1.5"? We also purchased the thinner OEM molding for the van, which is supposed to come with the vans that have running boards, from factory, but ours didn't. We had the heavy duty custom running boards installed, sharp metal diamond ones, but kept knocking off the wider OEM molding that sat right outside the sliding door. I haven't ridden in it with the new molding installed, but even the older, wider molding made a HUGE difference in noise reduction compared to when we just removed that entirely for our last 2 road trips, since it kept falling off, as most of the clamps were broken.
I am considering getting the thinsulate from Hein, for simplicity sake, because I am not much of a car guy, and while I know it will be a challenge for me, I think I can handle it. But I have read on other threads about a concern for condensation build up which may ruin the thinsulate. Plus, I'll have to figure out how to unscrew the floor and try to put it back properly. Now if it's the same thinsulate in some many fleece gloves, that you can wash, I find that notion silly, but still wanted to ask, as I am not familiar with Hein's product.
As far as temperature insulation, I live in deep South Texas, where it's hot most of the time and hotter the rest. I'm not too worried about cold getting in (I can always add more layers), it's the heat I'm worried about both while at rest and while driving. I have a small 12" AC & battery powered fan I plan to use to help at night while camping, but not sure about the condensation at night or road noise during the day. At night, I considered cracking the 2 front windows slightly if condensation becomes a problem, but am worried about the mosquitoes and days in the summer with high humidity if we go anywhere near a lake. I ordered the van with the extra battery for accessories, but don't know if I have to keep the van on in accessory mode to have the lighter socket power that fan all night, or if it has an auto shut off when the key is out of the ignition or after a couple of hours. I read that I shouldn't be able to kill the battery the way it is set up. But I do have that uncanny skill to break thinks that others say can't be broken, so I figured the more information I have, the less likely that will be.
I'll stop here but please feel free to chime in or mods can move the post if it is in the wrong section. Thanks in advance!
