Cold night camping

[Cowracer]

We spent last weekend down on our lake lot, working on our cabin. Temps dipped into the low 40's at night. I found out a couple things about (relatively) cold weather camping. The heater in the Roo works pretty well. Kept it on about 63-65 degrees at night and it was comfortable. The heated mattresses works sorta OK thru our mattress topper. I could feel heat in the areas where I squished the topper down, like my butt or my hips, but in the non-squish areas like my legs, there was little heat to be found. Also, the bunk end remained noticeably colder than the rest of the camper. The bunk fan helped, but created more breeze than the wife liked. I think a box fan, set up near the dinette, and aimed to blow gently towards the bunk would help even out the heat distribution.

Overall, I was pleased at how comfy the Roo kept us. It was so nice building a big old campfire and actually wanting to be near it, as opposed to this summer, where we didn't even want to build one because it was so hot.

tim


p.s. Here's a couple pics on how the cabin is coming along.

[Badlands]

Tim,

Great looking cabin! How are you going to heat it, wood or propane? Looks like many great times lie ahead!

[Cowracer]

Originally Posted by Badlands

Tim,

Great looking cabin! How are you going to heat it, wood or propane? Looks like many great times lie ahead!

Propane vent-free fireplace. I have a line on a really good deal for one brand new. it can be set up with a thermostat.

tim

[Badlands]

Sounds perfect!

[bikendan]

did you use popup gizmos and reflectix on your canvas ends?

[Cowracer]

Originally Posted by bikendan

did you use popup gizmos and reflectix on your canvas ends?

Nope. Haven't ordered the gizmo's. yet.

Tim

[D-mo]

toppers should go under the mattress ... give that a go ...
we love the heated mattress ..... lovely on a cold night .. but they work not only on the thero/reostat .. but on body pressure ...

enjoy .. oh .. hey ... i love that cabin .. its awesome ..


d-mo

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by Cowracer

Nope. Haven't ordered the gizmo's. yet.

Tim

Once you get the PUGs and Reflectix in the bunk end windows, you'll see a big improvement in heat retention.
We have and so have nearly all hybrids owners that have done the same mod.

[urocav2001]

Originally Posted by bikendan

Once you get the PUGs and Reflectix in the bunk end windows, you'll see a big improvement in heat retention.
We have and so have nearly all hybrids owners that have done the same mod.

What are these reflectix things that go in the bunk ends ?

[Jimandchris]

They are pieces of Reflectix material that are cut to match the screen areas of the bunk ends. They help to reflect the heat out of the bunk ends in summer and keep heat in the bunk ends in the cooler weather. Rolls of Reflectix are available at Home Depot, Lowes or Menards. We found a roll (4' X 25') on sale at Menards for less than $30.00.





Here is a photo of three of ours for the Roo, I also taped the edges so it would last longer

[urocav2001]

Ok thank you ... So you make them for sides obviously, I would assume you would make them for the ends right?

[Jimandchris]

Yes, actually the photo shows one side and one bunk end. I made the bunk ends two pieced so I would enough from the roll to make covers for the windows and pieces for under the mattresses. I'm not sure if I'm going to use it under the mattress yet. I used some large pieces of Kraft paper to make patterns of all the screen areas.

[urocav2001]

Ok thank you

[Rrickim63]

X2 on using toppers under mattress. The heated mattresses work much better on top.. Ive tried it both ways.