Winter Camping in Winter Weather

Whenever you visualize RV residing in the cold winter months... now don't you picture the snowbirds who travel South in winter for mild weather RV living?

Well, it's not us - we do things a little differently on the norm - just ask our family!

Our fulltime RV living choice found us about the banks in the Missouri River where right now we are camphosts at a private campground and they are on the point of spend our third year of winter camping in Missouri the location where the weather is usually balmy eventually and brutal the next.

A lot of people think we're crazy... crazy for this lifestyle of fulltime RV living, but even crazier for spending winter months in Missouri if we may be in Arizona or Florida or Texas in which the winters are warm and sunny.

Well i guess - we're accustomed to raised eyebrows!

We those same destinations as the primary goal before campground owner hired us for that year-round job and we fell crazy about the attractive setting about the banks with the Missouri River.

We decided winter camping in the cold and snow will be a new experience to increase our adventurous fulltime RV living journeys.

Maybe it had been the battle to figure out tips on how to comfortably survive RV residing in winter that drew us in, or it could be it turned out the Universe telling us it was time to change our perception of winter.

(I am big complainers of snow and cold.)

Actually, it turned out both!

Little did we know that our first experience with RV coping with the winter season would occur in the BLIZZARD of 2011!

Little did we realize how much our perspective would be tried and tested if your total snowfall for the winter set a new record for our area... 43 inches to be exact!

Our preparations for RV residing in cold months were valuable lessons in survival. Our only winter preparations previous to it was to help keep the snow shovel and ice melt handy through the entry way.

We spent hours Googling tips from other RVers. It took some digging to discover the right information since the majority of tricks for winterizing an RV dedicated to preparing the RV for winter storage - not RV residing in winter.

We made countless trips to Lowes, Westlakes, and Bass Pro to request help with our RV moving into winter project. (again, the raised eyebrows through the clerks who attempted to allow us!)

The most valuable resource of most is discovered at the local mobile home supplier. It turned out there the solutions to the whole questions were answered by knowledgeable those who knew how and what and where and why to protect our truck camper for RV living during winter. Their solutions were practical and straightforward... these were incredibly considering helping the crazy couple with this notion of RV coping with cold months!

For starters, every one of the pipes, interior and exterior i always could find a way to reach were wrapped in foam pipe insulation. The empty spaces about the pipes and holding tanks were stuffed with insulation. The interior ceiling vents were covered with plastic to help keep the cold air out. All to easy to do - familiar tasks to any homeowner... and especially needed for RV surviving in places that bitter cold and ice and snow assault you for a lot of months.

I just read several suggestions of in the windows likewise to help keep out the cold, however couldn't bring myself to dam my view, especially since I look out my window watching the river - it is indeed my grace while holed up inside even though the snow flies along with the temperatures plummet.

This type of view is why RV living so worthwhile.

We quickly learned that for RV surviving in cold months, it absolutely was required to protect our water plus the sewer hose from freezing temperatures. Through employees at the mobile home store, we created a hose coming from a small plastic pipe fitted with connections towards campground water pump and our camper. This pipe was engrossed in a stainless steel heat tape, which was then covered with foam pipe insulation.

Our flexible sewer hose was inserted right into a larger PVC pipe for added insulation. It took some tweaks to search for the right elbows for the pipe, but we made it happen! Now the outdoors hoses were protected and that we were built with a protected water for the first RV living exposure to winter camping!

These fixes worked well to safeguard our water system and sewer hose; but, when we unhooked everything for taking a long drive, we soon realized how "EXACT" our parking needed to be whenever we returned home. It took several attempts of driving in reverse - attracting a trifle closer - backing up - pulling on the right a tad bit more - nope - angle it more left... frequently till the pipes aligned ideal for reconnecting.

Normally, no huge problem to get this done - but it was bitterly cold that day. Yet another the main technique of learning light beer RV coping with cold weather.

Once we began our second season of RV moving into Missouri's winter, we looked for other solutions that may allow us easily and quickly reconnect our hoses. We'd to uncover more flexibility.

Google searching came through again even as we researched more ways to survive in cold months. The following winter, our hose was engrossed in robust aluminum foil, then the warmth tape, and then the froth pipe wrap. We also obtained a super heavy duty sewer hose which is capable of withstand frigid temps. Now we'd flexibility! No more rigid pipes to reconnect once we arrive back in the campground.

One of the most treasured discoveries in successfully navigating RV coping with winter was the electric radiator heater. These heaters work effectively being a supplemental flame in small spaces and stay warm without needing much electricity. Because natural convection distributes the heat, there isn't any fan to produce noise, causing them to be incredibly quiet. We didn't have to run the furnace constantly, never needed to concern yourself with not having enough propane in the center of the night and stumbling out of bed to some cold camper.

With those fixes in position, the sole serious issue we encountered for surviving RV residing in winter was condensation that developed under our mattress the place that the cold outside air meets warm bodies. (our bed has expired the cab of the pickup)

The perfect solution?

Create an airspace between mattress as well as the floor in the bed. I headed to Lowes with measurements at hand and called for help working out my crazy idea. Luckily, I became helped by someone who knew exactly what we needed -

boards to use as slats and 1/2 inch foam board to put on top of the slats and beneath the foam mattress.

Now mid-air can circulate... and the best part may be the foam board added defense against the cold floor on the bed.

We are a happy camper... RV coping with the winter months is usually a piece of cake!

A couple of years ago, we had been stocking through to food and films and water since the forecast requested a blizzard! There were expected plenty of new adventures with RV living and winter camping, but, a blizzard was something we'd never experienced! Nineteen inches of snow fell even as we were snuggled safely in your camper.

Morning, we had been like little kids. We couldn't wait to leave out and tromp around within the deep, deep snow which in fact had drifts several feet deep.

If we had made a decision to take off that winter and settle into RV coping with sunny Florida, we would have missed the magical views of snow covered fields sparkling like fairy dust in the light of the full moon, in the middle of stillness.

If we headed South with the winter - sure, we're able to have played for the warm, sandy beaches, but we may have missed sinking up to our thighs in snow - much like we did once we were 36 months old and three feet tall!

I would have missed that magical January morning after i headed on the river, wrapped in my sub-zero sleeping bag, camera and coffee available... and watched the glorious dance in the gulls swooping and swirling with grace and majesty.