Insulation

[ryanwetzel]

Hi All,

Looking for some opinions on isulation. Here is my plan:

During the renovations, add insulation to walls ans floor. I plan on using Rolux and with a plastic vapor barrier or Reflectix radiant foil around heating pipes and in the engine rooms. I chose Rolux since it is fire retardant, water resistant, and a decent sound obsorber. The foil reflects 95% of raidant heat. Just wish there was a way to make use of that heat the engines produce.

What does everyone think? Has anyone done something similar?

Ryan

 

[REBrueckner]

No real reason to wrap heating pipes within the boat....it helps keep water lines, toilets, etc from freezing....For example inside my engine room I left about two feet of my Webasto exhaust uninsulated and put a small automatic 12v fan to push air past it and extract "free" exhaust heat...I even ran a heated water line adjacent to fresh water lines in one section where the water lines ran against the hull interior... after stuffing some insulation between the lines and the hull...where I could reach.

Are you planning to keep winter heat on...as in living aboard? I insulated as many areas I could reach on the exterior shell...like engine room hull sides, underside of catwalks, exterior hull sides adjacent to shower stalls, etc...Insulating lower level floors might be a good idea as the hull against winter water is always cold...and conducts a lot of heat....

A major source of heat loss on my 1972 YF was underside of roofs...so if you want to insulated those to prevent condensation, you'll have to remove ceiling liner....

 

[ryanwetzel]

Let me add that I plan on running PEX for all my heating and hot water. Insulating might help the long runs stay hot before reaching the air exchangers.

I plan to insulate as much of the hull as possible. And since I'm pretty much gut reno'ing the thing, that is everywhere. Do you think insulating the lower level roofs is necessary under the salon?

All the liners are down. Unfortunately the Rolux is only sold in 2" thickness. I wonder if there is 3/4" wool insulator on the market...

 

[saltshaker]

Try Soundown. They have lots of different products in various sizes. Great stuff and good company to deal with.
http://www.soundown.com/index_Marine.htm

 

[boatwright]

i have been useing two part spray foam.it is closed cell so no moisture absorbtion, r7 per inch, comes in many size kits, and goes in like your spray painting,stops out gasing in less then a day. makes all the funny corners and angles easy to insulate with no air gaps,with the fine nozzel you can reach more than 2 ft beyond your reach. i made "boxs" out of urethane foam board around things like hydrolic lines and trim tabs for maintance access. since the boat is our home we even got a energy tax credit. no matter what method you use dont forget to insulate the exhausts, they are tunnels of cold right into the heart of your boat plus it helps with the noise.