How We Insulated Our Box Truck Camper With Havelock Wool
17 hours ago
4 min read
This post contains affiliate links. The Desert Cruisers are part of the affiliate programs mentioned in this post, and these links contribute a small amount to us if you make a purchase through them, at no extra cost to you.
An empty aluminum moving box is loud. Every footstep echoes, the thin wall panels wobble, and it heats up and cools down fast. Before a single board went up in our truck, we turned that tinny shell into something that actually feels like a home. Here's how we sound-deadened and insulated our box truck camper, and how it's held up after years of full-time living.
Step zero: tape out the floor plan
Before anything went on the walls, we taped our entire floor plan onto the bare floor with blue painter's tape: the bed, the galley, the couch and the shower. After months of seeing it only on paper and in a 3D model, we could finally walk the real footprint.
This step matters for insulation too. We marked where every window, door and roof opening would go before covering anything. There's no point deadening or insulating an area you're about to cut right back out.
Sound deadening: RattleTrap on the walls and ceiling
We used RattleTrap in our Sprinter too, and FatMat sent us rolls for the truck. In an aluminum box it does two jobs: it kills the echo, and it stiffens those thin, slightly wobbly wall panels. It adds some weight, but that's exactly why it works. It's also an easy one-person job. Cody did the whole thing solo.
Our best tips:
Warm it up first. Leave the rolls in the sun. Warm RattleTrap is soft and bendy; cold RattleTrap fights you the whole way.
Stick from the top down. Clean the surface, cut it to size with a box cutter, then peel back just the top edge of the backing, place it, then slowly roll the paper down as you press it on.
Roll the edges first with a roller, then work the middle.
Leave your openings bare. We covered nearly every wall and the ceiling, but left the window spots, the cargo door and the AC opening clear.
Insulation: why we chose Havelock Wool
This time around we went with Havelock Wool. It's sustainable, has a great R-value, helps even more with sound in a metal box, and it wicks moisture.
That last one mattered most to us. We travel in humid climates too, and you do not want insulation getting moldy behind your walls where you can't see it.
How we installed it
A box like ours doesn't give you anything to tie or zip-tie wool to, so we glued it in.
Behind the studs, not just between them. We tucked the wool all the way behind the steel studs before any furring strips went on, so the insulation is continuous behind everything. The furring strips and ceiling went on next (see how we installed our shiplap ceiling).
Spray, wait, stick. We used 3M 90 spray adhesive. Shake it well, spray, wait until it's tacky, then press the batt up. It held like a charm.
Let the batts do the work. We got lucky: the batts were nearly the perfect width for our stud cavities, so we just stacked them and cut to fit.
"There's literally no more echo in here… it's like dead quiet, which is really nice. And even when you walk in here, it just sounds more solid." — Cody, right after the last batt went up
What we'd tell you before you start
Don't wear clothes you care about. Between the spray adhesive and the fine wool fibers floating around, it stuck to everything we wore.
An open box is a windy box. A few big gusts pulled some batts down before the furring strips went on. Expect to re-glue a few.
Keep future drill spots bare. When we later drilled the roof for our solar cable glands, the bit came back covered in black goop from the sound deadening. Map every roof and wall hole first, and skip those spots.
Watch us do it
The sound deadening and insulation are in Part 1 of our build series, along with cutting our very first hole in the roof for the MaxxFan (we wrote that one up in our MaxxFan install guide):
How it's held up
About a year after insulating, we said we were extremely happy with how the box was insulating. Years into living in the truck full-time, across a wide range of climates, that hasn't changed. There's far less echo and road noise than an untreated box would have.
Want every step, measurement and lesson?
We're putting the whole build into one guide: From Box Truck to Expedition Vehicle. It covers every system in detail, the order we built in, what we did ourselves versus hired out, and what has actually held up after years on the road.
Until then, follow along on Instagram at @thedesertcruiser.
Comments