2003 Winnebago Journey Dl 39WD - Hole Under Bed

[conrad10781]

Hello everyone,

I have the following hole/opening under the bed in the master. It's allowing a lot of very hot air ( ~120F ) to come in while we're driving.

Questions:

1. Can that hole/opening be covered/insulated?
2. Is there supposed to be something already covering it that maybe a previous owner removed and didn't properly restore?

[Jim_HiTek]

I have a '02 Journey DL and it has a large metal cover under the bed. I have to remove large bolts to remove it to access any of the diesel engine under the bed.

I can't tell from your picture what style you have really, so I'm a bit confused. Need more pictures. But I don't have ANY exposed wood under my bed at floor level. It's all metal. And since your opening is wood, there's no harm in covering it by whatever means at your disposal. Being it's wood that means the heat it's exposed to should not be hot enough to overheat it.

Do you have a N-S bed, or W-E?

[al1florida]

I'm guessing the hole is about 4" x 10". I would cover it with something that is not particularly flammable. Maybe a piece of plywood with the expandable foam spray to fill in the gaps.

[CharlesMoore]

At the risk of sticking my neck out, after you cover the hole with something I would add aluminized bubble wrap to further insulate the hot engine compartment from the bed.



FYI- My 2002 Journey DL 34 has the metal plate referred to earlier and a decorative ``wood covering forward of the metal plate. Several mechanics have tried to step or sit on this and you hear a creaking sound. That is why I called it decorative.

[pobstlmo]

Wow that’s a small hole. My 2005 Horizon iks40wd has a hole twice that size. I figured out it is a wiring chase from the electric bay to the circuit breaker boxes under the bed. Insulation and Spray foam to stop the draft.
If you have an electric bay in the front under the driver seat, and have a ramp on the floor of the drivers floor, then you have another draft spot.
Not too mention the entire front of the coach is metal with no insulation, I added the stick on one side and insulation metal on the other, from the hardware store.
Best of luck.

[conrad10781]

Originally Posted by Jim_HiTek

I have a '02 Journey DL and it has a large metal cover under the bed. I have to remove large bolts to remove it to access any of the diesel engine under the bed.

I can't tell from your picture what style you have really, so I'm a bit confused. Need more pictures. But I don't have ANY exposed wood under my bed at floor level. It's all metal. And since your opening is wood, there's no harm in covering it by whatever means at your disposal. Being it's wood that means the heat it's exposed to should not be hot enough to overheat it.

Do you have a N-S bed, or W-E?

Additional pictures below. W-E. Thanks.

[conrad10781]

Originally Posted by al1florida

I'm guessing the hole is about 4" x 10". I would cover it with something that is not particularly flammable. Maybe a piece of plywood with the expandable foam spray to fill in the gaps.

Mine is about 7" x 17". Thanks for the suggestion!

[conrad10781]

Originally Posted by CharlesMoore

At the risk of sticking my neck out, after you cover the hole with something I would add aluminized bubble wrap to further insulate the hot engine compartment from the bed.



FYI- My 2002 Journey DL 34 has the metal plate referred to earlier and a decorative ``wood covering forward of the metal plate. Several mechanics have tried to step or sit on this and you hear a creaking sound. That is why I called it decorative.

Thanks for the suggestion on the "bubble wrap" insulation. We have some extra of that around that I will utilize.

[conrad10781]

Originally Posted by pobstlmo

Wow that’s a small hole. My 2005 Horizon iks40wd has a hole twice that size. I figured out it is a wiring chase from the electric bay to the circuit breaker boxes under the bed. Insulation and Spray foam to stop the draft.
If you have an electric bay in the front under the driver seat, and have a ramp on the floor of the drivers floor, then you have another draft spot.
Not too mention the entire front of the coach is metal with no insulation, I added the stick on one side and insulation metal on the other, from the hardware store.
Best of luck.

I have this one and the other beside it ( in pictures below ). One is for one set of wiring ( circuit panel ) and the other is for something else wrapped in loom.

[Jim_HiTek]

Aww, I see now. Thanks for the pictures. I was not aware that Winnie made a sea going RV. Anyway...

The W-E bed design is quite a bit different then my N-S bed. I would for sure climb under the RV and see if something, like hi-temp insulation, is missing from under there, then I'd work on covering that hole. Since openings from the engine compartment into the living space is a no-no, I suspect it's due to a bit of a factory floor mod to make it easier to build the RV, without considering the consequences...which turn out to be allowing hot air into the living space while driving and during cool down at a RV park.

Like most RV manufacturers, Winnie does a poor job with wire bundle routing and dressing. This is your RV and you can remove and re position any wire cable or wire clamp you wish anywhere you choose. And that's what I'd do, I'd re position the wire bundles so I could install a 1/2" CDX piece of plywood over the hole and just have a small opening in that for the wiring. Once that large hole is plugged, foam around the wire bundle opening.

Then since that looks like mostly wasted space under there, I'd put another layer of 1/4" plywood up inside that aluminum framing. Since it's in a slide, you wouldn't want to put anything under the bed that would add too much weight to it anyway.

To add plywood, you'd have to install some brackets screwed to the bottom of the square tubing to hold it but that would be easy. 'L' brackets are ready made for that. Then just drop the pre-cut plywood inside the aluminum frame and the plywood would be supported by the brackets. I wouldn't screw it in place, I'd just let the plywood float there so it can be quickly removed. It appears from your pictures that there would only be one cut at the back edge for a wire bundle.

That extra layer of wood should block the heat pretty well. I would still plug that original hole. And maybe add something down underneath that hole. How close that hole is to the major heat source of the engine, the exhaust, determines what kind of material to put there. Might need to be a piece of sheet metal.

[conrad10781]

Originally Posted by Jim_HiTek

Aww, I see now. Thanks for the pictures. I was not aware that Winnie made a sea going RV. Anyway...

The W-E bed design is quite a bit different then my N-S bed. I would for sure climb under the RV and see if something, like hi-temp insulation, is missing from under there, then I'd work on covering that hole. Since openings from the engine compartment into the living space is a no-no, I suspect it's due to a bit of a factory floor mod to make it easier to build the RV, without considering the consequences...which turn out to be allowing hot air into the living space while driving and during cool down at a RV park.

Like most RV manufacturers, Winnie does a poor job with wire bundle routing and dressing. This is your RV and you can remove and re position any wire cable or wire clamp you wish anywhere you choose. And that's what I'd do, I'd re position the wire bundles so I could install a 1/2" CDX piece of plywood over the hole and just have a small opening in that for the wiring. Once that large hole is plugged, foam around the wire bundle opening.

Then since that looks like mostly wasted space under there, I'd put another layer of 1/4" plywood up inside that aluminum framing. Since it's in a slide, you wouldn't want to put anything under the bed that would add too much weight to it anyway.

To add plywood, you'd have to install some brackets screwed to the bottom of the square tubing to hold it but that would be easy. 'L' brackets are ready made for that. Then just drop the pre-cut plywood inside the aluminum frame and the plywood would be supported by the brackets. I wouldn't screw it in place, I'd just let the plywood float there so it can be quickly removed. It appears from your pictures that there would only be one cut at the back edge for a wire bundle.

That extra layer of wood should block the heat pretty well. I would still plug that original hole. And maybe add something down underneath that hole. How close that hole is to the major heat source of the engine, the exhaust, determines what kind of material to put there. Might need to be a piece of sheet metal.

Thanks for the additional details and suggestions. Regarding the "sea going", that's not factory, but something my wife chose as we remodeled the RV. Previously looked like below.

[Triton]

I went to Lowe's and bought a 8" x 15" wall vent and jb welded a metal screen (from an old fireplace screen) to it then attached it to the floor with the provided screws. Keeps the vent open for flow but won't allow any critters in.