Insulation in underbelly

[Okie Guy]

I just returned home from the RV show. I sat down with the Mountaineer dealer to find out in the 8 months the previous owner had my RV they had some maintance performed and the insulation is now missing from the underbelly. ARGH! Now I have to insulate the underbelly before winter and we have a week of rain coming up.
Has anyone put insulation in the underbelly on thier unit?
What R-factor would you put in your underbelly?
Should I pack it as tight as possible or leave some room for air to move around down there?
Should I just forget it and ask the dealer if they can put the insulation in the underbelly for me?
Thanks
Phil

[sreigle]

According to this site
http://www.keystone-mountaineer.com/?page=construction
the floor has an R-14 rating. I don't know how much of that is from the insulation and how much from the floor and bellypan.

Does your Montana have an Arctic Package seal on it? If not, it may not have come with that insulation. I am not sure but I think it is an option on the Mountaineer. In any case, you no doubt will want some insulation in there. While there, I'd recommend using foam pipe insulation tubes on your water lines, especially where they lay against the frame.

[bsmeaton]

Phil,
Steve's right, at least wrap the pipes as discussed. I don't think they actually came with a thick insulation, just the black belly sheet and the silver foil wrapped insulation. They do have a heat duct going into the belly. In theory, as long as it is reasonably air tight the heater duct should eliminate freezing.

There have been some threads on people adding insulation to the Montanas. You might try a search, and you might check Ozz's posts, as I believe he just did his.

[Okie Guy]

Thanks Guys...I have had a day to cool down. I talked to the dealer who told me when the unit left their lot it had insulation in the underbelly. The sealed underbelly has the pipes with the foqam insulation around them where they come out of the underbelly. I am taking her out on the last lake trip for the season this weekend and Sunday night the belly comes off when I get home. I have the rolled insulation ready to go and plan to put in a black tank washer while I am under there. I hope this helps me out when we trade her in on a younger model next year.
Wish me luck!
Phil

[tmarshall]

It sounds like your dealer may be exaggerating a bit. I don't thin the mountaineers have the foil insulation option. You can very easily add a 8ft wide sheet of reflectix (2 - 4ft sheets taped together with reflective ducting tape)like the montanas have. I also added 3 1/2" of encapsulated fiberglass insulation to the back half of my 2004 3670RL and put foam tubes on the pipes. I also taped a 1" block of styrofoam under the foam tubes every few feet to hold the pipes off the underbelly so the heat can flow around the pipes. I hope this works. It's snowing and gonna get down to 20 degrees tonight in douglas, WY. I'll know pretty soon if I freeze up, but I'm not too worried about it anymore. Good luck. I don't know how to post pics but I have a bunch from my insulation project that I would like to share.

[jpkelpe]

Our Mountaineer did not come with the insulation--not an arti paskage. We got 3 1/2 inch unfaced batts and put them in there. loosened the belly panels and stuffed it in there using a long stick. then we put it in storage so won't be able to tell the difference until next year. we made sure that it did not block the heater vents for the under belly. Cruzin 2 did the same and I think he has some pictures.