Honda FR-V Catalytic Converter Heat Shield

[PurpleTurtle]

I knew we had a rattle from our exhaust last week, at the weekend whilst away camping the cat heat shield (top and bottom parts) decided to detach whilst driving. I was towing a caravan across a muddy festival field at the time, rather fortunate that it happened there rather than on a public road, but it meant an AA callout to get a decent jack under it. AA man had to tt it with a large ttting hammer to dislodge it, this thing is rusted to hell, am amazed it had hung on for so long, it is definitely showing all of its 102,000 miles.

Looking at replacements they are about 62 quid a half, I need both halves, plus labour if I get an indie to fit it. There doesn't seem to be any aftermarket alternatives.

Question is, do I really need one in the UK? A few other forums suggest that the main issue with cats is their running temp, if parking on dry grass then it could start a fire. If you don't do that then no real need to replace it. I am slightly concerned we do need one in the long run because we do a bit of camping.

My question being, is there a cheaper, just as effective alternative? That heat tape that you see wrapped on exhaust headers, would that do the same job for far less money? It's a 13yo runabout and I'm keen to keep costs down whilst we slowly run it into the ground (only do 8k pa miles in it).