Steve:
Sweden is almost completely surrounded by salt water. The Norwegian Sea and North Sea to the west and southwest, and the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Bothnia to the east. No matter where you are in Sweden, you are no more than 169 miles from ocean or sea. Checking back, it appears the the Gulf of Bothnea only freezes over from Umia on north. Where exactly will they be living? My guess would be near the Lulea town area. The average low for December, January, February is a balmy +10F (this is like spring in Quebec); the average high is in the +24F range (considerably warmer than southern Quebec over winter). Occasionally, the temperatures can (for a few days or weeks) drop down to the -35F range, and this is the range where livability in even a moderately insulated (say, 3 inches of XPS foam completely encapsulating the truck camper) truck camper could become very uncomfortable. So, under the normal winter temperatures in the Lulea area, a Swedish-made truck camper designed to operate down to around +5F would be quite doable for the extended term, if its insulated to around ~ R12 (floor, walls, ceiling).
The biggest issue would be storing several hundreds pounds of propane (for a 1 or 2 week heating period) in a shelter that is insulated against potential extended -20 to -35C periods. Electric heating may be problematic, unless they have sufficient amperage to run all the appliances (however, Europe is 220V, so this is good).
I imagine that the Swedish camper has thermo-pane windows?
The other issue is storing water inside the camper (say, 50 gallons consumption a week, being conservative). The other, is storing gray water and black water inside the camper. If they have a cassette toilet, perfect. A small in-the-cupboard gray water tank could be jerry-rigged to the kitchen sink, but would need to be dumped outdoors several times a day. The other thing is washing. There would be no easy way to operate the shower, so sponge baths would be the routine (under these conditions, one would be in extreme survival mode every day of the month, making simple chores more complicated).
Since they have electric hookup, they would need to bring a portable dehumidifier sized for say a 7 x 15 foot room volume, to be run in the interior 24/7 month after month after month. The water extracted by the dehumidifier catchment could be dumped into the sink to wash dishes. The dehumidifier would be absolutely critical piece of equipment (paired with good camper insulation), since it would both remove humidity from the extremely small camper space, and supply some x heat to inside the camper.
Now, the other part of the rig that needs to be protected and maintained is the truck. Diesel sold up in the arctic would be quite well formulated for -40C or worse, so no problem there. Other fluids in the truck would have to be checked for their operating range (power steering fluid, axle oils, engine oil, transmission fluid, brake fluid, windshield washer fluid, etc), and the appropriate fluids need to be replaced with an Arctic temperatures formulation. I would carry lots of lock de-icer, and some dozen cans of mechanical lubricant. Also, be aware that the air in the truck tires (and spare tire!) would drop precipitously if it was filled at say 20C, then subjected to -20 or -35C. So, a serious capacity portable 12V or AC tire inflation compressor (expedition-grade and portable) would need to be brought, and stored in the heated camper. In Quebec, where the temps over winter drop to -30 to -36C, I have our winter tires inflated in anticipation of the massive fluctuation in air temps (or, deflated), once or twice a week often LOL!! In our winters, we can have 2 days of +20F, then immediately, -27C to -34C for 4 days, then back up to +28F for a week....repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat. You don't want to be driving around on half flat tires when the temps drop 40 or 60 degrees in literally a few hours.
Truck battery: I would replace the standard schlock flooded acid truck battery, with the best AGM battery available, and upon the start of winter, remove the truck battery and store it inside the heated camper on a battery minder (!). So, in effect, you are removing the battery from truck every time you use it (also, if one has to "go to work" in the Arctic, remove the truck battery and bring it into the office with you). Remember: your truck may be your life-line to get back to civilization in an emergency; the battery is the absolute weakest link in a vehicle in the Arctic environment; you can run on flat tires in the Arctic, but you can't run on a flat battery.
Frozen food (say for 2 weeks at a time) could be stored outside in a big 20 gallon+ sized steel cooler with lock. Also, check the camper fridge's ability to operate in extreme cold conditions using propane or AC.
Camper battery: get AGM chemistry, and make sure it is store/hooked up inside the heated part of camper at all times.
*now the big one: they need to have a "Plan B" shelter fairly close by, if all h**l breaks out, and a long -30C to -50C rolls in; this would be life-threatening, so they would have to work into their daily regime a serious meteorological analysis twice a day. Remember RVnetters, this isn't ski camping for a week or 10 days(!), this is extreme isolation north of the Arctic Circle for months and months, with no break.
In closing, Steve, can you ask them to document this in video and stills? This would make for an exceptional Blog !!
Cheers,
D-
