Opinion on winterability of my rig

Got surprised by a 25F night 2 weeks ago on the road...

Black & grey empty, fresh and water heater full...
-Dumped anti-freeze into tanks and shower trap (1/2 gal total).
-Ran water heater on propane overnight.
-Opened cabinets and ran 2 space heaters on low. 64F inside at night.

Temps hit 31F around 1am, dropping to 25 by 4am, above freezing at 9am. Ya I was a bit worried, but worked out fine. YMMV.

Water has one of the highest heat capacities (energy required to raise temperature) of any substance. If one had fullish black and grey tanks with daytime temps in the 50-60 range I doubt they would freeze.

Small fittings and water lines will freeze much more quickly if exposed. Due to differences in construction and routing it's hard to say what a particular (your) RV model will endure.

Given your description I would:
-Check routing of All water lines. Are they inside/heated?
-Grey pipe to dump valve. Unusual. This will be risky since grey "heat mass" won't heat pipe/valve. Insulate or heat.



.

.

Do you plan on being in a campground, or boondocking, I can't even imagine trying the latter. As DeCrema said, cold is relative, as is the "winterability" of your rig. Winterability in Va is far different than it is in someplace like, say, Northern NY or Michigan. Which I doubt you'll find many, if any CG's open up north in the winter.
If you plan on being in a CG, with hookups,
1. Fill your fresh water tank & use that, as you say it's above the floor under the rear queen, (as mine is).
2. If you haven't already, invest in a ceramic heater, to augment the furnace.
3. As far as the waste tanks, you can go the more expensive way and add the tank heaters, (mine came with them), or go the antifreeze way, ( which as you say, can be a PITA).
4 Make sure your propane is FULL, before you start, depending on how long you're going to be there, may even want to take a spare 20 lb tank with you.
GOOD LUCK :)

Oh, right....I'm not really talking about anything other than keeping the plumbing from freezing. I'm perfectly happy when home with having the temp at 60 at night, and so far I've spent a few nights in the coach when it was hovering right around 32 and I was fine with a couple of space heaters, an electric blanket and my furnace to warm it up quickly in the morning :)

Also cold is relative. A slight chill to someone from Minot ND would be freezing to me - living in VA near DC. When I was younger I did a lot of winter tent hiking and camping. Now, in my 60s the cold bothers me more. But compare me to my younger sister who is living in FL I'm a polar bear.
My earlier answer needs to be be weighed with your tolerance to cold in mind, and more importantly any fellow travelers. That is more important if they are new to camping. You want to keep it fun.

You are describing camping that I have done. Not often, so I am not an expert, but on a regular basis when traveling south or visiting my daughter in college. This is not for camping in Green Bay kind of cold. I have a Lazy Daze that does not have insulated tanks or tank heaters. My water lines are all inside the house part of the RV and it would have to be very cold for them or the fresh water tank to freeze.

In the event the forecast has the temperature going below 30 I dump the waste tanks after a early dinner. I also put RV antifreeze in both holding tanks and all the p-traps. Overnight if I need to flush the toilette and it is below 30 I use RV antifreeze instead of water. If the weather forecast is calling for an extended temps staying below freezing during the day I dump the fresh water and hot water tanks and just use jugs of water - much like I would if tent camping. If there is the danger of extended cold I have an oilless air compressor on board that I can blow the lines and finish winterizing the RV per the LD owners manual.

To keep the RV warm inside I hang a good sleeping bag from the overhead bunk to the floor. This will keep the cab separated from the house part of the RV. The van cab is very poorly insulated so you want to block that area off. Overnight if I am not hooked up to power I do not run the gas heat because the fan will kill the battery. I just turn on the heat before I climb out from under the down blanket/sleeping bag.

If you know how to winterize the RV your self and can make due with bottled water the big limiter on the cold weather is how cold your willing to camp in and not the lines freezing.
John

RVA Jeff wrote:
I have a Class C Coachmen Freelander 2006...I don't plan to stay in this during zero degree temps, but I WOULD like to stay in it when the temp gets a few degrees below freezing -- say mid twenties.....

Along with the obvious of keeping water lines from freezing YOU will be VERY VERY cold staying in a Class C. I would fully winterize the lines not try and keep them warm. Too many plex fittings on thin small plastic water pipes to fix when they freeze.

I did 4 days at just below 32 degrees during a cold snap in Florida. No high winds AND it only gets cold for a few hours just before dawn.
Which is Unlike in the Northern areas where when the sun goes down the temps plummet and stay there for the 'duration of the evening'. I only had to deal with a couple of hours of cold and didn't like it.

It was 'very' uncomfortable for just those couple of hours.

All the windows are going to be your enemy. Including the huge windshield and side windows in the cab area.

I found covering each and every window, including the windshield, vent AND then blocking off the cab area made somewhat a small dent in trying to keep the inside of the coach warm.

Just saying from experience IMHO, JMHO "I" would not RV to an area that cold with a MH.

Hi,

Why not go "whole hog" and get the pipe heaters too? Insulation is not really what you need.

Do you have dual pane windows? Vent Cushions?

Have you protected the fridge? It can freeze and fail.

I would add an inverter that is large enough to cover the load from the heaters.

You may need to blow air into the cabinets while traveling as the cab heater can "fool" the propane furnace thermostat. DAMHIK