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Are r*pod Underbodies Insulated

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Category: Forest River r-pod
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Printed Date: 28 Mar 2024 at 7:48pm
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Topic: Are r*pod Underbodies Insulated
Posted By: Wyoming_Spartan
Subject: Are r*pod Underbodies Insulated
Date Posted: 10 Jun 2010 at 11:44pm

Good Evening Everyone,

Are the underbodies of the r*pods insulated well?  I am looking at getting one that would be used not all year but during some colder months.

 

Chris




Replies:
Posted By: Outbound
Date Posted: 11 Jun 2010 at 7:36am
No they're not.

Although its not bare wood to the air, the r-pod's floor could not be described as insulated by any sort of RV definition.


-------------
Craig :: 2008 Mazda Tribute :: 2009 r-pod 171, The Johnnie Ray


Posted By: Peggy L.
Date Posted: 11 Jun 2010 at 8:29am
I agree that the pod is not insulated on the bottom. However you can add insulation on the inside in the form of rugs. We have stayed quite comfortably through 25 degree nights using a small space heater. What would worry me with temperatures lower than that is the risk of water lines and tanks freezing.

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Traveling with Herb and the Boon-doggie

2010 r-pod 171 pulled by '11 Silverado


Posted By: tedbear
Date Posted: 11 Jun 2010 at 9:15am
I padded and carpeted the floor of my 171 which helps when camping in chilly weather.  The rest of the r-pod is so well insulated, it's unfortunate they didn't go all the way with it and do the floor, too.


Posted By: Outbound
Date Posted: 11 Jun 2010 at 9:27am
To be honest, I find the most air infiltration from underneath the fridge.  On a cool day, I can definitely feel a draft coming in.  As far as the r-pod's insulation, here's a picture that says it all:

http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2969703470105331225Jtczgu">

(click to embiggen)

I had installed the weatherstation last fall and it faithfully recorded the low and high temperatures both inside and outside my r-pod throughout the winter.  As you can see, while the outside low was -22C (-8F), the inside low was a relatively balmy -9C (16F).  Not bad for an unheated r-pod left sitting in a lot all winter...


-------------
Craig :: 2008 Mazda Tribute :: 2009 r-pod 171, The Johnnie Ray


Posted By: Ratdog
Date Posted: 11 Jun 2010 at 10:03am

Earlier this week while camping in the circus wagon, I checked the indoor/outdoor thermometer at about 4 am. The outside temperature was 55 but it was 65 inside. We weren't running a heater. I was pretty impressed.

-- Steve

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Steve, Anne, and Paige the Rat Terrier
2013 Lexus RX 450h Hybrid AWD
2011 RP-177 (aka: The Circus Wagon)


Posted By: Wyoming_Spartan
Date Posted: 11 Jun 2010 at 10:09pm
I want to thank everyone for your replies...
 
The latest I would probably be using it is during hunting season (end of October, beginning of November) in the mountains of western Wyoming.
 
Chris


Posted By: tedbear
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2010 at 2:05am
Remember that at that altitude and that late in the year you'll want to have your r-pod winterized.  I plan to get my 171 out this winter myself and can easily do without running water for a few days.


Posted By: Kenn
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2010 at 2:12am
You could run a skirting along the outside of the POD for insulation to the underbelly. And if it's even colder outside, then you could run a space heater inside the skirting to help the tanks and lines not freeze. Also, you could keep the faucet dripping as to keep the water flow going and prevent your pipes from freezing. The inside will be taken cared of since you'll be camping in it. As far as winterizing it, I wouldn't even bother especially if you're going to use it.

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2010 RPOD 176 (Silly-POD), 2011 Forest River Stealth 2612, and 2014 Forest River XLR 380AMP


Posted By: XPod
Date Posted: 22 Mar 2014 at 6:48am

I used mine to go snowboarding so...it'll do winters BUT

The R-Pod needs some fairly extensive mods to do winters BUT once you do them its a really good winter camper because of the extruded styrofoam walls.That is the first point.

The R-Pod, for all its faults, has (IMHO) very good construction for winters...here is why. Your normal RV in this price range has wood walls with regular "fiberglass" insulation which will fall down/degrade an collect in the bottom of the walls. The R-Pods walls are an empty frame which they extrude styrofoam into giving you very good and uniform insulation. So..there is that :-)

Mods that are needed/I did to mine...plus a couple of extras.

0. Tank heaters, elbow heaters, pipe heaters. Thing is you HAVE to be careful because the RPOD power supply can only source so much juice. So do the power calculations. I had a complete package installed and I only ran the freshwater and the fresh water hose heater (keep reading). We flushed the toilet with RV antifreeze and the same in the Grey tank....used a lot of RV antifreeze...but it's pretty cheap and its not that big of a deal to do.

1. Replace the garden hose...yes garden hose! The freshwater tank has a GARDEN HOSE coming out of the top that feeds the pump. Yep..it'll freeze and split like crazy. Replace it with a pex hose and AND wrap it in the smallest pad heater you can find (I used Ultraheat). Works great.

2. Buy a case of expandable insulation spray foam and FILL THE HOLES. First time I used the RPod in the winter, the heater ran almost continuously and you could feel freezing air pour in. Not so bad in the summer, not good in the winter. Here is a list of the holes I filled.
 - Behind the fridge, there are open seams, in the winter, cold air pours
            in around the fridge and I mean POURS. Remove the outside cover, fill the gaps.
        - Under the sink - When they build these things, they cut about a 2 inch hole to
     install a 1" piece of PVC. Under the sink, where the water hose comes into the
            pump...hole...fill it.
        - Under the sink, on the wall, you'll see the back of the outside electric and cable
            outlet. It's pretty much a thin piece of plastic between the inside and outside.
        - Under the seat (where the water heater is) there are some cut outs for the water
            fill etc... spray foam em'
        - Under the shower...I saved the worst for last. There are at least 4 pvc pipes under
            the shower. In my pod each of the holes were about 1.5 times the size of the
     PVC an cold air POURS through them. These were so big, I used some screen along
            with the spray foam. How to get to them? I took the small vent off the front, but
            could only get to a couple of them. So I cut a hole in the wall, very near the
            floor, under the bottom bunk. Spent a couple of hours crawling and worming
            around, and filled all of them.

****Ok thats the basics...here are a couple of extras that I did to make it REALLY toasty.
 1. Bought a sheet of 1" pink styrofoam insulation and cut pieces to place
             on the floor. Then bought the Rpod rug from forest river to cover them.
             REALLY warms the floor up and they don't "squish" when you walk on it.
        2. Bought sheet of 2" pink styrofoam and lined the hidden walls
             (even under the bunk). So I lined the walls inside the cabinents, both floor
             and ceiling, under the bunk, under the seats in the storage are and where
             the water heater is, and under the bench seat where I cut fitted pieces
             and installed them through the storage area below the seat.

Wheww....lots of work....but the result. 2 years ago, camped over winter holiday break,
         at 10,000 feet in the Rockies. Cold blowing wind...warm as toast.
         camped 11 days and used 3/4 tank of LP!

It takes some work...but the RPOD makes a very good winter camper




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