Great first season in our 2008 Winnebago Destination/DP. Alas, winter will be coming to soon here to Maine. Due to other obligations, its time to put the toys of summer away now. Winterizing the fifth wheel was easy. Drain the lines, put the pink in the lines, drive to winter storage location, remove battery and return in the spring. Class As are a wee bit more complex. The research that I have done is primarily focused on draining the lines and putting the pink in the lines. I get that.(I have located indoor winter storage for a reasonable rate. This opens the driveway up for safe snowblowing, et al.)What about the diesel fuel in the tank? Leave alone or add the winter additive? Fill the tank or ????The batteries are another concern. All the research says to charge them up monthly. Which assumes that there will be unfettered access. Unfortunately, that will not be the case. The batteries will be fully charged when the rig is put into storage. What I'm thinking is to disconnect the house batteries from the coach. Setting the battery Aux Batt Switch to off. And return in the spring with a battery charger and good book to read while getting the charge back up to operational.For those of you who do long term storage over the winter. What have you done? What have you learned? What are the dos and don'ts?Tnx in Advance.

I learned one thing last year. The coffee maker has a water reservoir that cracks open if you leave it in the bus all winter. Figured it out on the morning of the first trip in the spring. This year the coffee maker comes into the S&B.

drain the hot water heater too.Im no reference for cold temp storage but we also have enclosed storage but this might give you some ideas....last year i didn't even blow out my water lines (or run any antifreeze thru them).I have 50A electric service in our bay (but rarely use more than a 15a service/outlet).i use some hi/lo recording Thermometer that recorded the low temp (inside & outside) the coach (it rarely gets down to freezing here in texas)....but if it gets close to freezing i turn on some oil filled radiant heaters.my storage bay is close to home so when it gets cold i stop by the coach to monitor the recorded temps and turn the heaters on (low)

If I lived in Maine, I would do exactly what you are going to do. But I live in southern California and I use my coach year round. Just getting ready to go on another trip from California to New Mexico and back in about thirty days.These coaches cost too much money to let them set. They need to be moving or else gaskets start to shrink and pretty soon you have oil leaks, cabinets drying up, tires get bad flat spots and cracks. And if your coach has a gasoline engine, gasoline starts to gel up and fuel injectors can go bad.So anyways, my point is you should take it out for a drive every once in a while.

Diesels are better at waiting than gas engines. But still put it to bed with the tanks full so they don't "breath" and collect moisture. If you can, get a can of "Fogging Spray" and try to crank the engine without it starting. This can be a trick with a good diesel, but a boat guy (fat chance you can find one in Maine ;))will have a good idea what I mean. Then, disconnect the batteries either by switch or by pulling cables. Be cautious with the switch method. Some manufactures put things like the CO monitor or the radio keep alive on the wrong side of the battery switch. (Run into that with bilge pumps all the time.) Once you have that all settled, go get a couple of (one for the main engine battery and one for the house bank) little solar battery chargers to put in a south facing window. These can even keep a battery topped up just by using the sun both days it is out during a Maine winter. Before the depression, I did this for a lot of performance cruisers. It always worked out well. My latitude is still about the same, but I can drink the bay and things don't rust as fast. But the only lobster has to get flown in. Matt - he misses the tide

Don't spray anything into air intake on a diesel as they have heaters in there intake. Any flammable liquid could cause a big bang.

Winter Storage Questions | Good Sam Community

bshpilot
Explorer
Oct 09, 2014
if the coach is gonna set for just a few months there is no need to add anything to Diesel fuel.
big_jim_2
Explorer II
Oct 09, 2014
Don't spray anything into air intake on a diesel as they have heaters in there intake. Any flammable liquid could cause a big bang.
Matt_Colie
Explorer II
Oct 09, 2014
Diesels are better at waiting than gas engines. But still put it to bed with the tanks full so they don't "breath" and collect moisture. If you can, get a can of "Fogging Spray" and try to crank the engine without it starting. This can be a trick with a good diesel, but a boat guy (fat chance you can find one in Maine ;))will have a good idea what I mean. Then, disconnect the batteries either by switch or by pulling cables. Be cautious with the switch method. Some manufactures put things like the CO monitor or the radio keep alive on the wrong side of the battery switch. (Run into that with bilge pumps all the time.)
Once you have that all settled, go get a couple of (one for the main engine battery and one for the house bank) little solar battery chargers to put in a south facing window. These can even keep a battery topped up just by using the sun both days it is out during a Maine winter.

Before the depression, I did this for a lot of performance cruisers. It always worked out well. My latitude is still about the same, but I can drink the bay and things don't rust as fast. But the only lobster has to get flown in.

Matt - he misses the tide
RayChez
Explorer
Oct 09, 2014
If I lived in Maine, I would do exactly what you are going to do. But I live in southern California and I use my coach year round. Just getting ready to go on another trip from California to New Mexico and back in about thirty days.

These coaches cost too much money to let them set. They need to be moving or else gaskets start to shrink and pretty soon you have oil leaks, cabinets drying up, tires get bad flat spots and cracks. And if your coach has a gasoline engine, gasoline starts to gel up and fuel injectors can go bad.

So anyways, my point is you should take it out for a drive every once in a while.
bshpilot
Explorer
Oct 09, 2014
drain the hot water heater too.

Im no reference for cold temp storage but we also have enclosed storage but this might give you some ideas....last year i didn't even blow out my water lines (or run any antifreeze thru them).

I have 50A electric service in our bay (but rarely use more than a 15a service/outlet).

i use some hi/lo recording Thermometer that recorded the low temp (inside & outside) the coach (it rarely gets down to freezing here in texas)....but if it gets close to freezing i turn on some oil filled radiant heaters.

my storage bay is close to home so when it gets cold i stop by the coach to monitor the recorded temps and turn the heaters on (low)
jplante4
Explorer II
Oct 09, 2014
I learned one thing last year. The coffee maker has a water reservoir that cracks open if you leave it in the bus all winter. Figured it out on the morning of the first trip in the spring. This year the coffee maker comes into the S&B.

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