Insulation & sound deadening

[klinquist]

Hi,

First, I'm in the market for an E350 cargo to work as a camping SMB and moto hauler.

I want to insulate the van and make it quiet, but I don't know quite where to start. I found a writeup on a motorcycle forum where a guy started with pieces of Duraliner Pro then finished it off with Luxury Liner Pro. My question is... where do I insulate? Do I put Duraliner on the sides/floor, then luxury liner pro over it, then something like reflectix over that? Then finish off by screwing wood panels over all of it? Should I build some small wooden frames for the reflectix or just glue it down?

Thanks!

[BroncoHauler]

Don't have the time to find specific threads, but there are plenty of insulation (sound and thermal) in this Homemade/Ground Up Builds section.


Herb

[Gnarvan]

Try doing a search for refletix. It will take you to several posts on insulation.

I'm a fan of Ez-Cool insulation. It's a little more expensive than refletix but I think it's worth the money.

[jjtwister]

Just received a sample of EZ Cool...it is much thinner than I expected. But, I hear good things about it. If I buy a cargo van vs passenger van would insulate the sides and floor. Perhaps some Dynamat over the wheel wells. Does this all seem logical? has anyone done this? How effective is it?

Thanks

jjtwister

[AndrewST]

Didn't do the Dynamat but the ez cool has reduces the noises.
The picture shows the top but I did the whole van even covered the rear side windows. with it. just great, now I have to do a cover for the windows.

[cygvan]

i installed fatmat rattle trap extreme (80 mil) a dynamat type product to the floor, walls, ceiling and wheelwells in my 03 express.

i spent about $300 on the product.

i drove around for about two months before installing insulation (3/4" xps), reflectix and plywood (3/4 on floor and 1/4 on walls/ceiling).

during that time i noticed two things.

it was incredibly quiet. there was no condensation. (this was april and may in jersey, lots of rain and temp inversions).

its pretty much permanent and was a lot of work but in my opinion absolutely worth it.

i have been boondocking with this setup since 10/1/11 and granted, we had a mild winter, but i have been totally comfortable needing only limited use of one of those cube heaters. i have a propane buddy heater and have used it only twice. i am fortunate to have 15amp outlet where i park most of the time but i would be able to run that cube heater off my batteries no prob. the propane buddy heater is a nice backup. i mostly used it to shrink the heatshrink tubing when i work electrical lol.

and the kicker is, i have done nothing to the rear doors or the side 60/40 doors. no insulation or fatmat. bone stock cargo at this point still.

i did build an insulated bulkead with door that seals off the cab.

[klinquist]

Originally Posted by cygvan

i installed fatmat rattle trap extreme (80 mil) a dynamat type product to the floor, walls, ceiling and wheelwells in my 03 express.

i spent about $300 on the product.

i drove around for about two months before installing insulation (3/4" xps), reflectix and plywood (3/4 on floor and 1/4 on walls/ceiling).

during that time i noticed two things.

it was incredibly quiet. there was no condensation. (this was april and may in jersey, lots of rain and temp inversions).

its pretty much permanent and was a lot of work but in my opinion absolutely worth it.

i have been boondocking with this setup since 10/1/11 and granted, we had a mild winter, but i have been totally comfortable needing only limited use of one of those cube heaters. i have a propane buddy heater and have used it only twice. i am fortunate to have 15amp outlet where i park most of the time but i would be able to run that cube heater off my batteries no prob. the propane buddy heater is a nice backup. i mostly used it to shrink the heatshrink tubing when i work electrical lol.

and the kicker is, i have done nothing to the rear doors or the side 60/40 doors. no insulation or fatmat. bone stock cargo at this point still.

i did build an insulated bulkead with door that seals off the cab.

Awesome - thank you for this info.


Maybe someone reading this thread can help me out as well. I want to install some E-Track on the sides, but what do I mount it to? The plywood? I don't think that'd be strong enough to mount motorcycles to.. Do I use long sheetmetal screws to screw through the wood & insulation into the ribs of the cargo area?

[cygvan]

pilot holes and self tapping sheet metal screws are what i used. some trim head and some pan head.

for the floor, i used stainless steel self tapping pan heads, countersunk into the 3/4 ply.

careful of lengths when screwing into the ribs as the depth to the body sheet metal changes abit. and those ribs have those annoying holes..make sure you mark out where youll screw....i added angle brackets of various types (simpson strong tie brand) wherever i could grab the most meat in the metal.

im not 100% sure that self tapping sheet metal screws are the best method but i couldnt come up with a better method that did not involve spending hours strategically placing bolts and or welding nuts and studs everywhere.

so far everything is extremely solid and i drive about 200 miles a week currently. in jersey...plenty o potholes.