Cold Weather Camping Tips

Be aware of what happens to battery capacity. Propane boils at -42.5, so production of gas is lower in extreme cold. Having a way to warm the tank is a good plan. I use a magnetic (small) block heater.

The engine may almost certainly need to be equipped with a block heater. Fuel consumption will be higher partly because the air is denser and pushing the RV through that takes more energy.

Enclosed tanks and valves need to have heating from some source.

The fridge needs to be protected from extreme cold or the working fluid may gel and may possibly destroy it.

Hello everyone. I have ever dreamed about long winter trip somewhere in Alaska, and would like to ask about some advice from advanced campers and voyagers. I have 2005 Itasca Horizon ***Link Removed***, 40FD 400HP Cummins and almost everything prepared for such travel (have already checked many forums). Can you please explain some essential issues or problems that may appear? Can you suggest some additional essential thins to take with? Thanks in advance.

pianotuna wrote:
Find a place with shore power.

BINGO! Preferably 50amp so that both built in heaters can be run plus the portable & still have the furnace in reserve.

In REAL cold weather, pull the slides in (especially at night when you go to bed). Less square footage to heat that way.

In the morning when you get up, the stove top (especially when fixing breakfast) will heat the camper back up fast (and even make it hot) after you extract the slides again.

Maybe a good shovel and squeegee for digging out of the snow. 3 feet of snow on the roof we didn't want to hit the road and have it all blowing off onto on cars behind us. We used a squeegee on the roof and was able push it off fairly easy for the most part and then dug out around the trailer.

pianotuna wrote:
Find a place with shore power.

x2 :)

I much prefer the quiet purr of electric ceramic heaters to the blast-furnace sound my propane heater makes.

We love to do OFF-ROAD camping in the winter season. Most campgrounds are closed anyway but some will allow you to camp at them without facilities or shore power.

I like to put up camo barriers around my camp site. Cuts down on the wind somewhat and makes for a more private setup...

Also having a couple of heater type plan Bs is great... We usually have a good bon-fire going daytime and late evenings.

All we need is water and fire haha... Sometimes some extra gasoline for the 2KW generator helps too but it usually only gets run around three hours during the mornings around breakfast to charge our battery bank and make coffee for the day etc...

Our battery bank supports the use of lap size 12VDC heater blankets. They help alot sitting around the trailer watching HDTV on cold evenings after the sun goes down...

Running the propane furnace is the last resort thing we do...

Roy Ken

Best camping is off season. The boozers tend to stay home. We take double fire wood and maybe a shovel to dig out around the fire ring. Lots of extra cloths for the kids, board games & a few movies for late night. Love the quiet of a snow hike. Take lots of pictures

Find a place with shore power.