Ford cab moisture buildup

We are on the coast in Oregon. Winter weather here is wet... and wetter. We are volunteering and spend many days in the rain which means we come home with dripping rain gear. We had a baby dehumidifier when we arrived and soon bought a somewhat larger one. We don't really have room for the two foot tall ones but we're starting to consider it.

The problem is the Ford cab. We have insulated glass in the house area and are running the heater 24/7 to keep the air warm enough for the dehumidifiers to work. Even so, the moist air hits the cold windows in the cab and condenses there. We are wiping and using a squeegee and mopping water but we can't get ahead of it.

Any suggestions? Some people cut that silver bubble insulating stuff to fit the windows to block cold. Would that work or would it just trap all that dripping water behind there? I haven't tried draping off the cab because I don't think I could seal it well enough to block moisture. All I'd do is make it harder to get up there to mop windows.

As a side note, we aren't getting moisture along our mattresses as some have had happen. We have the insulated windows and use wedge cup holders on the side of the bed so there is a small air space there.

Has anyone had this and come up with a fix?

Holly,
The bubble wrap thing will work but it has to be in touch with the glass, so no air flow behind it.  You need to keep the warm moist air from touching the cold glass.  Might take some work to get it cut to fit.

I have used a regular insulated sunshade and it worked OK as long as I got it tight up against the glass.  Anyplace there was a gap I got moisture.  But I wasn't using it long term so I didn't take the time to seal it up properly.

The bubble wrap can be stuck on the glass so likely that is a better solution in your case.

Thank you! I'll give it a try.

Not sure this would work as I never tried it, but consider buying a roll or two of that same insulation foil-backed bubble wrap from a home improvement store and with some level of precision, insulate the Ford cab glass from the outside.  Use that blue plastic painter's tape to seal it well to the windshield and door glass.  When it's time to leave, remove the waterproof painter's tape.  If you deal with winds, that could be a problem.

Oregon Coast in winter, Ron. People come here for storm watching. Winds 40-60 mph not uncommon. I've heard we might get up to 100 mph. It feels like an elephant nudged us at times and our site is partly sheltered!

Not sure this would work as I never tried it, but consider buying a roll or two of that same insulation foil-backed bubble wrap from a home improvement store and with some level of precision, insulate the Ford cab glass from the outside.  Use that blue plastic painter's tape to seal it well to the windshield and door glass.  When it's time to leave, remove the waterproof painter's tape.  If you deal with winds, that could be a problem.

Ron...Good on part of the idea.  But put the insulation under a windshield cover like this one from Camping World...google it, lots of options and prices out there.
Cut the side window insulation 1/8" large all the way around, they will snug in there nicely. Some strong rare-earth magnets can be used to help hold the cover  down.
I would do this and get the biggest de-humidifier you can find room for. The moisture has to condense or soak in somewhere.
Doug

We had one of those vinyl covers and tossed it. It traps moisture underneath and gets funky moldy. If temps drop it freezes and cracks. We dried it out many times, scrubbed it, patched it, and finally gave up on it. We aren't even putting our magne-shades on with this wind.

Could you put a heater in a small tent outside to leave your wet gear in?

We had one of those vinyl covers and tossed it. It traps moisture underneath and gets funky moldy. If temps drop it freezes and cracks. We dried it out many times, scrubbed it, patched it, and finally gave up on it. We aren't even putting our magne-shades on with this wind.

We use one only for storage.   Our prior 2 RV's didn't have real good or convenient inside curtain or pull across front privacy shade like the PC has.   So we used to use the vinyl windshield cover for privacy and can say for a fact, they do not help with inside windshield condensation.

Worthless for that purpose.

Don

Oregon Coast in winter, Ron. People come here for storm watching. Winds 40-60 mph not uncommon. I've heard we might get up to 100 mph. It feels like an elephant nudged us at times and our site is partly sheltered!

Ah, my idea is a bust for sure.

Have you tried placing a tiny electric heater on the floor between the two front seats, blowing the air into one of the foot wells??  Maybe it will keep the cab area warm enough and dry enough to minimize or prevent condensation.

The cab area is of coarse the coldest area in any motor home.  Maybe a little heater there will also reduce cycling on/off of your main furnace, and better stabilize interior temperature, especially the temp down near the floor.

Looked at a weather site  (https://www.beachconnection.net/weather.htm)  , it showed  45-55*   95% humidity and winds 25-60 MPH.     Thats some crazy weather,  So here are a couple crazy solutions. 

Running the cab AC would dehumidify.  Put it to MAX AC .  Run your coach heat concurrently to keep warm?   If you have a cab/coach divider it would help keep heat in back while it dehumidifies the front.  Requires starting the engine, of course.   

If you have two roof A/C's, set one on cool to dehumidify and one on heat?   Would save on using gasoline.  We have one AC, if you do also maybe run the furnace and the coach AC at the same time?  The thermostat only controls the furnace in ours, I understand that may not be common now..


Good Luck!   

Volkemon is 100% on the mark about using the air conditioner as a demumidifier.  If your PC has the old furnace only type thermostat try this:

Grab some cardboard and duct tape, like the crew of Apollo 13. Fabricate a duct that runs along the ceiling from the front of the coach air conditioner into the cab, terminating near the windshield. Then use a blanket to seal off the cab area. Run the air conditioner on high fan, low cool.

Disclaimer: This emergency fix  has not been validated by anyone anywhere . Good luck 2Frazzled !

We had one of those vinyl covers and tossed it. It traps moisture underneath and gets funky moldy. If temps drop it freezes and cracks. We dried it out many times, scrubbed it, patched it, and finally gave up on it. We aren't even putting our magne-shades on with this wind.

My thought was to use the cover to help hold Ron's bubble insulation in place. Most likely would not help the real problem anyway...

I would just get a big dehumidifier. Put it up in the cab, it’ll knock the moisture down and help keep things warm.

Crazy weather but awesome! Sustained wind during our shift today is 35mph with gusts up to 55 mph. 96% humidity, 100% chance of precipitation. Woo hoo! Dressing head to toe in rain gear. With our masks on all you see is our eyes.

Ron, problem is heat inside, cold outside. We've run truck defroster and ac but as soon as glass cools, water condenses. Bigger dehumidifier might help but we full time so no storage once we move on. Still considering it though.

Thanks for all the tips. I ordered the silver bubble wrap stuff. Due first week of January. We'll keep mopping water until then and see how it goes.