Cold weather/ winter camping tips

[STEVEnBETTY]

If you go way back on the forum posts another owner had temp probes inside the trailer and in between the hulls, if I remember correctly there was only a 10? degree temp difference between  the hulls. On the twin bed model there is a vent below the street side bed, it looks like a register in your house, it's not hooked up to anything. When it's cold just open that vent and warm air from the cabin should circulate in between the hulls.

[bugeyedriver]

In my 2008 Ollie . . . pre super-de-duper latest technology insulation type, I added two 110 outlets between the shells and plugged in a couple of low wattage bilge heaters.  When the air temp between the shells dips below 40 they come on until the intra-shell space reaches 50 degrees.  Of course, this requires hookups to accomplish.   We first leearned of this vulnerability when Mountainborn and Technomadia were caught in a tundra like blizzard and they both experienced problems near the outside shower area.

 

Initally, I only had one bilge heater.  But after getting stuck in a minus 6 degree wind chill for three days and having my water pump freeze (pre super-de-duper insulation) I added another heater between the shells on the curb side.  Now I can tough it through the deep freeze as I plan which direction th roll outta there to a warmer place.

 

 

[SeaDawg]

We rarely have hookups, so we roll out, or winterize, earlier than bugeye, as we have the same 2008 not so efficient but still good insulation.

Standing still, with a furnace, isn't a big issue for us, into the teens. It's storage, or possibly, transit, in super cold weather.

I talked to my friend tonight, (Casita), who camped with us last week, with temps in the twenties

A fifth wheel next to her in Kentucky sprang leaks from freezes driving from Michigan, they didn't winterize.....

 

I would have.

 

Walmart pink stuff is 2.75 a gallon. Twenty minutes. Transit thru winter?

Winterize. You can still use the toilet, with abundant pink stuff in it, and dump when you get south.

Sherry

[ScottyGS]

As I write this we are camped in Swananoa NC and will head over to the mothership tomorrow for a Suburban Heater repair.

 

My question is.........   when you are NOT hooked up to electric, are there any limitations on running the heater.  We have the Mr. Heater jr we can use but I would like to use the Suburban instead of or in addition to.   We have the 4 AGM batteries, would the heater fan drain the batteries ( too much) through the night? We are looking ahead to some cold nights.

 

Thanks, Scotty

[GaryJona]

Well I do not know if you have the solar package but we just came back from colorado when it was in the low 20's at night boon docking. The batteries would go from 100 to about 89 to 93 percent each night we did not leave it at 70 but about 60 to 65 at night good sleeping temp and they would charge back up to 100% by noon or so. Hope that helps but even with out solar you should be able to go several nights on 4 batteries that were fully charged. Thanks Gary

[topgun2]

Scotty - I agree with Gary & Jona.  During the Winter it will help if you are camped in the sun - with the solar, with the heating of the Oliver, and with your own spirits.  I really do like my Mr. Buddy and use it a fair amount when I'm not "plugged in".  But, moisture can be a problem in that water vapor is a by-product of combustion with propane and since the Mr. Buddy is not vented to the outside like the on board furnace is, you get more moisture inside the camper than you would probably prefer.  Yes, I keep the bath vent open and a window cracked, but the air still feels damp when using the Mr. Buddy for more than just quick warm-ups.

 

Bill

[ScottyGS]

Thank you All!

 

We are at Mama Gertie's Hideaway campground in Swananoa NC. Will be  returning here after a run to Hohenwald to get some work done on the flying sea turtle.  Nice to know that will be able to run the onboard heater when we are not plugged in. Here is Donna and Piper having hot dogs for breakfast.

[KarenLukens]

As I write this we are camped in Swananoa NC and will head over to the mothership tomorrow for a Suburban Heater repair. My question is……… when you are NOT hooked up to electric, are there any limitations on running the heater. We have the Mr. Heater jr we can use but I would like to use the Suburban instead of or in addition to. We have the 4 AGM batteries, would the heater fan drain the batteries ( too much) through the night? We are looking ahead to some cold nights. Thanks, Scotty

 

The heaters fan isn't much of a pull on the batteries, even without Solar the trailer will last 4 days before needing to be recharged. We use the suburban heater exclusively though I do have the small Mr Buddy along with an electric, stored for emergencies. Even though we have Solar, it's the Zamp and needs 480watts of panels, where the Blue Sky works fine on the 320watts provided by Oliver. We have the Zamp solar but it rarely works here in the mountains, so I charge up every 2 to 3 days with the generator. When heating between the hulls, remember that you want to keep your water tank full because any dead air in the tank will help cool the hull and when the tank is kept full, it acts as an insulator for the entire hull and the water really helps to maintain the temperature.

 

Personally, I think that winterizing the street side shower is a good idea along with adding some antifreeze to the black tank flush, if you're going to be in areas that stay below freezing all day. But if it just gets below freezing at night and warms up during the day then it's not a big deal because as long as you have a pretty full tank of water, the temp between the hulls will stay plenty warm. The waterlines that run down the back end just under the street side storage compartment are the only ones that I worry about right now, so I will throw a thermometer down there today and see what gives. Plus I will check to see what temp the storage compartment light puts out because it may itself be enough if turned on at night to help heat that side...

 

Reed

[KarenLukens]

Thank you All! We are at Mama Gertie’s Hideaway campground in Swananoa NC. Will be returning here after a run to Hohenwald to get some work done on the flying sea turtle. Nice to know that will be able to run the onboard heater when we are not plugged in. Here is Donna and Piper having hot dogs for breakfast.

I was typing my last post while you added yours in :) Great picture :) I see that you also have the Truma, so don't forget to turn the switch down to Winter mode at night also. I know that it says that Truma's Winter Mode is set to come on and keep the water temp above 37° but to me, from what I have been hearing at night myself, is that it just comes on regardless of the temp outside and circulates the hot water thru the water heater for protection. It's been dropping to a low of 38° here at night and I have it set to Winter mode, and it comes on and circulates the water all night, even when it's above 40°. So I think that it simply comes on and circulates at preset times, which is fine, but we will dial this in as winter here continues. Usually we have snow by now, but this year it has been incredibly warm here and hasn't hit freezing temps yet. Tomorrow we are heading south to Death Valley National Park, so no more cold weather for awhile :)

 

Reed

[topgun2]

Gregg - On your drive over to Hohenwald from Swananoa you will most likely take Interstate 40 through the Pigeon River Gorge - between Tennessee and NC.  If you have never driven this section of road before (and even if you have) please be careful.  Every year there are people killed here primarily due to large trucks turning over while taking the curves too fast.  Try to never be along side one of these trucks while in a curve.  Other than that, it is a beautiful stretch of road - at least for the passenger.

 

Please say "hello" to the great people both in the sales office and the factory for me.

 

Bill

[ScottyGS]

Thanks again Everyone,

 

Karen,  We are fully winterized and dry camping now.  Not too much of an inconvenience since we are mostly staying with friends or at a campsite.  When I saw how cold it was going to get I decided to winterize before rather than after the trip.  Thanks for the advice though.  I am sure it will come in handy sometime..

 

Bill,   Thanks for the I-40 heads up.  We went through there when we picked up the FST heading east.  Now I will hit that road in both directions over 3 days.  I will keep away from the TT's. I usually try to do that anyways.

 

Scotty

[Overland]

On the way back from our Big Bend trip last week, we had no choice but to drive through the frigid temps in central TX and AR, and no chance of winterizing before doing so.  Our solution was to run the furnace while travelling, which probably isn't advisable but did the trick for the curbside plumbing nonetheless, with the exception of the bath drain traps which began to freeze but fortunately didn't freeze solid.  Had I propped open the bath door somehow, that probably wouldn't have happened.

 

Our Truma is throwing a high current error code when on eco mode, so we had to drain that, but that's an easy step.  I'll have to get Oliver to check that out - not thrilled at the idea that we might need our third Truma in two trips.

 

The street side back corner is definitely the trouble spot.  We drained the outside shower hose and water ports, but the mixer valve on the shower froze, and there was enough residual water in the intake ports to collect at the bottom with a little plug of ice in each that had to be melted down before we could winterize once back home.  Sticking our Vornado heater in the basement for a few hours unfroze those lines no problem.

 

I had Oliver install a 120 in the basement for a little marine compartment heater, for just this reason - unfortunately, that's still something on the list to buy.  But I think a better solution, or at least a good supplement, will be to vent that whole area to the furnace side.  I'm going to get three decent sized return air vents from Lowes and install one on each of the divider walls in the basement.  That should get some heat from the furnace into the basement and then through to the outside shower connection.  Then I'll install one on the floor over the water inlet lines to allow some heat down there.  I probably won't get a ton of airflow, but it's a cheap and easy mod and any warm air is better than none.  I can run the compartment heater when plugged in, or off the inverter in a pinch, and that should really heat up that whole space.

[John E Davies]

The street side back corner is definitely the trouble spot. We drained the outside shower hose and water ports, but the mixer valve on the shower froze, and there was enough residual water in the intake ports to collect at the bottom with a little plug of ice in each that had to be melted down before we could winterize once back home.  

 

This is the reason it is so important when winterizing to blow out/ and or flush with antifreeze those two lines. Just draining the shower hose isn't enough, as you found out....

 

John Davies

 

Spokane WA

 

 

[Rumline]

Had I propped open the bath door somehow, that probably wouldn’t have happened.

 

I'm not sure how wide the bathroom door opens but you could get one of these to hold the door open while in transit:

 

https://www.westmarine.com/buy/perko--chromed-zinc-cabin-door-hook--P024_721_003_533?recordNum=16

 

I would suggest getting a second loop attachment so you can secure the hook to the same wall it's mounted to when not in use.

[ShallowGal]

Wednesday the 17th is our Ollie's day of birth and this Florida girl, who is trailer & winter camping for her first time, is comforted by this thread - considering the forecast. 

[June]

When boondocking, I use three plastic dishwashing tubs to wash and rinse dishes, and one to use to bathe and wash my hair . Use that one also to soak my feet each evening. Believe it or not, you sleep better after soaking and cleaning your feet! Even better if you use Epsom or magnesium salts in the soak water. An old nurses trick I used in my hospital days for restless and uncomfortable patients. Heat water on stove and mix with cold from five gallon containers, easier to lift and store, to get best temps for bathing with a washcloth. I love the composting toilet. Under 32 degrees or when driving in cold weather, I keep the tanks empty and winterized. I use biodegradable soaps. Dr Bronners best for multiple uses. Honda 2000 generator and portable jump start pack as backup for using small electric heater and keeping electronics and smartphones charged.