Skirt or not?

[hutchman]

We are spending the winter in NE Oregon where it will be sub zero from time to time. I'm wondering if it will be necessary to skirt our RS or not. My thoughts are that it will burn less propane if skirted, but not needed to prevent freezing.

Any thoughts?

[DaGrinch]

I worked the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics at the Soldier Hollow Venue and we were housed in what they called Cowboy Village in Heber City - nothing but Class C's and some trailers at the"village". The trailers had straw bales backed up to plastic sheeting wrap while the Class C's just had the lower portions wrapped with plastic sheeting. I didn't know a thing about RV's at the time, but living in the C for 3 weeks was okay - a propane truck came by every couple of days and filled up the tank. Stayed nice and toasty.
I've got a picture of the setup somewhere. If I find it, I'll post the picture or link.

[herbike]

I would think it would be to your advantage to do some kind of skirting. We live in SE WA and if we were to live in ours in a semi-permanent place I would try and skirt it. Takes a lot of propane or electricity to keep one of these things warm.

The long range forecast for the NW is cooler and drier that normal. If you can believe that.

[hutchman]

Originally Posted by herbike

I would think it would be to your advantage to do some kind of skirting. We live in SE WA and if we were to live in ours in a semi-permanent place I would try and skirt it. Takes a lot of propane or electricity to keep one of these things warm.

The long range forecast for the NW is cooler and drier that normal. If you can believe that.

We're from the Tri Cities, so I understand that winter, but in La Grande for the winter and know it's usually 10 degrees colder down here. We certainly had a miserable winter last year.

If it costs us an extra $200 in propane, it's not worth the [time to me. But if the colder wea8ther down here causes freezing problems, it would be worth the effort.

[herbike]

We had 19* in Dixie, Idaho a week ago. Left the furnace off and run a heater, that let the water line from the bathroom sink to the toilet freeze. We were there with full hookups but not a good electric heater so we used strictly propane heat. Used 15 gallon in 7 nights, thought that was plenty. The propane heater we installed is a 20K btu unit that really keeps the trailer warm but doesn't do anything for the bottom of the trailer. (tanks & lines)
We stayed on the Tucannon River last winter in about the same weather and didn't have any problems but did use the furnace and a lot of propane.
It's always neat to wake up to 8 inches of snow.

[DaGrinch]

Hmmm.... picture doesn't seem to want to post from my FRF album.

[DaGrinch]

Never noticed it before..... some of the Class C's were Sunseekers!

[Cypressloser]

Try to set her up sheltered from the wind, get a frost free water hose, a large propane tank so you don't have to lug cylinders around all the time. Cover the floor with rugs to keep your feet warm, get a infrared space heater and plug the holes for the slide mechanism with pink fiberglass. If your RS is as insulated as ours is then you should be fine. We have remote readout thermometers placed in strategic places for peace of mind.
Professionally installed skirting costs an arm and a leg and leaves you with a gazillion screw holes which is not necessarily beneficial to resale value. Straw bales are ok but they can attract critters and turn into a stinking mess when they go through a lot of freeze thaw cycles and makeshift skirting is just plain ugly and only good for one season.

[hutchman]

Originally Posted by Cypressloser

Try to set her up sheltered from the wind, get a frost free water hose, a large propane tank so you don't have to lug cylinders around all the time. Cover the floor with rugs to keep your feet warm, get a infrared space heater and plug the holes for the slide mechanism with pink fiberglass. If your RS is as insulated as ours is then you should be fine. We have remote readout thermometers placed in strategic places for peace of mind.
Professionally installed skirting costs an arm and a leg and leaves you with a gazillion screw holes which is not necessarily beneficial to resale value. Straw bales are ok but they can attract critters and turn into a stinking mess when they go through a lot of freeze thaw cycles and makeshift skirting is just plain ugly and only good for one season.

Pretty much what I planned. We have a 100 gallon propane bottle coming Tue and will have the rest completed by the end of the week. Going to keep my fingers crossed!