abw2390 said:
I'm fairly new to rving and I have a 2004 Forrest River class c with the Artic pack. With that much said, I think the artic pack adds heaters to holding tanks. I'm wanting to go to Arkansas to duck hunt in Jan. (cold). I will be dry camping with no hookups. I want to be able to camp comfortably and be able to use water/shower.
Sounds like a fun trip. Rural Arkansas is beautiful any time of the year.
What are my options here?
The two choices are either to leave the rig winterized and use portable containers for water, or to take measures to be sure nothing freezes.
Is it too cold there to dry camp with Rv?
Probably not, although it depends exactly where you're going and what kind of weather you get. It's easy to winter camp when it gets into the 30s and 40s during the day, and down into the 20s at night. If you get a cold snap and have temps in the single digits at night and below freezing during the day, then there are more things that can go wrong.
Do I just need to winterize system and not use water?
That is one choice.
I can't run water it will empty tank too fast so that's not an option. Need some good advice. Don't want to freeze water lines and such. I camp with my family quite a bit during summer months. They would not be happy with me if I screwed up the RV.
I don't know much about your RV in particular but if you have enclosed tanks and dump valves then you should be fine as long as you keep the heat on. If the tanks aren't enclosed you're probably better off winterizing it and using water from jugs.
There are a few things to take care of now:
1) Be sure your batteries are in good condition and replace them if necessary. Furnace uses quite a lot of power and you don't want to have to run the genny all night every night
2) If you're thinking of adding more batteries now would be a good time to get that project done
3) Also might be a good time to upgrade the converter to a multistage one since you could then charge the batteries in a couple of hours with the generator instead of having to run it all day
For the trip you'll want, for planing purposes, to allow one 30# propane cylinder per day. You won't use that much unless it gets really cold, but you at least want to have a plan. Either be sure you have a local place at your destination, that's open, where you can get propane, or bring extra cylinders. If it's below freezing and you're using the plumbing you will want to keep the interior of the trailer warm at all times even if you're not there.
It's a good idea to bring along a couple of jugs of pink RV antifreeze and a tank of compressed air in case you have furnace troubles or something and need to winterize in a hurry.
It can be difficult to find places to dump tanks or load water in the winter so you'll want to be sure you have that angle figured out.
