Winterizing

mckirby50 · 11-14-2011, 01:26 PM

Winterized the Solera over the weekend, went pretty smooth hated doing it with the weather near 80 degrees in Oklahoma City. Still plan on taking it out this winter since it's fairly easy to winterized.

gb73071 · 11-16-2011, 12:10 AM

Just finished winterizing mine too. Supposed to be down to 31 tomorrow in OKC. When I picked mine up from McClains in August it was 110. But I have to keep mine in storage on Tinker for the winter, can't keep it in the addition.

mckirby50 · 11-16-2011, 01:14 AM

We left OKC @ 114 degrees on a Saturday heading to Colorado, and the first night in Telluride woke up to 36 degrees. That was great.
Did you get to enjoy your Solera much, yet? Our last trip we went to the Texas Rangers last game before the world series and tailgated before the game. Still want to take it out in the following month or so to SE Oklahoma around Beavers Bend.

gb73071 · 11-16-2011, 11:01 AM

Beavers Bend was our first trip. It was actually raining so we got to test for leaks and use the canopy. We took her to Taos, NM over Columbus day and got to test the furnace as they had 6 inches of snow. FYI, I had an issue with the AC the day we picked her up. The dometic thermostat fails above 110 degrees. Did a little google research and found a remedy was to use a can of compressed air turned upside down to cool the thermostat below 110 and the AC worked. Saw in a previous post you drove to FL to get your Solera. Was nothhing available here locally or did you get a better deal there? Got mine here and think I got a pretty good deal. Thought I was buying a 2011 and it turned out it was a 2012.

mckirby50 · 11-16-2011, 11:58 PM

We actually looked at one at McClains and i guess they didn't take me seriously, so we bought ours on line without seeing it first, which was scarry but worked out for us.We also got the 2012 model and were able to fly to Orlando and pick it up and just took a week coming back home spending a few days at Panama City Fl a day in Mississippi andthen a day in east texas. Got to experience strong cross winds for miles and miles and miles.

DebbieEnglish · 11-17-2011, 09:51 AM

Hi my name is Debbie and me and my husband just bought our first travel trailer. Its a fleetwood,mallard, and we are living in it on the road because of his job. We need to winterize it as soon as we can. We have no idea what to use for underpinning so if anyone has any suggestions please feel free to tell me. We would so appreciate any help. Thank You.

Cajundjb · 12-19-2011, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DebbieEnglish

Hi my name is Debbie and me and my husband just bought our first travel trailer. Its a fleetwood,mallard, and we are living in it on the road because of his job. We need to winterize it as soon as we can. We have no idea what to use for underpinning so if anyone has any suggestions please feel free to tell me. We would so appreciate any help. Thank You.

Debbie, I know this is late but I'm not sure what you mean by underpinning. If you do a 'google' search for "winterize" there are some very good videos on Utube on various methods of winterizing RV's plus lots of web pages on the subject.

Cajundjb · 12-19-2011, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mckirby50

Winterized the Solera over the weekend, went pretty smooth hated doing it with the weather near 80 degrees in Oklahoma City. Still plan on taking it out this winter since it's fairly easy to winterized.

By any chance, do you remember how many gallons of antifreeze you needed for this job? TIA

gb73071 · 12-20-2011, 12:11 AM

I added 5 gallons to my fresh water tank which was about one third full. That way we have enough water so we can still drive it and be able to use the toilet. After our Thanksgiving trip I sucked an additional gallon up into the rear hose right into the pump. Hopefully the diluted solution in the tank will be sufficient along with the undiluted sucked right into the pump.

Cajundjb · 12-20-2011, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gb73071

I added 5 gallons to my fresh water tank which was about one third full. That way we have enough water so we can still drive it and be able to use the toilet. After our Thanksgiving trip I sucked an additional gallon up into the rear hose right into the pump. Hopefully the diluted solution in the tank will be sufficient along with the undiluted sucked right into the pump.

Some of the web articles I've seen on winterizing state 3 - 6 gallons while bypassing the water tank and hot water heater. I'm trying to figure out how much to buy on my next trip into town. I'll probably get 6 gallons and keep the extra for next winter if there's any left. I've been using the arctic pack along with a small personal heater placed in the hoses compartment where I also have a remote thermometer so I can monitor the temperature in that compartment while inside the house. But I'll be heading down to La. for the holidays in an SUV and temps here will drop below freezing so I'd better do the winterizing tomorrow.

gb73071 · 12-20-2011, 05:39 PM

Here in OKC we had several days last winter where we hit zero degrees. The anti freeze undiluted is good to minus 50 so I believe a little dilution will be safe. Not sure where in LA you live but in the 22 years I was in New Orleans I don't remember any zero degree days. Although my graduation from UNO was cancelled due to a snow storm.

Cajundjb · 12-20-2011, 06:03 PM

I live near Hot Springs, AR but my folks live around Lafayette where I'll be heading Friday. I work for a company in OKC and will probably work a lot in OK this winter. My original intention was to use this Solera on my jobs but I'm wondering if it will hold up to those extreme conditions for full time occupancy for months at a time. I may have to limit its use for work to the Spring and Fall.

Wow! Snow in 'Nawlins?? They must have sold a LOT of gumbo that winter! LOL I remember a few years back when the GOM froze for a few miles out from shore.

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