Troopy head liner out, radiant heat barrier in. Recommendations? (1 Viewer)

[PhillipJFrye]

Hi folks, hope everyone here is well and not going too stir crazy...

The head liner in my troopy is falling out, so i've decided to attempt replacing it with radiant heat barrier. I live in the tropics and the noon sun bakes that roof and turns my beloved ambulance-turned-beer-delivery-vehicle into an oven.

Keeping heat away is the issue, i could care less about sound dampening, though the two come hand in hand usually. aesthetics are also not hugely important. i'm looking at the various brands of sound/heat insulation on the web, but considering the heat involved with the ceiling, maybe hood/firewall heat barrier material could adhere better.

One thing, i've scoured the town for the special headliner 3m spray to no avail. So a material that comes with an adhesive back sounds nice.

i'd love to hear any and all suggestions. thanks and cheers...

 

[pistonpete]

 

[PhillipJFrye]

View attachment 2386981View attachment 2386982

looks good! thanks. if i settle on this one i'll need to see if i can find the right 3m spray (selection is limited in rural central america).

 

[c2dfj45]

I totally forgot about EZ Cool.....I think that has been around a long time. I been spending lot of time in van buildout forums...they do some pretty neat stuff. They caution against this material directly adhered to metal. There needs to be an air gap for it to work otherwise it just transfers heat....radiates it. There's a foam product that acts as an air gap that goes on first...then this over it. A lot of those guys panel their trucks so they don't really glue stuff up there..it's just layered. A few of the builds had owners really regretting using this material directly on metal. Mostly having to do with condensation and the fact that a lot of heat was coming thru it. Seemed better for cold.

There were a couple of really good suggestions.....roof racks with some kind of cover on the floor of the rack(wood, tarp, whatever) to shade the roof. One guy painted the top of his roof white to reflect heat. The roof rack providing cover made a lot of sense.

I was in my troopy today...it had been baking in the sun all day.....a VERY hot day in FL with no clouds. I felt the headliner and it was slightly warm..... I should have brought a temp gun out to see the temp top on top and inside. Maybe tomorrow I can check. The biggest issue is the amount of sun that comes in all the windows. Need to get some film on them to help cut some heat. Then I think it would be pretty nice inside. We use a lot of 3M Crystalline 90 or 70 film which is amazing. Night and day difference with that film installed.

 

[Trakkateer]

Landrover did a double roof 60+ years ago,
From wiki, Station Wagons were fitted with a "Safari Roof" which consisted of a second roof skin fitted on top of the vehicle. This kept the interior cool in hot weather and reduced condensation in cold weather

 

[c2dfj45]

I think Airstream RVs had a dual skin deal for the same reason.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

It’s been a while since I’ve owned one but if I remember correctly there were fresh air vents between the 2 layers that funneled air into the cab.

 

[PhillipJFrye]

I totally forgot about EZ Cool.....I think that has been around a long time. I been spending lot of time in van buildout forums...they do some pretty neat stuff. They caution against this material directly adhered to metal. There needs to be an air gap for it to work otherwise it just transfers heat....radiates it. There's a foam product that acts as an air gap that goes on first...then this over it. A lot of those guys panel their trucks so they don't really glue stuff up there..it's just layered. A few of the builds had owners really regretting using this material directly on metal. Mostly having to do with condensation and the fact that a lot of heat was coming thru it. Seemed better for cold.

There were a couple of really good suggestions.....roof racks with some kind of cover on the floor of the rack(wood, tarp, whatever) to shade the roof. One guy painted the top of his roof white to reflect heat. The roof rack providing cover made a lot of sense.

I was in my troopy today...it had been baking in the sun all day.....a VERY hot day in FL with no clouds. I felt the headliner and it was slightly warm..... I should have brought a temp gun out to see the temp top on top and inside. Maybe tomorrow I can check. The biggest issue is the amount of sun that comes in all the windows. Need to get some film on them to help cut some heat. Then I think it would be pretty nice inside. We use a lot of 3M Crystalline 90 or 70 film which is amazing. Night and day difference with that film installed.

yeah, i've been reading up on all this stuff and people say similar stuff about reflective materials directly against metal. the roof rack idea is awesome. i swear if someone manufactured those for the average car in these parts they'd make some good coin. thanks for great input.

 

[PhillipJFrye]

Landrover did a double roof 60+ years ago,
From wiki, Station Wagons were fitted with a "Safari Roof" which consisted of a second roof skin fitted on top of the vehicle. This kept the interior cool in hot weather and reduced condensation in cold weather

my kingdom for a double roof on the troopy. what a fantastic and ridiculously pragmatic solution. and the vents!

 

[PhillipJFrye]

for what it's worth, i decided on pretty expensive product. the deciding factor was the stated temperature range of the adhesive. if i were in a temperate zone i easily could have gone for an amazon knock-off version, but i go to places where the sun just annihilates materials and glues at midday. so it's second skin mega zorbe for this troopy's ceiling.

Mega Zorbe™ - Hydrophobic Melamine Foam

Open cell foam treated for water resistance is the best sound absorbing material available for vehicles, while having great thermal insulation properties.

www.secondskinaudio.com

 

[c2dfj45]

for what it's worth, i decided on pretty expensive product. the deciding factor was the stated temperature range of the adhesive. if i were in a temperate zone i easily could have gone for an amazon knock-off version, but i go to places where the sun just annihilates materials and glues at midday. so it's second skin mega zorbe for this troopy's ceiling.

Mega Zorbe™ - Hydrophobic Melamine Foam

Open cell foam treated for water resistance is the best sound absorbing material available for vehicles, while having great thermal insulation properties.

www.secondskinaudio.com

I have some of the same stuff in my cart. Be super careful that you get it EXACTLY where you want it because when it sticks...it will not come off. I want to try this under the headliner in my 79 series.....it was just Lizard Skin up there. Now it will get this on top of it.

 

[SNLC]

If the roof isn’t white already, painting it white too will help.

Cheers

 

[Chinookie]

I worked in the residential building industry for many years. When we needed an aftermarket radiant heat barrier for the roof we would spray a silver compound on the roof decking and that would maintain a cooler attic temperature by about 15-20 degrees. I think that something like that would work here too.

 

[PhillipJFrye]

it's funny, that was my original intent, painting the roof white. but then i saw a troopy on the net that had picked a really cool color like i had, but painted the roof white. i crumbled to vanity. it just looked like hell, and my car looks awesome now covered with this dark green. the older lc's could get away with it because the roof line was shallow. the troopy has this big side section that comes down to the gutter (whatever that is called). looks super goofy imho when white, contrasting with the other color.