Fulltiming in Real Winter Conditions, Challenges and Lessons So Far

[Lizardqing]

We are full timing in a 312BHTS. We spent the summer on the Olympic Peninsula and started heading east last Friday. So far we have boondocked a night in WA with temps in the 30’s, two nights in Montana in the 20’s, a few nights in Custer State Park where we hit a lowest temp of -4 with a surprise snow and high winds and tonight we are in SE South Dakota and it is currently 8 degrees. Here is what we have learned so far about full timing in an RV in real winter conditions.



What’s been fine:

Over all comfort wise has been a non issue. Between the propane furnace, the electric fireplace and a small space heater we stay pretty toasty even in the subzero range.

To help the furnace keep the belly warm I have another small space heater in the storage compartment run off a separate heavy duty cord plugged into the 20 amp plug on the post. This also warms the under side of the bed since it’s over the compartment.

We put Reflectix over the windows, roof vents and skylights. This made a huge difference in keeping it warm inside with less effort.

We have a heated hose, but no where has had functioning water hookups so we haven’t been able to use it yet.

What’s been challenging:

Condensation. It’s a constant battle especially with the windows and bottom of the slide walls. We have lots of damp rid bags and buckets as well as several room dehumidifiers running when we have hookups. Still a battle.

Water supplies. Along the top part of the country most water supplies are shut off. There may be a single spigot at a campground somewhere, but maybe not. Thus having to travel with a good amount of water just in case. Which leads me to...

That god forsaken overflow pipe and the siphoning. We filled up at the campground a couple hundred yards from the site and even had a shut off valve on the over flow closed between the spigot and the site. Still lost 1/3 of a tank or more before I finally got it to stop flowing out. Which sucks when the plan is a few days set up with no water at the site.

Low point drains freezing. This has been an issue not only on this camper, but our previous one as well. I have even wrapped them in scraps of Reflectix that’s secured with a layer of gorilla tape and even have heat tape around both pairs. Still froze and blocked the water lines to the rest of the camper. Had to use a small space heater to thaw them.

Sewer lines froze. Or at least the valves are. Still working on a solution for that of hoping the space heater and makeshift tenting around the area of the pipes will thaw them out tonight and we can dump before hitting the road tomorrow.

Not sure if connected to the cold, but both power stabilizers have decided that the ease of push button raising and lowering is not a required function right now. The rear will at least go down with the button.


Biggest lesson learned:

Traveling on a day where the temperatures range from 0 to around 13 is not good! We got to the site we are at now and the inside of the camper was 20 degrees. Bunk house slide was frozen shut. The living room slide scared the bejesus out of me when I started opening it and it sounded like it was ripping the cabinet doors off on the other side. And we are of coarse hoping that all the water lines thaw out and all is fine.

Wouldn’t trade it in for the stick and brick life though, yet anyway. All part of the adventure and fun! Plus summer time and we would be fighting for a spot in this campground. Instead it’s all ours!

[Country Campers]

Chris
Very good report but I have to ask, outside of having your choice of site and the beautiful scenery, why would you camp in the winter time?
Just curious, this is not something I would do for fun, to many things can go wrong ( they would go wrong for me).

Brian

[Lizardqing]

Circumstances and timing. My wife is a travel respiratory therapist and her contract in Port Angeles, WA didn’t end until the first of this month. Our house is finally being sold so we needed to head to SD to do residency stuff on our way to the next contract location on the NC coast. We were not planning on being in SD as long as we were, but the surprise snow kind of locked us in and gave us the subzero experience.

[warsw1]

I have done a lot of winter camping.....Love it. I don't think I would want to do it in the trailer I have now but with the right trailer and a little prep it is a great experience.

[COLRetired]

Thanks for the report. We plan on doing a bit of moving this winter and after reading your report I was wondering if anyone has an opinion if the slider seal lubricant would help keep the seals from freezing to the sliders thereby making it easier to bring the sliders in and out = not hear the ripping sound he experienced.

I'll also be keeping an eye on my low point drains, and will be insulating them to help prevent freezing. I'm hopeful that the heating vent in the water compartment will do the trick, but when traveling if it's really cold out I could see this as a potential failure point.

Pete

[howson]

...a few nights in Custer State Park where we hit a lowest temp of -4 with a surprise snow and high winds and tonight we are in SE South Dakota and it is currently 8 degrees.

Having lived in Rapid City for almost 8 years (see my avatar to know why!) I can soooooo identify with your experience. Hang in there! The weather can change wildly in SD, so tomorrow it could be 50 degrees and sunny. (It seems like it is always, with very few exceptions, windy.)

Thanks for the informative post.

[315RLTSinPA]

Do we really need the low point drains? Using air you can still get most of the water out of the lines. On our previous Sunline instead of the low point drains having caps, they had valves inside the trailer. So the pipes hanging out the bottom never had water in them until you opened the valve.

[Lizardqing]

Having lived in Rapid City for almost 8 years (see my avatar to know why!) I can soooooo identify with your experience. Hang in there! The weather can change wildly in SD, so tomorrow it could be 50 degrees and sunny. (It seems like it is always, with very few exceptions, windy.)

Thanks for the informative post.

It was strange getting down here to Omaha tonight and no wind! Wouldn’t have been half as bad in SD with out it.

[Lizardqing]

Do we really need the low point drains? Using air you can still get most of the water out of the lines. On our previous Sunline instead of the low point drains having caps, they had valves inside the trailer. So the pipes hanging out the bottom never had water in them until you opened the valve.

I am to the point of if nothing else cutting the things off and putting ball valves as close to the belly cover as I can. The heated underbelly is pretty well useless if when the drains freeze they block the water lines any way and still have no water. Just took me two days to finally get mine thawed out so we have water again. And that was with using space heaters.

[Lizardqing]

Thanks for the report. We plan on doing a bit of moving this winter and after reading your report I was wondering if anyone has an opinion if the slider seal lubricant would help keep the seals from freezing to the sliders thereby making it easier to bring the sliders in and out = not hear the ripping sound he experienced.

I'll also be keeping an eye on my low point drains, and will be insulating them to help prevent freezing. I'm hopeful that the heating vent in the water compartment will do the trick, but when traveling if it's really cold out I could see this as a potential failure point.

Pete

I had mine wrapped with several inches of insulin with heat tape wrapped around them as well with a space heater in the storage compartment and the furnace running. Still got me! I am just chalking it up to temperatures below zero don’t care what you do, things are going to be challenging!