skirting material? - Montana Owners Club

sreigle · 09-08-2005, 07:15 AM

For those of you who have put skirting around your FW to assist in keeping warm in cold weather --

1. Do you skirt just the lower area or also the overhang?

2. What material do you use?

3. How do you fasten it to the Montana?

4. How do you fasten it to the ground?

5. Do you use any kind of framework? Wood?

6. How does it hold up in the wind/rain/ice/snow?

7. Is it worth the cost and effort?

Thanks.

jrgwdenner · 09-09-2005, 01:43 PM

Sounds like you're getting ready for another winter in Kansas, Steve.

Montana Sky · 09-09-2005, 05:00 PM

Steve,
I dont know if this would work or not, there is a fella who is building a home on some acreage on my way to work. All last winter he had his fifth wheel onsite as he was living in it. He used bales of straw and stacked two of them ontop of one another right under his fifth wheel. From what I could tell sure seems to keep the snow out from under it, and I am sure it helped with the wind and cold air as well. Just another idea which would be easy and pretty cheap to do if it works.

Parrothead · 09-09-2005, 07:41 PM

When I lived in upstate New York a lot of people living in mobile homes did the bales of hay thing. They all swore by it.
Happy trails..................

Dave e Victoria · 09-09-2005, 08:44 PM

To paraphrase, Go south, Young man, go south.

Montana Sky · 09-09-2005, 09:14 PM

Dave,
If I could find a way to go south and still get paid I WOULD! I put my $5 on the Mega Million lotto today. It is up to $172 million, I think with that much money I would bring a bunch of folks south. =) On another subject, what model Cambridge did you get? I still keep looking at them and still falling in love.
dave/

richfaa · 09-10-2005, 03:19 AM

The bales of hay around homes are a common sight in the country side around here. I also note them in trailer parks and the bales can be used in the spring when you plant new grass or other plants. My guess is that they would work better than the skirting.Might not look as good but I would be interested in results.

Illini Trekker · 09-10-2005, 03:41 AM

One winter I used 7/16 plywood. Cut it in half made 2'x8' pieces cut 2x4s in half to make 2x2s for the bottoms. Drill holes in the 2x2s and drive 1/4" rebar through the hole to hold to bottom in place. Now set the OSB next to the Monty and the 2x2s scew the OSB to the bottom boards. To hold the top in place run wire throw the top of the OSB (drill holes in the OSB) and loosen some frame scews and wrap the wire then twist the wire tight. This might give you something to think about, if you want you can add insulation board to the inside of the OSB. When spring comes all this stores for the next winter.

Garin1 · 09-10-2005, 05:26 AM

Hay bales work very well but they do tend to attract other tenants(mice)

Garin1 · 09-10-2005, 05:30 AM

Also, i met a fella in Maine that had his skirted with a waterproof canvas material. Said he had it made at a Marine upolstery shop and the install the snaps in the edge of his 5vr. Total cost was $400.00 and it should last many seasons.

sreigle · 09-11-2005, 08:04 AM

Thanks for a lot of great replies. All three of our kids are in the Kansas City area. If we could just convince one of them to go south, then we would, too. As it is, we'll leave for south Texas on Jan 2nd. But until then...

I've also heard of how well the bales of straw work as insulation. BUT, they also harbor mice, insects, even snakes. So that's something we have to consider. The plywood would work well, also. So would the canvas.

One problem we have as fulltimers is storage. We already have lots of things in our kids' basements and we're not anxious to ask if we could take up more of their space. They use their basements so it's not like it's just sitting there empty. The hay we could possibly give away to someone who would come get it. The plywood might be a storage problem. The canvas would take less storage room so that's doable but I'm not real anxious to put snaps on the Montana if I can avoid it.

Any more ideas? Thanks everyone. I still need to think on all these ideas. Has anyone used foamboard? We'll be on a concrete pad so anchoring to the ground would be a problem.

dsprik · 09-11-2005, 08:33 AM

I am in the same situation as you, Steve. Three kids with 5 grandkids (2/2/1 ~ oldest isn't 3 yet) here in NW. Mich (snowbelt, no less). We are sure we are going to have a similar situation to you. Canvas doesn't sound very insulating, but the easiest to store... not sure about installing permanent snaps all the way around the Monty, either. Are you dry camping then? I have been folowing your posts on cold weather camping, but can't remember seeing your "water in" setup (do you have a heat taped line coming in from one of your kids house? How about your dumping setup? I have alot of info on the underbelly prep.

I don't want to get off this thread on skirting, though. Maybe another thread, but not on "internal" prep... plenty out there on that, thanks to you and others.

sreigle · 09-11-2005, 09:00 AM

No problem with talking about it here, Dave, as far as I'm concerned. We spend Nov/Dec at Campus RV Park in Independence, MO, a Kansas City suburb. We use a heat-taped water hose. If you need specifics on how this is done, let me know. I learned it from a guy in Colorado. Some of Campus' water pipes are heat taped. If we get one that is not, then I heat tape it, cover that with insulation and duct tape. In any case I also put a five gallon bucket full of insulation over the water spigot head since there's always a small part uninsulated.

We have full hookups at that park. In the past I've left the sewer hose connected and the dump valve open for the gray tanks. However, this last year we had a dip in the hose and when we had more than a week below 20 degrees with a low of minus 3F, the water in this lowspot froze solid. It happened after I dumped the black tank so I had several feet of frozen black crap in about 30 feet of hose. When I tried to move the hose it cracked. It was so cold that all I had to do was barely touch the hose and it split. Even trying to disconnect and take it to the dumpster caused it to crack into many small piece hanging together by the spiral wire. Except the contents spilled out. Cleaned it up best I could. When it thawed I hosed it all off and spread bleach around to kill any germs and the odor. Real mess. I think this winter I may connect the sewer hose only when I'm ready to dump. Will have to think about this some more before November.

dsprik · 09-11-2005, 05:15 PM

Our pastor just said tonight, "A wise person learns for other's mistakes". Wow... that would have go under "Worse Possible Things to Happen While Cold Weather Camping"! Isn't there a "cold weather" sewer hose material. I know what you are talking about on that material. I would never have thought about something like that happening. I do now, though.

They do have at least one rv campground around here that is "year round"... they claim "full winter hookups". I will try to go see them in the next few days.

Bob & Lee · 09-12-2005, 04:24 AM

I read somewhere that a guy replaced the flex pipe W/4" PVC and clamped the flex on each end to make the turns I had no problems last year but am thinking about this.

Garin1 · 09-12-2005, 06:55 AM

If you know you are going to be there for the winter it may just be best to hard pipe the line.

sreigle · 09-14-2005, 07:05 AM

I'm going to seriously look at hard piping it this winter. Thanks for the idea. As for clamping a short hose on each end I think I'll put a couple of self tapping screws with washers through it, too. Slick sided pvc probably doesn't give much grip for a sewer hose and radiator-type band clamp and I'd sure hate to blow it off there when dumping the black tank. We have about a 20 to 30 foot run for the hose so I could probably use pvc pipe in sections. I'll have to rig up some kind of storage under the Montana for the pipe for the rest of the year.

jrgwdenner · 09-15-2005, 10:09 AM

Steve, at the park where we camped in the Okanagon Valley, there was an area for semi-permanent RVs and they were all skirted. I spoke with one lady who said they had skirted their trailer with sections of plywood with foam on the inside. They could take down the sections when they wanted to move. Seems they built a frame and attached the sections to the frame during the winter. Some of the sections that others used seemed to be aluminum siding. At the front of the camper where the siding is taller, some of them even put in a door so the front area became a storage room. The park was beautiful because they had wonderful decks and gardens around their units.

sreigle · 09-20-2005, 02:48 PM

Thanks, Judy. I'm still mulling over how to go about doing this, if at all. Whatever we do the skirting material will have to be given away, trashed, or taken with us at the end of the winter. I don't want to spend a lot if we're going to give it away or trash it. Plywood is heavy when you have that much of it and I'd have to store it under the belly somehow. I don't know if I want to carry that much additional weight. Plus I'm not sure how the plywood would weather. Good idea, though, and I'll keep that one in mind.

I'm also thinking of borrowing an idea from another member and adding four inches of roll insulation above the belly pan. However, I'm not sure what would happen if we leaked water in the belly. Would the fibreglass insulation mildew? I'll have to make a decision in less than two months.

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