Cool weather camping

We camp in the cold here in Wisconsin and Colorado, were you cannot run a generator. I have also charged the battery by plugging the camper in to a 400 watt inverter hooked to the truck battery. Then just run the truck for twenty minutes.

We use an electric blanket and have several blankets we could put on top of it if we had to. We do not have the furnace on at night but we like to sleep in a cold bedroom well covered up.
When camping in a tent without electricity in below freezing temperatures we have used sleeping bags that zip together, flannel sheets sewn to make a sleeping bag that is partly open down one side and if necessary blankets to throw on top of the sleeping bags.
If you are cold at night you can use a heavy cotton sweat suit to sleep in plus socks.

wbwood wrote:
For those of you that dry camp in cooler weather without running the heater ...

SoundGuy wrote:
Why would I do that? :h

wbwood wrote:
This isn't about you.

Well e-x-c-u-s-e me for simply questioning why anyone, myself included, would choose to reinvent the wheel when the rig one owns is already designed and equipped with the means to not freeze. :S

SoundGuy wrote:

wbwood wrote:
For those of you that dry camp in cooler weather without running the heater ...

Why would I do that? :h

This isn't about you.

pianotuna wrote:
There are 12 volt heating blankets. They work well. No inverter needed. I use one as a heated mattress pad.

No 12 volt plug in RV for the house batteries. Only 12 volt plugs are for the main battery and at the other end of the RV.

My wife crochets blankets from good quality yarn. I've tent camped in 17 degree weather with one. Nice and toasty all night.

The trick, she says, is to use two or three strands with a thick type pattern. Traps the warm air around your body.

wbwood wrote:
For those of you that dry camp in cooler weather without running the heater ...

Why would I do that? :h I don't camp to suffer but to enjoy so there's no reason I can see for not taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure the interior of the camper is sufficiently warm regardless of the outside temps. If that means another battery, bigger battery, spare propane, genset, etc, so be it ... at least we'll be comfortable! :B

dtappy3353 wrote:
We have 4 mini dachshunds who love to help provide heat for us.

Way better than flannel sheets!

We dry camped a lot. We used flannel sheets and carried two weights of down comforters. The lighter one was perfect even in summer. The heavier spring/fall/winter one kept us very warm at night.

We never ran the furnace and turned on our propane brick heater on in the morning. It quickly warmed up within 1/2 hour.

12 volt heating blankets... my wife uses 1 in the truck... she can never keep her legs warm... for like 15 years. hers does not have a control .. just ON and OFF.. but never gets HOT... just nice and warm. like 60 watts..

We have 2 sleeping bags... that connect together... so a queen size.. and double sided... one below you and one over you.. and zipped up...