Traveling the ALCAN in Winter
My wife and I have traveled the ALCAN several times in the summer and twice by auto in the winter, but never in an RV in the winter. Our plan is to leave Alaska in early October and return in January...
Forum Discussion
We've made two trips in December 1998 and December 2001.
http://yukonsights.ca/19981212_AlaskaHwy.html
http://yukonsights.ca/20011215_AlaskaHwy.html
You'll see typical road conditions in the pictures.
At the bottom of the page of the second link I have some info about how we coped with -40.
In addition:
Have your propane tank purged of moisture before leaving. Methanol Hydrate was used with our tank. Otherwise the moisture may freeze in the propane valve or regulator and stop the propane flowing.
Have a 100W trouble light, or handwarmers, to help thaw moisture should the propane valve/regulator freeze. Also, the location of our propane regulator was a problem--the rear duallies of the motorhome kicked snow up on the regulator which would plug the air hole, which would also stop the flow of propane, so we built a little box around the regulator.
Cut Styrofoam insulation to snug fit into windows and vents. This helps preserve a lot of heat at -30 to -40.
Pile layers of area carpets onto the floor. There's a fair bit of heat loss through the floor.
Our Class C developed ice within the cab area as the truck heater could not keep the area warm enough while driving. It was helpful to have a heavy blanket hanging down from the cab-over area to retain the heat in the cab area. Same blanket was used at night to retain the heat in the living area as the heat loss was significant through the cab windows.
Be sure your block heater is working and expect to plug it in as well as the RV.
We used our water (water tank and lines were inside the motorhome). The black and grey tanks simply froze whatever arrived. We tried to limit the amount of solids going into the black tank by using facilities along the highway. When we arrived on Vancouver Island, everything thawed and we dumped the tanks. Nothing broke or cracked.
Driving the Alaska Highway in winter is a grand experience!
http://yukonsights.ca/19981212_AlaskaHwy.html
http://yukonsights.ca/20011215_AlaskaHwy.html
You'll see typical road conditions in the pictures.
At the bottom of the page of the second link I have some info about how we coped with -40.
In addition:
Have your propane tank purged of moisture before leaving. Methanol Hydrate was used with our tank. Otherwise the moisture may freeze in the propane valve or regulator and stop the propane flowing.
Have a 100W trouble light, or handwarmers, to help thaw moisture should the propane valve/regulator freeze. Also, the location of our propane regulator was a problem--the rear duallies of the motorhome kicked snow up on the regulator which would plug the air hole, which would also stop the flow of propane, so we built a little box around the regulator.
Cut Styrofoam insulation to snug fit into windows and vents. This helps preserve a lot of heat at -30 to -40.
Pile layers of area carpets onto the floor. There's a fair bit of heat loss through the floor.
Our Class C developed ice within the cab area as the truck heater could not keep the area warm enough while driving. It was helpful to have a heavy blanket hanging down from the cab-over area to retain the heat in the cab area. Same blanket was used at night to retain the heat in the living area as the heat loss was significant through the cab windows.
Be sure your block heater is working and expect to plug it in as well as the RV.
We used our water (water tank and lines were inside the motorhome). The black and grey tanks simply froze whatever arrived. We tried to limit the amount of solids going into the black tank by using facilities along the highway. When we arrived on Vancouver Island, everything thawed and we dumped the tanks. Nothing broke or cracked.
Driving the Alaska Highway in winter is a grand experience!
