oliverjohn
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2014
- Messages
- 1
I am thinking about sewing a thermal pack for myself but have never seen one in person. Does anyone know what kind of materials/insulation it is made of? Thanks for any info you can give.
Homemade thermal pack
- Thread starter oliverjohn
- Start date
SLOwag
Advanced Member
Welcome. I haven't made my own yet but I have this thread book marked. Report back on how it goes.
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/5269-building-an-arctic-cold-weather-pack/
http://www.wanderthewest.com/forum/topic/5269-building-an-arctic-cold-weather-pack/
I made mine out of a car cover that was on sale at Costco. I cut it up to make the panels. The fabric is a lightweight, breathable multi layer gray and looks identical to the factory one. $45 or so for the fabric.
Sew on some 3/4 inch wide Velcro and make it long enough to tuck behind the rear lift panels and you are good to go. It just hangs freely on the bottom. The idea is to have a layer of dead air between the outside fabric and the inside of the camper.
I didn't make cut outs for the windows at the time but may do this later, just haven't really needed them.
I did sew "buttonholes" for the bungie cord d rings so I can just leave it up when I drop the top.
One thing I found that helps a lot when sleeping on the top bunk in cold weather to have some insulation between the lift panel and the sleeper.
I use and inflatable Therm A Rest pad that is wide enough to slip behind the mattress and friction fit to the top of the camper. It helps to stop the conductive heat loss on that side. I also stuff any loose bags or gear against the side window to cut that transfer down as well.
I also put a layer of reflextix insulation under the mattress, it helps control the condensation and reflects some heat back from the bed.
Dsrtrat
Sew on some 3/4 inch wide Velcro and make it long enough to tuck behind the rear lift panels and you are good to go. It just hangs freely on the bottom. The idea is to have a layer of dead air between the outside fabric and the inside of the camper.
I didn't make cut outs for the windows at the time but may do this later, just haven't really needed them.
I did sew "buttonholes" for the bungie cord d rings so I can just leave it up when I drop the top.
One thing I found that helps a lot when sleeping on the top bunk in cold weather to have some insulation between the lift panel and the sleeper.
I use and inflatable Therm A Rest pad that is wide enough to slip behind the mattress and friction fit to the top of the camper. It helps to stop the conductive heat loss on that side. I also stuff any loose bags or gear against the side window to cut that transfer down as well.
I also put a layer of reflextix insulation under the mattress, it helps control the condensation and reflects some heat back from the bed.
Dsrtrat
Kolockum
Still Wandering
I have been looking at making mine using neoplume insulation, the same stuff in a lot of synthetic outdoor jackets and sleeping bags. It is really warm, compacts small and with the right outer fabric breathes well. I will be using the same construction as lined out by ski3pin, just different material.
I recall but could not find a post from a few years back that where some guy had taken moving blankets, the thick quilted kind, and cut them up, sewed some velcro on it and called it good. He said it was super effective.
This dude, who lives in a toyota motorhome in Alaska in winter uses "oven mitt" material to provide insulation for his windows. He bought it at a fabric store. Says its super duper effective on the windows in his motor home. He also has an insane wood burning stove pumping out serious heat and goes dry in the winter, ie, no running water, just brings in the water he needs for the day.
http://www.nest-mag.com/index.php/nests/tim-johnson
If I were in my twenties, and had a different significant other, I would totally do this. Totally. Just not in Alaska.
This dude, who lives in a toyota motorhome in Alaska in winter uses "oven mitt" material to provide insulation for his windows. He bought it at a fabric store. Says its super duper effective on the windows in his motor home. He also has an insane wood burning stove pumping out serious heat and goes dry in the winter, ie, no running water, just brings in the water he needs for the day.
http://www.nest-mag.com/index.php/nests/tim-johnson
If I were in my twenties, and had a different significant other, I would totally do this. Totally. Just not in Alaska.
Oops... disregard this: SLOwag posted the thread above.
To expand this a little, somebody here on the boards did a thorough job, but all I could remember is that it was one of the ski-related names (makers telemark or ski3pin) -- sounds like it was ski3pin. Get in touch with him or look search his posts/gallery.Kolockum said:
alano
Senior Member
We used this thermal shade material to make our thermal pack following the excellent instructions in ski3pin's post. It is 3 layers thick and a little challenging to work with. We've been very happy with it as it has a metalized Mylar layer that blocks light and we get at least a 10 degree difference between inside and out in the 40 - 60 degree range where we do most of our camping. Below 40 we've probably got the heater on so I can't say for sure and we didn't camp anywhere that cold before we made it.
That all said, I think just about any material that would keep people warm as clothing would work reasonably well. You just want to make sure you use a light color as a dark color will absorb all your interior light and make the inside kind of dungeon-like.
Alan
That all said, I think just about any material that would keep people warm as clothing would work reasonably well. You just want to make sure you use a light color as a dark color will absorb all your interior light and make the inside kind of dungeon-like.
Alan
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NorCalSteve
Senior Member
I have been considering using a quilted fabric that I have purchased in the past at Jo-Ann Fabric and craft stores. I got a one day only 60% off coupon for one item, "not already on sale", for today only so I will take a look at what they have there. Usually, I go in to take advantage of a deal there and because the item is already on sale at some other discount, I don't get the better discount but I will take a look anyways. I used some quilted material to make a partition that goes between the bed and back area of the Hawk, Which I really like. When heating the camper in the morning, I close the partition and don't heat the bed area.
Thanks for posting ski3pin's project as well as the others. That helps me as well. And, since we are planning a trip to Alaska next summer, I was considering a darker material to help with the long days and bright nights, although there are other ways to deal with that.
Steve
Thanks for posting ski3pin's project as well as the others. That helps me as well. And, since we are planning a trip to Alaska next summer, I was considering a darker material to help with the long days and bright nights, although there are other ways to deal with that.
Steve
Lighthawk
Weekend warrior
We've pulled the trigger on the Kimberly Clark Evolution per the Ski3pin/Barking Spider build.
We're going to modify the design a bit and make a total of five panels per side, which will link via vertical velcro (front, window, middle, window, rear).
When the materials arrive, we'll see if our little Singer Featherweight will be capable of sewing through the velcro & fabric.
We plan to have the install completed before our Christmas travels begin.
We're going to modify the design a bit and make a total of five panels per side, which will link via vertical velcro (front, window, middle, window, rear).
When the materials arrive, we'll see if our little Singer Featherweight will be capable of sewing through the velcro & fabric.
We plan to have the install completed before our Christmas travels begin.
Inspired by Ski3pin's excellent writeup, we are about to start sewing on a thermal pack ourselves (using the Evolution fabric and experimenting with polyester batting and ripstop nylon behind). This is a bit of an adventure for us as neither of us are big sewers. We are wondering if Ski3pin or anyone else could tell us why they hemmed the top and bottom of the panels but not the sides. We are quite willing to hem the tops and bottoms, just wondering if there's a reason it's needed.
Once again, we probably wouldn't be tackling this without that very clear writeup by Ski3pin. Thanks!
Once again, we probably wouldn't be tackling this without that very clear writeup by Ski3pin. Thanks!
I believe we did hem the sides also. The fold over is held in place with the outside line of stitching down the velcro. I'll check when it stops raining (I hope not soon!) to raise the top. The ends that stuff behind the lift panels are not hemmed and show no unraveling, so other than appearance, is it necessary?RnK said:
We also made a minor design change where the fabric goes behind the lift panels. I have some photos somewhere............or I'll take some new ones.
So we tackled the Thermal Pack, with meager-to-rusty sewing skills, a new sewing machine (from Costco, a Brother XM3700,$89.99), an excellent write-up from ski3pin (and Barking Spiders). And some free time.
We did everything as detailed in their post except hem both the top and bottom edges. We only hemmed the opening edge, which is our case is the top (we plan to open our windows from the top down). Everything was pretty straightforward with the exception of sewing through the hook velcro which seemed a strain at times on our machine. As with many aspects of this project, not real pretty but it seemed to work.
First stage complete. Five panels to a side.
Then we went out on a limb. It seemed to me that, with all the convection in the air space behind what is basically a curtain, some real insulation might be a great help. At the same time we wanted to be able to open the windows and if possible leave the pack in place when the top comes down. We came up with the idea of adding some polyester batting to the outdoor side of the thermal pack and covering it with something thin - ripstop nylon is what we decided on. We sewed the nylon to each of the backs of the center and window sections (along 3 edges) and then slid in the batting before sewing the final seam. Then we made "pillows" for the fore and aft sections - that is sections of batting covered in ripstop that are inserted when the top is up but then can be removed when the top comes down, reducing the bulk at the corners. Here are some pics:
The ripstop, gathered a bit at the corners to allow for the loft of the batting. It's about to be sewn on the three sides with the tape and then in goes the batting
Polyester batting, about 3/4 - 1" thick, but pretty light.
The batting in and ready to be sewn shut.
One side finished, with the loose pillows at the ends.
Here it is, hung in the camper. So far, when we want to lower the top, we just open the thermal pack windows, pull out the pillows from the corners and use the bungees on the pop-up's windows. It has saved us learning how to sew buttonholes and seems to work fine. The corners, without the pillows, seem to close easily and only required a small adjustment on a couple of the roof latches.
One problem we had was when I opened a thermal pack window - I got to the end of the velcro and it ripped the fabric (more easily than I would have imagined). We hadn't sewn the opposing velcros together at the end of the run (lower end in the photo above), just the fabrics. I think if we had we would have had a more positive stop and nothing would have ripped. We will fix that, notch the corners as per ski3pin's update and attach some velcro to grab the rolled up windows.
All that said, so far we consider it a great success. We had only camped a couple of times in cold weather but took it out this week in Montana winter and it seemed to perform admirably. There was some condensation in the morning - we toweled it off as others have advised. We kept the thermostat at 42 at night and it probably was upper teens, low 20s outside. It was very comfortable and the heater didn't seem to run an excessive amount, though we don't have much previous experience to compare it to.
We were glad to have the Thermal Pack along...
Costs for the project were about the same as ski3pin's, with the additions of $43 for the ripstop nylon from Seattle Fabrics and $24 for the batting from Joanns (at a 40% off sale). We spent a lot of time on it as we had to make up a lot as went along, but we are very happy with the result!
Cheers,
Robert
We did everything as detailed in their post except hem both the top and bottom edges. We only hemmed the opening edge, which is our case is the top (we plan to open our windows from the top down). Everything was pretty straightforward with the exception of sewing through the hook velcro which seemed a strain at times on our machine. As with many aspects of this project, not real pretty but it seemed to work.
First stage complete. Five panels to a side.
Then we went out on a limb. It seemed to me that, with all the convection in the air space behind what is basically a curtain, some real insulation might be a great help. At the same time we wanted to be able to open the windows and if possible leave the pack in place when the top comes down. We came up with the idea of adding some polyester batting to the outdoor side of the thermal pack and covering it with something thin - ripstop nylon is what we decided on. We sewed the nylon to each of the backs of the center and window sections (along 3 edges) and then slid in the batting before sewing the final seam. Then we made "pillows" for the fore and aft sections - that is sections of batting covered in ripstop that are inserted when the top is up but then can be removed when the top comes down, reducing the bulk at the corners. Here are some pics:
The ripstop, gathered a bit at the corners to allow for the loft of the batting. It's about to be sewn on the three sides with the tape and then in goes the batting
Polyester batting, about 3/4 - 1" thick, but pretty light.
The batting in and ready to be sewn shut.
One side finished, with the loose pillows at the ends.
Here it is, hung in the camper. So far, when we want to lower the top, we just open the thermal pack windows, pull out the pillows from the corners and use the bungees on the pop-up's windows. It has saved us learning how to sew buttonholes and seems to work fine. The corners, without the pillows, seem to close easily and only required a small adjustment on a couple of the roof latches.
One problem we had was when I opened a thermal pack window - I got to the end of the velcro and it ripped the fabric (more easily than I would have imagined). We hadn't sewn the opposing velcros together at the end of the run (lower end in the photo above), just the fabrics. I think if we had we would have had a more positive stop and nothing would have ripped. We will fix that, notch the corners as per ski3pin's update and attach some velcro to grab the rolled up windows.
All that said, so far we consider it a great success. We had only camped a couple of times in cold weather but took it out this week in Montana winter and it seemed to perform admirably. There was some condensation in the morning - we toweled it off as others have advised. We kept the thermostat at 42 at night and it probably was upper teens, low 20s outside. It was very comfortable and the heater didn't seem to run an excessive amount, though we don't have much previous experience to compare it to.
We were glad to have the Thermal Pack along...
Costs for the project were about the same as ski3pin's, with the additions of $43 for the ripstop nylon from Seattle Fabrics and $24 for the batting from Joanns (at a 40% off sale). We spent a lot of time on it as we had to make up a lot as went along, but we are very happy with the result!
Cheers,
Robert
That's a good looking job.
Your idea of the extra batting seems to have been a good idea.
Thanks for sharing.
Frank
Your idea of the extra batting seems to have been a good idea.
Thanks for sharing.
Frank
billharr
Senior Member
Planning on another trip to the east coast in March. I know I will want a Thermal Pack for the trip. I feel confident doing a lot of things on the camper. But I do know what I can and can not do. The wife said her old machine would not sew that much velcro, so I would be looking at a new machine. I might save 2 bills after buying a new machine and making my own Thermal Pack. However with my sewing skills not sure how it would look and fit. One screw up and I would not save any money. [SIZE=14.3999996185303px]I so I took my own advice and just ordered a Thermal pack from FWC. [/SIZE]
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