Van Life Easy Thinsulate Insulation in a Camper Conversion (310)

We really thought the Thinsulate was going to take longer than it did. All in all it took about nine hours. It was an easy material to work with and we felt the insulating properties right away on the first day. We were without heat on the first day of this project and were mostly working in our coats. By the end of the day we were working without our coats in the van. The insulation is that effective. The only real heat source we had was the spot lights and the temperature outside was about 35 F or 0 C.

Not cold for some, rather cold for us. What we learned with the Casita is that we’re in cold weather often enough to need a well insulated camper with a good heat source.

Materials needed for this project:

1. Thinsulate insulation. This is available on eBay but it took a while to receive. You might consider ordering this in advance. We purchased 70 linear feet and it it came in two rolls. We only used 1 1/4 rolls for insulating. We may use more for the side window covers, kind of like a quilted jacket. This should go a long way towards blocking the temperature extremes from affecting the van. Purchased on ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/131754566187

2. 3M 90 Spray Adhesive or Lepage Heavy Duty Spray Adhesive (3 cans). We found Lepage was easier to work with but the fumes were stronger. It is all going to depend on where you live. In our area Lepage is cheaper and easier to source (at the local hardware store). We ordered the 3M 90 online and it took a while to receive.

3. Cutting Instruments. We used a rotary cutter and needed to change the blade once. The brand we used is Fiskar’s. Mena received it as a gift from her lovely sister, Susy. We bought a pack of generic blades on Amazon. It may not be practical to purchase these if you don’t have any use for it after the build. One thing we can say is that it saved us a lot of time. The scissors took much longer.
We did start out with a sharp pair of scissors. If that is what you are using, the sharper they are, the easier it will be. The Thinsulate is easier to cut when it is compressed. Once it expands, it takes more effort to cut it.

4. Trim removal tools. These are easy to find at most vehicle parts retailers.

5. Screw drivers for the headliner. There are four 7mm bolts to remove and two screws.

Recommended safety gear:

Goggles. When we were insulating the ceiling there were polyester particles and lots of glue raining down on us.

Work gloves. The edges of the cavities are very sharp and the gloves also ended up covered in glue. Annoying to have cuts when every store requires hand sanitizer before you enter. Thank you Covid-19. The glue also takes some effort to remove and makes everything dirty when you touch it. Not ideal for removing a headliner.

Mask. This is optional. It was practical when doing the ceiling, but Mena took it off after a while and forgot to put it back on.