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Old 11-15-2004, 06:34 AM   #1
captbanjo
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Bristol
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cold winter camping

Curious...we live in the northeast where it obviously freezes up in the winter. What does the Artic Insulation package mean? Can one camp and keep water in the rig, or does it only mean that the heat will stay put in the unit better? Not really planning on winter camping...but it is an option I suppose.
 
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Old 11-15-2004, 09:05 AM   #2
BillyRay
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Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Malta
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artic package means you spent more $$$$$$$$$$. (like We did)
it will not just prevent freezing as you may think. Yes you can camp in the winter, as you can with any camper, but several things to learn about first! your waterlines will freeze if you don't use preventative measures.there are several topics out there that will cover just that...do a search up above and you'll learn alot! I know enough to keep myself out of trouble, but I don't frequently camp this time of the year, so I'll leave it to the people with more experience to give you that advise!
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Old 11-15-2004, 04:00 PM   #3
Merv
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Hello Captbanjo,
Im not sure if we have the "Arctic Package", but i will tell you that with the enclosed and heated underbelly, you should be able to camp in colder weather.
We just camped this weekend in a State forest campground. we filled up the water and took off. friday night it got down to 15 degrees. the lake got a nice layer of ice that night but we stayed nice and warm. I was kind of expecting some freezing of a line or at least the holding tanks, but to my delight, we had no problems. we kept the thermostat set at about 68 and did not use any other heater. I figured that if i used another source of heat, then the furnace wouldnt run, and the only way the furnace can keep the underbelly heated is if it runs.
it was nice camping this time of year as we had the whole campground to ourselves.
I am no expert on what the limits are of the arctic package, but i was impressed by our weekend without frozen lines.
Merv
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Old 11-15-2004, 06:49 PM   #4
Starchmill
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The dealer told me that with the artic package, you can camp till the temp stays at 0 degrees for 24 straight hours. Not sure if I'd want to push it that far though.
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Old 11-16-2004, 09:21 AM   #5
sreigle
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We've been down to 14 in ours, and in the teens a number of times. As others said, the Arctic Package includes additional insulation in the belly (don't know if there's more in the walls) and also there's a furnace duct in the belly. To keep tanks from freezing you need to make sure the furnace runs enough to get warm air down there. So on subfreezing nights we shut off the electric heater in the living room, set the furnace at 50 or 55, close the door to upstairs and run an electric heater up there to supplement the furnace. Above freezing we'll set the furnace as above but will run an electric heater downstairs on low.

Despite the arctic package, when temps get down into the teens you may have trouble with pipes freezing. One culprit is the low point drains under the rig. I spent some time under the rig with a hair dryer last winter. This time I've insulated them and hope that's enough. We also froze pipes somewhere else but only a couple of times. Opening the cabinet doors at night where there are pipes seems to help a lot. Some folks have dropped the bellypan and insulated their pipes but I haven't (yet) done that. If we have problems this winter with pipes freezing then I plan to insulate ours before the next winter. Someone reported they had pipes laying on the metal frame, which really helps them freeze.

You also will want to either fill your fresh water tank and disconnect the hose from the park spigot or use a heat taped hose. We use the heat taped hose and it's never frozen. I have frozen hoses not heat taped though. Makes for one giant popsicle and can damage the park's spigot. I also filled a five gallon can with roll insulation and put that over the park's spigot after connecting the heat taped hose. I see some people down the row used a large trash can for this. Theirs encloses the fixture all the way to the ground. Good idea but we have no place to store that trash can during the rest of the year. Our five gallon plastic bucket stays in our basement when not in use.

Some folks down the row are using hay bales as a skirting on their rig but I heard on this forum that's a good way to invite mice and insects. Another one used black plastic to enclose theirs. I can't tell for sure but it looks like they duct taped it to the underside and used something to hold the bottom of the plastic down. We've not done any skirting but do wonder if we should.

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Old 11-16-2004, 04:17 PM   #6
Northstar
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Steve if you are going to be subjected to severe cold then I would recommend skirting. Happyrving....
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Old 11-17-2004, 09:35 AM   #7
sreigle
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Another thing I forgot to mention is you can let the water drip in the sink to keep it moving so it doesn't freeze in the pipes. some campgrounds will tell you to do this if your hose is connected. Otherwise their uninsulated spigots could freeze and pipes burst. Just be sure you're hooked up to sewer.

Northstar, I don't have the legs for it!
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