Hot Feet and Loud Cabin?? We have a solution for that!

​​Was Wanda always this hot and loud? We asked ourselves this during our maiden voyage.  By removing the carpet and installing vinyl planks we inadvertently created a much louder and uncomfortable driving environment in the cab.  We noticed that when we accelerated or climbed a hill Wanda was significantly louder and you could feel the vibrations of the Ford V10 powering past 3200 RPMs.  On a longer drive, the floors also became very hot, particularly on the passenger side.  We didn't realize how well the carpet had absorbed the heat and dampened the sound. 

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We knew we had to address this issue and come up with a solution that would allow for a quieter ride and protect our and the pets feet from the burning floors.  Since the new flooring was already installed, we also needed a product that we could install from underneath the RV and around the engine, which meant it had to be waterproof and hold up against the wear and tear of the road.  After doing some research, we decided to use Noico Solutions Green 170 Waterproof Sound and Heat Insulation. This closed cell foam sound deadening material is easy to cut, handle and install.  This product worked out perfectly for us. It decreased the decibels reading from 87db to 67db. That's a big improvement. It also made the floor temperature a lot cooler and reduced the vibration.  

The box comes with 36 square feet. Each panel is 15.7 x 9.8 inches and there are 34 sheets.  It essentially looks like giant foam stickers.  

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Preparing for Installation

Prep the the surface you want to insulate. You want to make the area as clean as possible to guarantee the best adhesion from the insulation to the engine bay. So remove any dirt, grease, sand, or mud.  I used car wash soap, an old rag and a hose. I scrubbed the area the best I could and rinsed it clean. After, I let the area air dry for 24 hours. You don’t want to be installing this on a wet surface.

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​Tools Needed:

• Box Cutter with a fresh blade
• Scissors 
• Straight Edge or a ruler
• Ogrmar Car Sound Deadener Noise Filter Application Wheel Roller (Black) - to press insulation in place
• Tape Measurer 

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Installing the Insulation

Dog House Cover
I started here. It’s easier to work with since it's removable and I wanted to see how the installation went before I was crawling under the wheel well in a tight space.   

Flip the doghouse cover upside down and pre-plan how you want to lay the insulation. I used as many full size pieces as I could.   Remove the backing of the insulation like a sticker and place the sheet in its proper place and press it down. The glue is sticky but very manageable and can be pulled off if you make a mistake before rolling it.   The material is very flexible and forgiving, so mold it into the contours of the dogs house cover. When you get to the edges, lay a piece down that goes  further than the edge and use a razor blade to follow the edge and make a flush cut. Continue this for all the edges. Use cut offs if you can and save the full size pieces for under the wheel well.

​Next, use the roller and apply pressure to every square inch of the insulation. You want to ensure a proper bond and the more you roll the better. I went over each piece 4 to 5 times especially around the edges. 

​Under The Wheel Well

This is a lot easier with two people.  It can certainly be done on  your own, it will just take longer. At first I did this by myself but it wasted a lot of time squeezing myself under the wheel well to measure pieces, climbing out of the wheel well, cutting the pieces, going back under, sticking them on and then rolling each piece.  To save time, you can do all your measuring at once and then all your cutting at once. Just make sure you label the pieces so you can identify which piece goes where. Or have one person in the wheel well and one person cutting. 

As far as location and where to install the insulation, I placed it underneath the floor around the engine. I covered everything that I could physically reach. I then recruited my wife who is a lot smaller than me to climb into some of the smaller and tighter spaces.  We made sure to stay away from moving parts and avoided placing it directly on mechanical parts like the exhaust. 

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Generator Bay

We had some extra sheets, so we decided to insulate the generator bay as well.  We don't like to run the generator much because we don't like disturbing other campers but sometimes, when there is too much tree cover for the solar we have to.  We installed the Noico Solutions Green 170 Waterproof Sound and Heat Insulation in the bay to absorb some of the noise.  The decibels from 10 feet away before adding the ??? was 63 db.  After installing the insulation was 56 db.

Have any questions? Or do you also have hot feet? Let us know know in the comments below!

By Kevin Quiambao
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