Thread: snow camping
View Single Post
Old 01-01-2004, 03:42 PM   #6
Carol
Site Sponsor
 
Carol's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2001
Posts: 83
Default Re:snow camping

Hi!

We experienced some of the same issues that you did, but in September, in the Big Horn Mountains. We had wet, slushy snow, with lows in the lower 20's for most of the week we were there.

We did have lots of condensation with some ice on the windows and end parts of the shell (apparently not insulated as well as the rest) and wet pillows and bedding every morning. We wiped everything down with towels every morning and dried the bedding. The vapor must have been from us as we were using the proane heater supplemented by an electric heater for the back bed area.

I think that TrailManor should look into thermopane windows - it would help in the summer as well for reducing heat gain. The other area we found was very cold was the velcro seal areas - the insulation between the vinyl isn't the greatest!

We also had lots of cold air coming up behind the couch and found that the seal around the front storage compartment was not very tight. We stuffed something in there to help. That outside storage access is never used by us, so we are thinking of sealing it up with
insulation. There is also cold coming from the propane heater area under the couch in our 2720SL.

We also had condensation above the wheel wells inside the cupboards, especially under the stove area. This would probably be solved by doing the rounded wheel well modification, as it would add insulation. We did put a naugahyde cover on the air conditioner vent to block the cold air from coming in there and we put a magnetic cover on the bathroom vent.

We were thinking that insulated drapery material might help in the absence of thermopane windows. Anyone try this?

The campground water supply froze up the last few nights we were there. They fixed it the 1st couple of nights and then shut it down for the season. There was only electric at the campsites, so water was hauled in totes and the fresh water tank filled. We used a porta-potty at night and campground facilities druing the day to keep the black tank relatively empty. We dumped our gray water out in the woods via a long garden hose during the day, when temperatures were above freezing.

Here is a picture of our campsite at the Big Horns in Wyoming in Sept., 2003! http://carol.trailmanorowners.com/bighorns.jpg

A few weeks later in the Tetons where we had full hookups, we disconnected the water and sewer hoses at night when below freezing temperatures were expected overnight. It was definitely not as cold in the Tetons and we had also picked up an extra electric heater on our way. We plugged the extra one into a separate electric cord plugged into the grounded campsite 110 circuit breaker outlet so we wouldn't keep popping the internal circuit! We just had the extension cord put under the velcro flap near the refrigerator and had the extra heater on a camp table inside. The combo of the 2 heaters kept the propane heater pretty much off and we didn't have to listen to its loud fan.

We have decided that cold weather camping is too much of a challenge for us in the TrailManor, so we're going to stick to warmer weather camping from now on!

Carol
Carol is offline   Reply With Quote