Camping in the winter

[quadrider]

We have camp during the winter but the temps have been -1 to -3 Celsius. I have 33 ft 89 bounder and see lots of concerns about winter camping and not using water. We are going camping here in December and the temps will be -10 to -15 Celsius. RV fresh water tank and water pump are in one cargo hold and pipe leads up into cupboard crawl space. They run along the passenger side from the kitchen sink to the hot water tank above the floor but under the cabnets. At the hot water tank they pop into the cargo hold with the gray and black water tank and cross over to the driver side and up into the bathroom. The furnace duct tubes run along side of all the water pipes. Also the two cargo holds have furnace vents that blow heat into the holds.
To me this seem like a good design by bounder to keep pipes and tanks from freezing. The furnace and hot water tank will be on while we are camping.  We wont have direct water line or sewer hose hook ups but will have power. Do you think the RV can handle the temps? 

 

[steveblonde]

You must be a Canadian EH? lol Celsius a big give away. We have lots of friends that winter camp, obviously the hose freezes so you cant have fresh water, but for the most part they take the blue jugs for fresh water and leave everything else off. My Voltage has heated tanks - but honestly i have no idea at what temp they work till. My friends go sledding and skiing. Be prepared to use a lot of propane - or take several electric heaters if you have power. 

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I think you are going to want warm clothing and extra blankets for the bed, but yes you can camp in those temperatures. Bring an electric heater (but watch the 30A max for your shore power) to save on propane, cause you will use a lot of heat! RVs have thin walls and lots of windows, so they lose heat rapidly. Your water tank and internal water lines should be ok as long as the RV is heated to livable temps.  However, the water pump and city water connection bring the lines right to the outer skin and you may suffer a freeze-up at that point. Placing a 75-100 watt incandescent light bulb in the wet bay, and some extra insulation there, can prevent problems.

 

[Rene T]

I have camped in the winter but was always afraid to have the water system charged. We would take water with us in a couple of 5 gallon jugs. We would use the toilet but flushed the toilet with windshield washer fluid. As far as hot water, we had a 100 cup coffee urn we'd leave on the counter. Just prior to leaving, we'd dump the remaining fresh water and hot water into the black tank and then dispose of it at a dump station.  The campground we were in allowed us to dump the gray water on  the ground. 

 

[quadrider]

We do plug a electric heater in when we camp to help out so the propane furnace does not run so much and at -3 Celsius we can use our water with no problems and our furnace has no problem keeping the RV warm. I was thinking that i should not use the electric heater because our furnace only kicks on once every hour and we may need more heat going into the basement this time because of the cold temps. Our city water line is in the bay with the grey and black tanks and we are not using it and the water pump is in the fresh water tank hold. The furnace duct is 2 feet from the water pump. Not sure if the previous owner did a upgrade to our furnace or if the older units just rock at heating but we have had snow on ground and our RV is nice and warm, there was no need for extra blankets. I'm sure we will need them this time. I do have 4 to 5 inches between the door and tanks so maybe it would be good to add insulation in front of the tanks to help keep the warm air from the furnace in.  I was also thinking of adding a temperature gauge to the basement so I know if the bay is close to freezing.

 

[JnHinMT]

We put ours away for the winter. Everything here gets snowed in...campgrounds are not plowed and most of the RV parks here close for the winter.

 

[quadrider]

http://www.amazon.ca/Bios-Thermor-Outdoor-Thermometer-Sensors/dp/B00UYDS64U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448187619&sr=8-1&keywords=thermometer+bios#productDetails

As long as my two cargo bay stay above freezing temps I should be fine. I order the temp sensor above It will do the two cargo holds the inside and outside temps of my RV. Also took gary advice an going to install some insulation between the tanks and doors and around the tank to help keep the heat in. If the bays get close to 0 celcius i will drain and winterize while we are there.

 

[DennisK]

https://www.lacrossetechnology.com/308-1410gr/manual.pdf

We use one of these, put the remote in the tank bays, and keep the monitor by the door.

 

[quadrider]

The one I order is just like yours but it comes with 2 extra sensors.

 

[rls7201]

Quadrider,

We have a 95 33' Bounder and have survived -21C. It's not easy. That January night, we were in a  grocery store parking lot in southern Colorado. Run the generator all night to power 3 100 watt light bulbs. The furnace run all night and we woke up to 20C in the coach, with no frozen pipes. Fleetwood did a nice job of running heat to the bays, with water and plumbing in them. BUT! Fleetwood did a very poor job with the return air. The heat does not circulate through out the entire bay(s). Please consider using some radiant heat in those wet bays.

Richard

 

[zmotorsports]

We used to snowmobile and have used all three of our coaches for winter camping.  Our current coach is much more enjoyable in those temperatures because it was designed for all season from the get go.

Our first coach was a 30' Class A gasser and we didn't run fresh water in it until later in the season when the temperatures got up around 30-ish for overnight low's.  We would use 5-gallon water bottles in for flushing the toilet and doing dishes.  There were basically weekend only trips and we had that coach for 6 years.

Our next coach was a 38' Beaver Contessa (1991 model year) that was much better suited for colder weather and we were finally able to use the fresh water system although the tanks were not heated nor did it have dual pane windows but we were good down into the teens before I started to worry.  We had that coach for 7 years and only froze up once when it dipped into the single digits (barely) one night.  A quick warm up of a section of water line with the wife's hair dryer the next morning and we were golden again. ;D

Our current coach has routinely been down into the single digits with no issues at all but that obviously comes at a much higher inititial cost.

We did use our first coach for a week long trip each year that we run water in the system but we stayed at a campground that had electric hookups and were able to keep a droplight in the water bay.  I also had affixed some plexiglass storm windows that fastened to the inside of the window frames yet under the valances.  We run those for each winter and they helped tremendously with holding the heat inside the caoch so the LP furnace could stay caught up.

Granted most of the time we were boondocking and had no electric but if you have electric shore power there are things that can be done to assist greatly with preventing water lines from freezing and keeping the heat inside.  A couple of small electric heaters work great but you will then be limited to your shore power connection.  You should be able to run one easily.

Another thing we did was use our stove and oven a lot.  Not solely for heating mind you, but the wife used them for cooking which also assisted in adding extra heat to the inside of the coach.  She would use it for baking pizzas, rolls or cakes so that extra heat would not be wasted and would go to use assisting the furnace.

Mike.

 

[quadrider]

Thx for the info and tips, if anybody has anymore for winter camping I would like to here them. My two wet bays have large tanks and fitting a heater inside would be a very tight fit. I will take two 100 watt light bulbs in case I need extra heat. We love winter camping and storm windows sound like a soon to be future mod. I install the temp sensor unit above and it works great. They have no problem reporting to the base unit through the floor.  Last night the temp outside was -2 degree, inside the RV was 2 degree, and the cargo holds were 0 degree with no heat on. I am going to run test this weekend and see what the temps are with just the furnace on by itself and with electric heater helping out.  I will let you know what i find in case others want to know.

 

[elliott-maine]

Even the thin film window covers you put in place with double-sided tap and shrink with a hair driver help.

 

[quadrider]

We are up camping this weekend and the temp outside is -3. I have add 3 inches of roxul insulation in front of the tanks where the bay door open. Temp inside the RV is set to 20 degree and the cargo holds are at 16 degree. The furnace kicks on twice an hour an the cargo hold drops to 14 degree before the furnace kicks on. I try it with the electric heater helping out in the RV and the furnace turns on about once every 2-3 hours. The cargo holds drop to 6-8 degree before the furnace kicks on. I'm happy with the results and know i will be fine for our winter trip at -10 to -15 with the furnace only on but I think if i use a electric heater to help out the bays will drop below freezing before the furnace kicks on.

 

[UTTransplant]

Quadrider, thanks for the return report. Lots of people ask the questions you did, but few report back their results.

 

[Mtn Mike]

We're starting our third year of winter camping in our custom cargo trailer conversion. How you fair will depend a lot on how your unit is constructed. Generally staying warm inside isn't a problem. Of course it depends on the quality of your insulation, but based on what I've seen,  RV furnaces work very well and can keep up with no problem. We normally have the thermostat set to 67 F degrees. When we'cooking the temps easily get into the 70s and we need to open vents. Our Hydroflame (16000btu IIRC) happily cycles on and off all day and night. Be prepared to use a lot of propane anyway. 

The water system can be tricky. Since I built my trailer with winter camping in mind, our entire water system is inside the insulated coach. Most RVs arent constructed like that. I guess your choices are either to go without water or to find a way to keep your tanks warm.

By far our biggest aggravation in cold weather has been controlling moisture. People and pets create moisture by breathing. Cooking creates moisture from the propane and the food. Showering creates moisture. Pretty much any surface that's not insulated creates a thermal bridge to the outside temperatures and accumulates condensation. We have double pain Windows which help, but the window sills still get soaked. There are a few metal parts of my ceiling and metal door frames that also get soaked.

Our morning ritual is to take a dry towel and wipe down all of our wet surfaces. We ring out the towel outside and throw it in the back of the pickup truck so as not to bring that water back inside. Another thing that's helpful is turning on the roof vent fans during cooking and showering. Although my wife gets cold when she steps out of the shower and normally turns the fans off. :

Have fun and post some snow pics. This pic was from one of our colder experiences. 15F/ -9c.