3455SA New

[36truck]

Just bought a 3455 nice looking unit. going to put it to work in ND.
Any hints for winter camping?

[DQDick]

Congratulations on the new rig! If you search past posts you'll find a wealth of info on wintering our rigs. Hopefully some of the folks wintering in Montana or Canada will be along soon with advice. My advice would be to bring it down here to Arizona.

[dpilot]

First of all congrats !!!!!! I also have a 3455SA... Got it last Aug and I full time... I recomend you insulate with 1+" of foam insulation mounted with tape and then.covered with the reflective bubble across the front of basement including the tank area... Also you shoud check All you elec connections... I placed a small heater

[dpilot]

in the basement aimed at the water pump and that general area... Covered the screen door with 1/8" plexiglass... There are many air leaks along the sides of basement feeding into the water/basement area... And lastly if you feel energetic the weak area in water sys is the fill/feed hose for the fresh water tank, I am going to put a elec heat tape on it...
Don't misunderstand me, I love the.rig and am.very happy with it... it is a bit of work at the beginning but rewarding later...
I.go.to Dickinson regularly... With all of the above done, no probs... I forgot, I do compliment the furnace with 2 small elec heaters....
Welcome, feel.free to ask about anything and all... Enjoy !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Bill-N-Donna]

Congratulations on your new Montana!
Enjoy and have a great time.

[DarMar]

Congrats on your 3455, we can agree that it is one fine floor plan indeed. Unfortunately we can't help much with the winter camping but we do get out late in April and end our season in early October. The worst that happens during that time period is a frozen water hose. Keep us posted.

[sreigle]

Congratulations on the new rig!

[HOOK]

We love our 3455sa but never camped in 0 weather. Last year we had some very cold days here in NC and just ran heat at 40 when cold with no freezing problems. Others will have great suggestions I'm sure. Larry

[36truck]

It's sitting in the front yard right now. Trying to get it packed for the long run. I need to fire the furnace up & see how it does here. Then I can put in more ins. as needed. thanks for the tips on the basement heat.

[Mudchief]

Congratulations and enjoy your new unit.

[BrokenElbow]

We sure love ours...great layout. Have fun.

[36truck]

Both of us really like the layout. Sure looks sharp on the inside. There seems to be some great storage.

[sreigle]

1. Heat tape a water hose so you don't always have to use onboard water. The park spigot/pipe will need to be taped and insulated as well.

2. I put two troublelights in the basement, one in the water connection center and the other one at the other end of the basement. Each has a 40w bulb. Also have an indoor/outdoor thermometer sensor in the water connection center so I can monitor that temperature. The troublelights both connect to an extension cord. The other end of the cord comes up through our laundry chute so I can plug it in as needed. If you need it all winter and have a basement 110v outlet (we don't) then plug it in there. Our model (and probably yours) does get some heat in the basement storage area so the troublelights are not totally necessary. Even without the lights it never got lower than 34 in the water center even with ambient temperature at 5 below. I'm just more comfortable with the lights keeping things warm.

3. Keep all tank valves closed except when dumping or flushing. Otherwise as water runs into the dump hose it will build up and freeze. A few layers of that and your hose is frozen shut. If that happens, DO NOT touch the hose. It will disintegrate in your hands. Been there. Also, if those valves are open the dump pipes sitting outside the belly can also freeze up with ice. Then you don't dump until they thaw. Not good.

4. When it's in hard freeze territory, be sure the furnace runs occasionally. There is a heat duct in the belly that keeps things warm in there.

5. See if you can get/rent/lease/borrow a large propane tank. We were in rv parks that would loan us a 100 pounder and charged only for propane used. But you might want the 200 pounder or larger. During that 10 days with no high higher than 14, we went through the 100 pounder in about a week. You can get the extend-a-flow hose setup for connecting to the external tank at Camping World or many rv dealers.

6. If you do not have dual-pane windows, seriously, seriously, seriously consider using the window film, the shrink wrap stuff available at Walmart, Lowe's, Home Depot, to cover your windows on the inside. That makes a huge difference. December 2010 we didn't do that and we used about twice the propane we used in winters where we filmed the windows. The film is cheap. You'll have to remove the valances and unscrew the shades at the top to install the film. Then you can remount the shades and valances.

7. We supplement the furnace with electric heat, especially if we're not paying for electricity. I found that if the temperature is below about 23 or 24, then we can run the electric heaters and the furnace still runs enough to keep our water lines comfortable. At temperatures above that we might run a single electric heater on a low setting but that's it, for downstairs. Upstairs we use an electric heater whenever it's cold up there.

We've survived 5 below zero twice. And 10 days where the high for the period was 14 F. But several here have survived far worse than we have. Many of them use skirting. We didn't. You might check with someone about their skirting. That can make a big difference. I know RC and Samantha did a couple of full winters in Montana, very close to the Canadian border. They used skirting. I haven't seen them on here for awhile so you might email them.

Good luck.

[36truck]

Were looking at skirting just not sure how to mount it.

[Jay Bird]

Enjoy you new rig, congrats. Stay safe, stay warm

[Sierra 117]

We found that there are gaps on both sides of the kitchen slide out and the entertainment slide at the bottom. We filled them with foam to stop the draft. You may want to use a supplemental ceramic heater or two to cut down on the propane consumption as well.

[Sierra 117]

We found that there are gaps on both sides of the kitchen slide out and the entertainment slide. We filled them with foam to stop the draft. You may want to use a supplemental ceramic heater or two to cut down on the propane consumption as well.

[mobil]

congrats on your new rig. Enjoy.........you must be a truckie?

[36truck]

Mobil yes I own a 36 Ford ton and a half truck I'm restoring. I'm a huge Ford guy with a lot of 70's & loder Fords & Mercurys.