Anyone buying new ask if an artic option is available with superior insulation in the walls and roof?
Also would want the upper cabinet doors to lift up like the one above the DVD player, tired of bumping our heads.
And a few more changes.
Hi Randall and Chris,
I know what you mean about bumping your head on open upper cabinet doors. I do it once or twice per trip. Top-hinged upper cabinet doors would surely save me some serious pain. On the other hand, or should I say the "Other Head", my wife Irene wouldn't want them because she'd have trouble opening and closing them with her short height. We had them in our first rig and she struggled every time.
About the Arctic package, I think the best you can do about winter travel and insulation with a PC is to....
- get a small PC
- don't get any slide-outs
- get thermal pane windows
- minimize your ceiling openings, see if you can manage with the quality ceiling fan placed in the bathroom and let that be your one and only
- if you are short enough, don't get the skylight in the shower
- eliminate the rear window, keep it solid fiberglass. I have seen it done before.
- set yourself up with a real good quilted cold-air barrier across the backs of the two front seats. Cold will water-fall over the barrier but it is much reduced compared to doing nothing.
The factory insulation in the floor, walls, and ceiling do a great job if cut and fitted between the studs properly. Unfortunately you are at the mercy of line worker's level craftsmanship with block foam, and how detailed he feels like that day. Now if the insulation was injected inside and allowed to expand the proper amount, that would be ideal. But that process is a real science and each compartment between studs requires it's own amount, hence you won't be seeing that anytime soon at Phoenix.
Our 2007 2350 with no slide out and thermal pane windows is comfortable with outdoor temps at freezing 32. We are kept warm when we have shore power for we pull out our little space heater and it does quite well. Our furnace can cook us alive. We makeshift a front seat barrier when needed but we really need something custom made to seal right and quilted to make a better thermal barrier. When sleeping at night, we close our pleated white curtain and the furnace keeps the bedroom decently warm without running like crazy. Of coarse pending how cold it really is outside.
One thing we have not done is "Winter-Camp". My comments consider high altitude camping freezing at night, or freezing in the fall time of year. Not ever below 30 degrees that I know of.
