Many motorhomes don’t have their wheel arches insulated on the inside. However, insulating the wheel arches can make a really big difference to the cosiness of your ‘van, especially for those who like to tour during the colder autumn and winter months. This is because the thin, plastic wheel arch liner offers very little barrier against those often freezing temperatures outside.
While having the best heater for a campervan and dropping the pop-top roof if your ‘van has one are two steps that be helpful if you’re wondering how to keep a campervan warm in winter, insulating the wheel arches can be another useful method for keeping the cold out. After all, in the same way that you have motorhome floor insulation, it can make a difference to protect the wheel arches, too.
The good news is it can be easily rectified by reaching for your motorhome tool kit and carrying out some simple DIY.
If you’re wondering how to insulate your wheel arches, Rod Farringdon is sharing the steps involved. As a thrifty, year-round ‘van owner, Rod is not one to waste gas and battery power on using the heating system in his ‘van when he doesn’t need to. As a result, he set about adding extra insulation to make his motorhome more energy efficient.
Insulating wheel arches: the steps involved
1. In most leisure vehicles, the wheel arches are easily accessible via one of the cupboards or underseat lockers. Some, however, are located directly under the shower unit and these can be a bit trickier to gain access to.
The existing wheel arch liner is only going to be about 2-3mm thick, so offers little insulation.
In winter temperatures, this creates unwelcome cold spots in the vehicle’s interior, especially in the space you can see – and they will seep that coldness into the main living area.
2. One wheel arch on Rod’s ’van was easy to access, so he simply bought a padded hot-water cylinder jacket from Screwfix and then cannibalised it to form the right size and shape to cover the arch.
One of these cylinder jackets should be enough to insulate two wheel arches.
Taking care with all of the wires and pipes in the area, Rod carefully squashed the insulated jacket all around the inner arch.
3. It is important to ensure there are no gaps in the insulation, so you might need to have access to the inner arch from a number of different angles.
4. Once the wheel arch had been completely covered, Rod taped the jacket securely into position, making sure that any cables he might need to access in the future were not obscured in the process.
5. As well as providing excellent insulating properties, the cylinder jacket is also fire-retardant. That makes this a low-cost, easy-to-use, safe and very effective option.
6. On the fridge side of the ’van, the inner arch was exposed, but space was at more of a premium and there were lots of cables and pipes to work around.
7. Lack of space meant the jacket would not work here, so Rod opted to use thinner, closed-cell foam – the type you often find products packaged with.
8. Rod had to access the arch from various angles through different lockers, to ensure complete coverage.
9. He used gaffer tape to secure the foam. The latter doesn’t absorb water, making it doubly good.
10. While Rod was scrabbling around under the lockers, he wisely took the time to insulate some of the main pipes for his Alde heating, using split-foam insulation and cable ties. Job done!
Not everyone chooses to embark on a winter tour, with some putting their ‘vans into hibernation instead. If this applies to you and you’re wondering if a motorhome cover is a good idea, we explain why it can be worth buying one.
Future Publishing Limited, the publisher of Practical Motorhome, provides the information in this article in good faith and makes no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Individuals carrying out the instructions do so at their own risk and must exercise their independent judgement in determining the appropriateness of the advice to their circumstances. Individuals should take appropriate safety precautions and be aware of the risk of electrocution when dealing with electrical products. To the fullest extent permitted by law, neither Future nor its employees or agents shall have any liability in connection with the use of this information. Double check any warranty is not affected before proceeding.
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