Winter approaches

[trudylundgren]

Ryan --

We have done some winter "camping" without too much difficulty. My adivce:

1. Buy a heating element for your waterhose. Available at Home Depot and other
such
stores fro $15-20. After installing, cover your hose with 1" pipe foam pipe
insulation, also
readily available and cheap, and then wrap the whole thing in duct tape. With
this setup
you can leave your water connection open all the time.

2. If you're sitting still for any length of time, skirting the Rv helps a LOT.
You can spend
money on custom skirting or use hay bales (really good insulation) or even heavy
duty
plastic held on by duct tape. Ugly but functional. Skirting also help to keep
your floor a lot
warmer as well as preventing plumbing freezing.

3. Keep your heaters on. We kept our electric heater on 24/7 and supplemented
with
propane. If you're sitting still, a supplemental propane bottle, available from
local supplier,
is a good idea, cause you'll use a lot of propane.

4. Don't drive when it's snowing and head south as soon as possible.

Trudy & Lisa
1985 PT 40 - "The Catbird Seat"
Currently in Rock Springs, WY and headed to Colorado after Labor Day




-- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Ryan Wright" wrote:
>
> Hard to believe cold weather will be here soon. Just a few more weeks
> and I'll be needing heat at night.
>
> I need advice on surviving my first winter and I want to get a jump on
> any work I'll need to do to the coach, so I can do it while it's still
> warm outside. I'll be living in my coach all winter with 50 amp
> service available. I have many questions:
>
> 1. Where can I buy new electric heaters? At least a couple of mine do
> not work properly.
> 2. What might freeze or break, and how do I prevent it?
> 3. Are my holding tanks heated, and how?
> 4. The interior will be kept warm 24/7 so fresh water and plumbing
> should be OK - or will it?
> 5. There are thermostats with funky electric heaters under the beds
> and some of the plumbing appears to be wrapped in that heat tape stuff
> - any advice on dealing with this?
> 6. How do I dump my holding tanks when it's freezing outside? Same as
> usual? I'd planned on macerating into a sewer line but will the pump
> be OK?
> 7. How do I check my engine & battery heaters, & how do I get the 8V92
> and the Yanmar genset started in the dead of winter?
> 8. Any other winter advice from the full timers?
> 9. Winter driving advice? I won't be doing much and will try to avoid
> snow, but may hit some visiting relatives in December. Will the PT-40
> generally walk over it, or will I be prone to sliding off the road
> like I would in a pickup? I've never driven anything this heavy in the
> snow.
>
> Winter temps here aren't severe. Typical nights are in the 30's, but
> we do see a couple of weeks of 10-20 degree nights and, every few
> years, we get some 0 degree stuff. I've lived here over 25 years and
> can only recall one time temps dipped much below 0.
>
> -Ryan
> '86 PT-40 8V92
> Tri-Cities, WA
>