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cbshoestring's avatar
cbshoestring
Explorer II
Dec 28, 2017

Fiberglass trailer with temperatures in single digits?

So, I pull into a service plaza on the Ohio Turnpike and see a Casita (maybe Scamp) in the RV lot.

Outside temp gauge reads 9 degrees (Fahrenheit).

These people must be nuts, I think to myself, as I parked the Peterbilt. Shutting down the caterpillar and climbing into my fiberglass shell to turn on the bunk heater.

A bunk heater is a small diesel run heater that keeps me pretty snug without running the big cat.

The figures I always heard...engine idles at one gallon per hour. The bunk heater will only use one gallon in 8 hours.
  • I sometimes take my regular not-very-well insulated trailer out when it is 30 degrees at night no problem. I sometimes go out to the camper in the winter time and clean/repack/ sleep in it during the winter when it's cold but, it is kept in a warm shed. It will be 17 below here on New Years Eve. I will not be doing anything in the camper. There is no way I can keep it close to warm. Heck, my furnace will run continuously in weather like that just to keep the house warm.
  • My trailer is fiberglass, I've camped below freezing, the furnace does a good job keeping it warm. Better yet is a small electric heater supplemented with the furnace. The smaller the fiberglass trailers are even easier to heat. As usual, condensation is the biggest hassle. Many owners stay in them for a night or 2 as they head south this time of year as will we in a couple weeks.

    A guy on the owners forum mentioned just today he stayed in his last night at 5 degrees in central PA, had the furnace and a 1000w electric going with the temp set to 55. The windows iced up but that was it for issues.
  • cbshoestring wrote:
    ...climbing into my fiberglass shell to turn on the bunk heater.


    Yes, I just quoted myself.

    I was half joking when I said they were nuts. I spend most nights in my version of a class C..or is it a short A ????

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