Odyssey camper here with a quick video
I'll wanted to answer a viewer question about window panels and what I did for my privacy window panels in the camper
So this is gonna be very quick and not fancy
but I want to show you what I originally did on my window panels for the phase 1 Odyssey camper experiment a
2004 Honda Odyssey was to use this insulated board
covered with
pleather material vinyl material and backed with some
Reflectix and what I found is that these panels were really too much in the summertime
it's too much insulation, so they're also kind of bulky and securing them to the window requires some type of an attachment I
Used suction cups and threaded rod, which works
But I think it's just a little too much unless you're gonna be out when it's colder than 20 degrees
So the second time around
for the phase 2 Odyssey, which is
2013 I just took sheets of reflectix and
backed it with felt material so I went down to
Joanne's fabrics picked up some felt and
Connected it with this contact cement this weldwood contact cement you can paint this on with a paintbrush in a well-ventilated
area and just stick the
Stick the felt on to the reflectix one thing to watch when you do this when you want unroll the reflectix
You'll notice it rolls in one direction you want to make that the vertical direction of your panel if you
Do it the other way and you make the vertical you make the?
I'll call it the bias if we make the creases run horizontally it tends to fall out of the window so I found
Doing it vertically
Putting the ribs of the vertical direction is the best way to go
And that's all it is it's very very lightweight, so I cut the felt after I cut the reflectix
I cut the felt just slightly bigger so that I can tamp it into the window and they stay up
They stay up rather well. I'm gonna show you how I set it up in the rear window
These panels are fully reversible and when I'm out in the Sun
I put the reflectix layer facing out and that does a really good job of reflecting heat back now people will tell you that
This stuff does not make a very good insulator
And I'll say that's true if I'm setting out to make an insulated panel
I would not use reflectix on the other hand it does have some insulating qualities when I was out in the Organ mountains
woke up in the morning, there was Frost inside on the glass side and
Nothing on the other side, so there's some insulating value there, but really they're a radiant barrier, so works
Good as a radiant barrier now. If you put the felt panel out you get this effect
You can see that's completely black, and it's very hard to you can also see me in the reflection
It's very hard to see in there even with a flashlight when you shine a flashlight on it
It just looks like it's dark in there, so
Depending on what effect you want you can put either side toward the outside
Looking up at the Odyssey Camper rear hatch you can see these
Small tack strips, I put up there kind of clear and they peel off they're kind of gummy they're used for hanging pictures
Hopefully that shows up in the video I think it will
And that material is made by 3m
so I bought these strips at Lowe's and
Unfortunately I didn't save the rest of the package, but they're in with picture hangers, so I'm sure you can find it
It's kind of a gel stuff and that worked great
For the reflective side of the panel when I stuck up the reflectix and stayed there for the whole trip. No problem
However, they don't really stick that well for the felt now the only panel. I've really had problems with looking inside
you can see the inside of these panels the only one I've really had trouble with is the rear panel because it's so big and
You can see it kind of tends to bend a little bit
I'm gonna tamp it in place and show you what it looks like but those
Adhesive strips stuck up at the top, and they did a pretty good job of holding everything together
When you stick the felt side in I don't think the adhesive did much
but the edges of the felt kind of fold over as you push it into place and
So that tends to hold everything in place, so let me shoot a little
clip of it both ways
I'll try to hold the camera and show how the the tension holds everything in place
I don't have a perfectly centered right now if I were gonna leave it in there for a while
I'd want to get it centered, so there's no light coming in around the edge
And then tamp it in there you can see how the felt kind of folds back and holds everything in place
So that's what the felt side out
See what that looks like?
Completely black
I'll pull that out and flip it around the other way
So now it's in place with the black felt side inward
Which is the way I had it during RTR and then on the outside you get the
Reflective benefit when the sun's hitting the van it doesn't get hot inside
And it stayed up there for the whole trip. No problem. Just with the adhesive at the top
I suppose if you're gonna leave it permanently you could put a little adhesive strip at the bottom, too
And that would ensure it wouldn't go anywhere the side panels
I haven't had to put any adhesive on but
You can see that this one actually fell down as I was driving home
So it wouldn't hurt to stick up stick a strip up at the top?
But that's how I did it the net cost
I think the felt was eight bucks in the clearance rack at jo-ann's fabrics joint fabrics Michaels would have it to
Just buy some cheap thick felt
And then the reflectix was like 15 bucks or something at Lowe's just make sure the reflectix comes in a couple of different sizes
So make sure that you get the one that's wide enough for your windows and tall enough for your windows
So measure windows regardless, what kind of van you have and make sure that you pick the right size
Okay, quick video. Hopefully this helped if you have any questions post them in the comments, and I'll try to get back to you