Well, I almost have the insulating done...  Thanks to Silver Star's desire to not use a little extra wire length, I pulled a wire that feed most of my trailer's lights last night and need to get a new butt connector.

Thought I'd comment on my trailer's quality--less impressed with it now than before.  Things I've noticed so far, after working on my insulating project and pulling some panels to do so:

• Poor workmanship at nose of trailer, behind metal panels.  I removed the panels to find that the seams where the stainless steel nose lines up with the floor are unfinished.  No caulk or welding, just a space about 1/10th of an inch wide between the two pieces of metal.  Fixed it with spray foam insulation.
• Poor workmanship where wiring enters trailer.  Hole in trailer where wire passes through is not sealed.  Plastic spacer intended to hold wire in the pass through hole was cracked... threw it away.  Solution: wrap wire with some bubble wrap insulation and stuff it down into the pass through hole, then spray with spray foam insulation (I love the stuff... can you tell?)
• Poor workmanship on wiring.  Instead of using a continuous strand of wire long enough to do the job, butt connectors were used in places to join pieces of wire.  That wouldn't be unacceptable if not for the fact that the connectors were not crimped tightly enough to hold the wire.  Wire should also have had some slack in it--they did a good job of not building that into the wiring scheme.

 I'm not unhappy with the trailer, but did expect my $16,500 (before options) would have netted something that was better made.  90 minutes of my time should not yield such a significant improvement in trailer quality...

All foam insulation is in now, minus 6 small pieces.  Just a few more small sections of bubble wrap insulation are needed.

All wiring inside the tack section is now enclosed in flexible conduit--I thought that was supposed to be standard on my model of Silver Star trailer...?

I'll try to post pictures later this week.

Mike

Pictures of my progress so far are at http://www.horsetrailerworld.com/forum/photos/photo-thumbnails.asp?albumid=77

Things are coming along.  Only 1 more piece of foam to cut, which I didn't do today because I'm too lazy to move everything out of the trailer to get to the back corner.

Once that's done, we'll stick some sort of vapor barrier over it all... thinking about Tyvek now instead of roofing felt.  We'll see what the price is like next time I go to Lowe's.

This is fun.  It is amazing that I don't care that the job isn't "perfect."  I'm convinced a professional wouldn't take the time to do the job as nicely as the fellow who has to live in the trailer does...  I have learned that when using the foam board insulation with "aluminum foil" on both sides, that it is best to cut from the shiny side.  A regular kitchen knife is best, in my experience.  Don't try to cut along a yardstick/tape measure to keep things straight.  Lightly trace the intended line to cut before cutting the insulation.  When cutting, do so forcefully and if you make an error in keeping an edge straight, GRADUALLY get back on your line.  I tended to have a preference for forcing a tight fit even if the foam cracked inside the aluminum foil, which led to some cracks evident in the boards shown.  I didn't cut oversized pieces down unless I had to--just stuffed the sides in with my fingers to make the boards fit in between the studs (thus ensuring a tight fit.)  Any large gaps were filled with spray foam.  All seams taped once that was dry.

There's a noticeable difference in how long it takes the trailer to get cold now... and I can run the electric heater (previously inadequate for heating the trailer) and it will heat it up quite nicely.  Ran it for less than 20 minutes this morning (36 degrees outside) and the trailer heated up quite nicely.

Mike

racesarabhorses,

Another  thing that the insulation works wonders for  is keeping it from raining in the trailer during the hot summer months. while running the air conditioning without insulation moisture would condensate so bad in ours that it would drip from the ceiling at night and hit you in the forehead while we slept.Not a problem after insulating! Also, oddly enough, in reference to a previous thread, Our heat strip would provide more than enough heat in our trailer after insulating it. Only problem we had was keeping it regulated so as not to get TOO hot! Go figure? I'm sure that you'll enjoy your trailer even more now that you've added the insulation, I know we do.           Ardly

Best $100 I've spent on this trailer!  :-)  Just need to get the Tyvek up over the insulation and vacuum the trailer out.

Not too keen on breathing foam dust, ya know...

Mike

My ceiling is too low!  The trailer is 7'6" tall, but for some reason the interior isn't done like LQ goosenecks where the bed area is low enough to sit up.  I barely brush my head against the ceiling when I sit up in bed, so don't want to lower it any more, but your idea is a good one and I'll try to take it to heart on the walls.

My hope was that a vapor barrier would do away with the need to double insulate...  Now I'm not so sure...  My thinking now is to put Tyvek over the existing insulation and uprights, then build the wooden furring strips in, then more foamboard insulation, then wiring and plumbing, then plywood to cover it all, then wallpaper or panels and cabinets, etc.

Sound like a plan?  Gosh I wish I knew someone who did this for a living so I'd have a warm fuzzy about how to proceed from seeing it firsthand!  How come nobody's ever written a book on this?

Speaking of Tyvek, here's a good writeup: http://www.nemmar.com/real-estate-Tyvek-Houswrap-Home.html

Lowe's quoted me $103 to $105 for an 8' wide by 105' long roll.  Expensive, but not as bad as it could be and definitely worth the cost if it produces the expected benefits.  I'll have some left over to resell or use on another project.  Will try finding a builder with some left over in the meantime.

Mike