How to line, insulate and carpet a campervan by our lining specialist Bart

Campervan conversions require specialist linings to ensure they’re warm, quiet and retain heat. At the Dub Hut, we asked our lining specialist Bart to write a blog on how the process comes together for a perfect campervan lining.

If you are in the market for a camper, or are looking to purchase a van to convert, you might be wondering what work goes into the job to take your van from this:

This is Bart our lining specialist. 😊

Before:

Here’s an empty van before the process of being gutted.

After

Here is the finished lining and flooring with all the important stuff like insulation and deadening.

What order does a campervan lining need to be installed?

Sound Deadening

Sleeping and living in a van can bring all kinds of issues with noise. Noone wants the fuss trying to sleep and hearing every single noise outside.

This is where specialist automotive sound deadening is your best friend! We use Dodo Mat Sound Deadening sheets for all of our lining works, a UK manufactured product with a great reputation within the automotive industry. 

Dodomat sheets are self adhesive, foil backed sound deadening and vibration dampening sheets, which we apply to the interior of single skin areas of the bodywork to greatly cut down on all road noise, and noise from outside the vehicle when stationary. This means you get heavily reduced noise levels. (They can even better than that of a car) It means you get peace at night.

I also apply sound deadening sheets to the floor of the vehicle before we install any ply, cutting down further any road noise. Sound can get in from all angles, and it’s really important not to scrimp on materials. There’s nothing worse than regretting these early decisions in a van.

Thermoliner

The second layer we apply to the interior of the vehicle is a layer of Dodo Thermoliner Pro, a 10mm sound and heat insulation material giving you a warmer camper. The Thermoliner is pre-cut in our workshop to fit into every nook and cranny of the vehicle, and the material contours to any curve or ridge in the bodywork. It really tucks in to keep all draughts out.

Thermoliner waterproof and fire retardant to ISO 3795 vehicle standards, giving you further peace of mind that your camper is not only quiet and warm, but also safe.

Fleece Insulation

The final layer that we install beneath the van’s carpet is Dodo Fleece EVO. This is a hypoallergenic and sustainable insulation quilt, manufactured from recycled plastic bottles.

The latest version of this product has been improved to give a tighter composition, meaning that it helps keep the shape and form of the product when installed into the tightest spaces of the vehicle, while still offering great thermal performance and not absorbing moisture in high humidity conditions, proofing the product for a long lasting application.

The quilt is 50mm thick, meaning that it provides a high level of thermal performance without being too thick and impacting the following stages of the conversion, and one face of the product is lightly heat treated to give a smoother finish, meaning that when applied with spray adhesive it tacks onto the thermoliner or metalwork easily, and will not unstick in higher temperatures.

Ply lining and carpeting

The final layer we apply to the sides of the vehicle when in for a conversion is four way stretch carpeting.

When carpeting the vehicle we apply a layer of spray adhesive to the sides of the vehicle, and to the back of the carpet to ensure long term adhesion, and working from top to bottom we stretch and work the carpet into every edge, join and contour to provide a smooth finish, that looks like the vehicle came with it fitted straight from the factory.

Carpeting can be one of the most time consuming parts of any van build, and definitely needs the most skill. I’d never recommend anyone lines their own van, as it takes a lot of work to ensure that the vehicle ends up with a flawless finish. Once that carpet goes on, there’s no going back (without starting again). All of our vans leave the workshop without any visible joins, creases or burns. They look great.

Before you ask, yes it is easy to clean. There are loads of colour choices to fit your chosen palette for the van interior.

We have spent a lot of time sourcing the very best manufacturers and suppliers. The whole team are confident that the product we offer is the best out there in every category.

Once the carpet is installed we cut individual ply panels on our CNC machine, then carpet these panels which are then screwed (with colour matched screws) over the top of all the recesses and voids in the body work, meaning that they can be removed at a later time if required to access any electrics, lights etc without having to remove all the carpeting to do future works beneath!

Campervan flooring

Once we have finished the sides of the vehicle, we cut a 12mm ply floor on our CNC machine, fitting in to every angle and curve of the side of the vehicle to give a tight finish to the carpet. Screwed through the sound deadening and ribs of the floor, each screw is tested to make sure the floor is tight, and will not suffer from any popped screws or squeaking. Once tested, the screw heads are filled and sanded down to ensure a smooth area to apply the next step to.

Next we apply a thin coat of F45 Acrylic glue to the ply flooring, then we carefully lay out the chosen flooring product, pushing out any air bubbles working from the centre to the edges before cutting by hand the whole floor, ensuring that the finished product sits against the carpet flush with no bubbles, slices or marks.

The range of flooring we use comes in several different finishes, each with their own obstacles to fitting, but we are all very well-practiced in cutting in flooring.

If you’d like to talk about your van’s lining please get in touch, you can talk to me or one of the team about all the options available.

Thanks for reading, Bart.

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