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Cold Weather Camping


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Hi All,

 

Our Oliver is parked at our house in NW CT and we are getting ready to leave this Thursday Morning and head South, into hopefully warmer temps. When we left Hohenwald, Dec 17th, we did not winterize our unit, instead choose to keep it heated on our return to pack up for our trip south. It has been doing fine as, the temps in the NE have been kind to us. However, it looks like the temps might dip into the single digits with some wind for a day or two before we leave on Thursday.

 

Any advice? Anyone with experience with these temps? Run Furnace instead of elec heat? I have installed a sensor in-between the hulls to monitor the temps there and it has been staying at about 15 degrees below the cabin temp with just the elec heat on.

 

Appreciate your help.

 

Grayson

Grayson and Ann Cook


Northwest CT and Mid Coast Maine


2016 Oliver Elite II, Twin Bed FP


Toyota Tundra, Extra Cab, Long bed, 5.7 V8


Yippee-i-o-ki-yah

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We are concerned about cold weather travel. We may find ourselves in single digits when we drive.

 

We did winterize it when we returned though it has been kept inside at 40 degrees. We wonder how to keep it warm while traveling in cold weather. We considered "dry" camping and keeping the anitfreeze in till we find warmer weather. or running heat strip during day?

 

Grayson, was your hull temp monitor a factory install or after purchase?

Linda

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Linda,

 

Certainly I'm no expert on Oliver's but I've done a fair amount of cold weather camping. Given that your Ollie is winterized, I'd just leave it that way until you are out of the tundra and not worry about it. Assuming that you winterized it properly, you have anti freeze in the pipes and drains. Therefore, they will not freeze. You really do not have to worry about the black or grey tanks in that they are OK even if they do freeze and your fresh water tank is the same even though it should be empty anyway. Your batteries will be OK in that they are either being charged by your tow vehicle or your solar. Anything that you have in the fridge should be OK. All that is left is the "stuff" that you put inside like shampoo, lotion, etc. Even though I think that this "stuff" will be OK, you could always simply carry it inside your tow vehicle for awhile.

 

Assuming that you will be camping at least one night where it is still fairly chilly, I would suggest that you carry a small electric heater (unless you are boondocking it). This way, the interior of the Ollie will heat up faster and you will save on your propane - use the campground electric versus your own propane. I also carry a gallon milk jug that can be filled with water and use this to "flush" the toilet in the event it is not possible (or too cold) to connect to "city" water.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Bill

2023 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5EB FX4 Max Towing, Max Payload, 2016 Oliver Elite II - Hull #117 "Twist"

Near Asheville, NC

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P.S.

 

Sorry, forgot - re the temp sensors -

 

You might want to take another look at Ron Merritt's you-tube video regarding this. He simply bought a regular commercial unit that has four remote sending units. He placed one in the bath, one inside the hulls, and one or two outside with the central monitoring station on the wall to the left of the front door as you enter. I think that he was happy with the result - I plan to do something similar when I get "Twist".

 

Bill

2023 Ford F150 Lariat 3.5EB FX4 Max Towing, Max Payload, 2016 Oliver Elite II - Hull #117 "Twist"

Near Asheville, NC

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Linda, I don't think you could run the heat strip during the day from the battery power. I think it would drain the battery--very quickly. Heat strips operate from major resistance. I've never run my furnace while driving. Don't know if it's recommended.

 

I'd leave the trailer winterized til I got far enough south to avoid hard freezing weather. Use a bit of water from a gallon jug to flush if you use the facilities on the way down, as you said "dry camp". No point in pushing it, and creating problems in your travels. We don't fill fresh water when we come home from North Carolina in November, till we're in Florida.

 

Have a great trip.

 

Sherry

2008 Ram 1500 4 × 4

2008 Oliver Elite, Hull #12

Florida and Western North Carolina, or wherever the truck goes....

400 watts solar. DC compressor fridge. No inverter. 2 x 105 ah agm batteries .  Life is good.


        
 

 

 

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P.S.

 

Sorry, forgot - re the temp sensors -

 

You might want to take another look at Ron Merritt's you-tube video regarding this. He simply bought a regular commercial unit that has four remote sending units. He placed one in the bath, one inside the hulls, and one or two outside with the central monitoring station on the wall to the left of the front door as you enter. I think that he was happy with the result - I plan to do something similar when I get "Twist".

 

Bill

 

Bill, I couldn't locate the video at first but finally found it on the Facebook page at "videos" .

Thanks

Linda

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Linda, I don't think you could run the heat strip during the day from the battery power. I think it would drain the battery--very quickly. Heat strips operate from major resistance. I've never run my furnace while driving. Don't know if it's recommended.

 

I'd leave the trailer winterized til I got far enough south to avoid hard freezing weather. Use a bit of water from a gallon jug to flush if you use the facilities on the way down, as you said "dry camp". No point in pushing it, and creating problems in your travels. We don't fill fresh water when we come home from North Carolina in November, till we're in Florida.

 

Have a great trip.

 

Sherry

Thanks, we thought that might deplete the battery. We will leave it winterized till we get to a warmer place.

Linda

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