Alternative to plywood?

[AimlessWanderLust]

Dig your idea for using christmas tree clips to secure the large pieces of fabric, AWL. I am very much appreciative of both of your efforts to document your insulating process in detail with photos. For better or worse I'm an incessant planner and it helps greatly for me to see real results like this in practice before I continue with insulation phase of my conversion.

Thanks. At first, since we had read about Accrete's hulliner falling down from the ceiling, the plan was to use the clips as extra securing against falling down. But while trying to install such large pieces, we found them invaluable to just make it manageable. It adds a nice accent too, in my opinion.

 

[accrete]

Yes on the extra care for attaching the ceiling fabric. On the rework there are now ~4"x4"x3/4" ply blocks epoxied to the fiberine top and a drop ceiling with the headliner...with recessed LED lighting. A much cleaner way to get the job done in our case.

 

[coolmom42]

I really like the looks of those 80/20 products! Thanks for the link!

 

[compassrose]

The hull liner fabric does look interesting but since my van will have full cooking facilities in it, something that is at least wipeable is vital.

Vinyl?

 

[Almost There]

Vinyl?

Well, naughahyde but yes, that's what I'm leaning towards right now. I have a lot of planning and design work ahead of me this winter. I like to figure everything out right down to materials list and cost and then do it once....kinda like the carpenters' rule of measure twice, cut once!

 

[Phreedom]

Greetinga Spiff... well i might have thrown a new word out there? What i meant was to emphasize the words "Soft" and "Wall"...so i did the underscore before/after them.

We just sandwiched bubble wrap (think post office green stuff) and reflectix (Lowes/HomeDepot) and then covered the whole lot of it with marine grade "Hull Liner fabric" available locally and at many online shops.

Apologies for any confusion.
Thom

---

GREAT WORK AWL!!

---

Wow, your insulation project turned out fantastic! Would you mind sharing the total cost of the insulation?

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Another perspective is to consider what *kind* of plywood you are using. For example 3/8 baltic birch is alot lighter than regular ply but has the same stiffness. Paint it with some anti mildew paint and you are good to go. Italian Poplar and Okuame are other choices that may work.

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

We just sandwiched bubble wrap (think post office green stuff) and reflectix (Lowes/HomeDepot) and then covered the whole lot of it with marine grade "Hull Liner fabric" available locally and at many online shops.

My new sprinter van came without walls. I was thinking about doing something like you did, but if a tool box were to slide across the floor and hit the wall, it could cause a dent you could see from the outside. I wouldn't mind if it was my old van, but this van is brand new so I need something with some strength. Of course if I didn't have my stuff all stuck in haphazardly I wouldn't need to worry as much.

 

[cdiggy]

Corrugated plastic. Interesting, especially if it is cheap. I am doing a step van and was leaning towards FRP sheets. Very easy to clean. Just any color other than bright white is double the price and I need 8 sheets. Coroplast might be cheaper.

 

[ccbreder]

My new sprinter van came without walls. I was thinking about doing something like you did, but if a tool box were to slide across the floor and hit the wall, it could cause a dent you could see from the outside. I wouldn't mind if it was my old van, but this van is brand new so I need something with some strength. Of course if I didn't have my stuff all stuck in haphazardly I wouldn't need to worry as much.

heavy loads must be secured. If a toolbox was to slide into the driver it would do more damage.

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

heavy loads must be secured. If a toolbox was to slide into the driver it would do more damage.

Of course that's true. I have a partition so it's no problem hitting the driver.