Cold Weather Camping

[dtrinosk]

I am a Newbie to the 5th wheel community this year. I have a 2008 Wildwood LE bunkhouse and I was considering taking it up north (Michigan) for the opening weekend of rifle season (Nov 15th). Can anyone enlighten me to the do's and dont's of cold weather operation. I am concerned about freeze-up's. The fresh water tank supposedly is fully enclosed and heated and I know I can run anti-freeze in the black and grey water tanks.

Any information would be greatly appreciated to ease my mind.

Thanks, Dave

[Bama Rambler]

According to the Brochure it has an enclosed underbelly so that will help. The fresh water tank is in a heated enclosed space so that means you'll need to run your furnace to keep the space from freezing. If it has an outside shower, remove the hose and showerhead and cut a thick piece of styrofoam insulation to fit around the mixing valve and behind the door or pack fiberglass insulation around it. Take plenty of propane with you if you're in a remote location. I'd also take a couple of small electric heaters to run if you will be hooked to electric power. If not then consider a "Big Buddy" proapne heater. Be aware that you should allow the furnace to do the majority of the heating. Depending on how cold it will be I'd consider getting one of those faucet covers and placing over the "city water" inlet on the outside of the RV. Be sure to keep all the storage compartment doors closed tightly. We camped in 8ºf for a couple of days and my BIL froze up because he left one of his storage doors ajar. If you're not going to have 120v power available I'd strongly suggest a generator to charge the batteries because the furnace blower will drain them very quickly in that cold a temp. You can also buy reflectix insulation and cut pieces to fit the windows to help keep the heat in.

[dtrinosk]

Thanks for the tips. I am more confident that it will be fine now and having a 2000W Honda to run the heat thru the night and hopefully the temps will be well above freezing thru the day.....I should be good. I don't have an outside shower, so that eliminates one worry. I will be much happier staying on the property as opposed to a hotel this year.......Thanks again!