Traveling in DP in very cold

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nikasdads

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Joined
Dec 8, 2015
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51
Location
Houston TX
We want to make a trip for Iowa south to visit a friend with cancer. We?ve never traveled in the winter. We were hoping for a few days close to 30 degrees to make our escape, but looks like we have teens and 20s in the near future.  We plan to dewinterize on the road once we get far enough south. We are even prepared to stay in a hotel the first night if needed.

Things I?m worried about.....

Dewinterising on the road.  We use antifreeze so everything need to be flushed and bleached.  Is the park going to frown on me doing this onsite?  Also keep thinking what if I find a leak...

We have a tank full of summer diesel. 

Tow car and tow equipment is going to be coated with winter grime, what can I do to protect it? Should I run the car more frequently?

Am I worring to much? Any tips would be appreciated.
 
We are in the same situation as you, well minus a friend's cancer. Sorry to hear about that, and hope all things are positive.
We are heading out in a week or so for Alabama, and I'm sure it will be cold here in Toledo.
We are only worried about the few hours of the trip, just long enough to get a little bit south. We are not stocking with any food or provisions. Only enough bottled water for a day or two, and of course clothes.
I'm not worried about the toad until I get to where I'm going to get it all cleaned up once we've landed.
I will do extra close inspections of therig & toad during any stops we make, but other than extra scrutiny the routine will remain the same.

Corky
 
Re summer diesel, just pickup the appropriate amount of winter additive at Walmart or your nearest truck stop. Pour it in just before you leave so it's immediately agitated and mixed as you go down the road.


Re dewinterizing, although fiddly I wouldn't worry about it. There are no issues draining the pink stuff out along with your gray and black tanks.


You don't need to run the car any more frequently, just give it a good bath when you're back on clean roads. You could look for a spray/no touch car wax and spray the car with it, might keep the grime from sticking as much.
 
Back in the day when we would leave northern Vermont for 3 weeks in Florida usually in early February my main concern was that our original 8.3L Cummins mechanical engine would fire up before it had oil pressure after sitting for 4 months. Because it was often below zero even with the block heater it took a long time to get old pressure. Talked to Cummins about running the engine weekly and they said no, just leave it. But they said I could disconnect the fuel pump and turn over the engine until I got the oil pressure to read then reconnect the fuel pump. Worked well. Tanks were heated so I de-winterized the morning of departure.
 
We left upstate NY the first week of January with our gasser and temps in teens. We don't winterize. so that's not a problem for us. A park should not have a problem with you flushing your water system as long as you're dumping down the drain, not on the ground. The diluted RV antifreeze won't hurt their sewer system. We did burn extra propane running the furnace while underway to stay warmer than the engine heater could manage, but that was expected. When we reached above freezing weather, we ran our coach and toad through a Blue Beacon truck wash at a Flying J travel center, which also cleaned off the tow bar.
 
You probably have an engine block heater.  If so, turn it on the night before, assuming you're plugged in and have electricity available.  That will warm up the fluids so the engine doesn't have to work so hard starting up.

ArdraF
 
      When we left in late November or early December, this was our procedure: 
1) We would take several containers of fresh water, in our case they were washed out gallon/4 litre milk jugs.  We would leave one in the washroom to flush as what little went onto the toilet would never damage the tank.
2) One in the fridge, we would use for cooking, or most important to make coffee in the morning.
3) A couple of spares, just in case.
4) As for flushing the lines, once you are set up, just run the water through as you would at home.
5) Anything with a risk of damage from frost leave in the coach.
6) You will need to run your furnace as the dash heater will NOT be able to heat the coach at those temps.  It is not a problem running the furnace while travelling.  As a side note, since your bed is over the motor, it will be nice and warm for a while.  We would either shut off the furnace when going to bed, or lower it to keep the frost away.
7) In our case we always would fill with fresh water and dump the antifreeze at a Flying J south of Washington where the risk of a real frost was behind us.
8) We usually drove long days until we got below that point stopping at Walmarts, Flying Js, or the odd rest stop that was not filled with trucks.
9) We never put out the slide as it does make the coach more difficult to heat.
10) We use a feather duvet on the bed, and are warm as can be

Ed
 
something else i thought of....the block heater will be used the night before we start it, but what about the generator?  maybe a heat bulb under the coach to add some warmth? 

thanks for the advice. another 5" of snow tonight and 2 more storms on the way!  i want to get out of here!

One more thing, our memory foam mattress is like a brick in the cold.  i'll be ordering a heated mattress pad! 
 
The last two years we've left the Quad Cities when the temperature was below zero. Others have covered most everything.

We just put anything that would freeze inside the coach instead of in the basement.

Brought 10 or so milk jugs filled with water. The shower area makes a good storage spot.

Never dreamed of going to a motel...
 
I use Power Service Diesel Fuel Supplement in the white bottle. This will help prevent gelling. If you can plug in run the block heater at least overnight. Why do you think you need to run the generator?
One thing I would do is plan your first stops and call ahead to make shure they have water on, in the RV park.
Do not leave your water hose connected. Fill your onboard water tank and drain and store your hose. You might keep it inside so it is flexible when you need to use it. The same with the sewer hose. Use it drain it and put in back in the basement so it isn't a big popsicle.
Yes use your propane furnace it will keep you warm. Why would you turn the furnace off at night when you need it to stay warm???
Bill
 
We left north eastern Iowa right after Christmas this year. We headed straight south on US218 into Missouri to get out of the snow as soon as we could. I recommend you do the same basic thing from where ever you are located - head as much straight south as you can, then worry about getting east. Iowa really is getting dumped on with snow, so drive carefully. Take bottles of water to use until you get farther south, and plan on staying put if you get fresh snow until the plows have taken care of it.
 
We use to leave NH the end of November when it was fairly cold. I use to winterize the trailer with air. No pink stuff. Either the night before or when we actually leave, I would fill the fresh water tank 1/2 way. When we got far enough south, I use to just turn on the water pump and voila, we have water in all the right places.  For the 1st day, we would carry a three of gallons of water just to flush the toilet till we dewinterized. 
 
I seem to have read that mattress warmers shouldn't be used on memory foam mattress'.
 
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