travel in freezing weather

Deb and Ed nailed it.

Dump, drain, disconnect. Pour some pink antifreeze in the tanks.

How cold you can go in your RV really depends on how it's built. Even with the trailers I had that had exposed underbellies etc. I could generally get by without issues when temps got down to around 28f at night. Extended periods of cold they would freeze up even at that. The worst I had happen was my gray water drain freezing and cracking when the night temperatures were getting down around 15f at night.

With the Timber ridge I had prior to my fifth wheel, and with my current bighorn I haven't had any issues with nighttime temps getting down to single digits at night. I just set the furnace to 55f or so, put a heavy comforter on the bed, and turn up the heat in the am at the same time I light the stove for the percolator. It's nice and warm inside by time the coffee is ready.

As one who camps in the areas you're looking at a lot in the shoulder seasons, I doubt you will have any issues unless you have water lines completely exposed without any protection whatsoever as long as it's only a few hours you getting down into the 20's at night. It's a combination of temperature, and exposure time to the temperature that freeze things up.

Have a great trip.

We were in Bryce (Ruby's) on April 12th. Sign on the counter when we checked in was "freeze warning tonight, disconnect water hose". Got to 23 that night. No problems with RV (Cruise America rental). We slept without heat on until 5am when I got up to you know what and turned the thermo up.
Bryce is amazing.

We camped for two weeks every Christmas and a few winter dogs shows. Never had a problem with freezing anything as long as the heat was on, etc.. The only time in our RV-ing history that we had an issue was when we towed the little Prowler TT down to Myrtle Beach and it was going to be 15 degrees that night. It was a Sunday and the line from the LP tank was clogged so, we didn't have any heat (too stupid to run to Walmart for an electric heater). Everything froze solid and when it thawed water started spewing out of the water system drain. I ran to Lowes, bought the parts and fixed it (also replaced that supply line). In 30 years of RVing that's the only freeze issues we ever had. In the motorhome we camped when it was in the mid 20s many times.

I disagree with those who say "don't worry". Depending on the topography, one could be parked in a spot that gets considerable colder than then forecasted temps. Also, there are usually plumbing lines routinely exposed to the outside cold air: the dump valves and low-point drain valves come to mind. On our 5er with "enclosed underbelly" - there was one drain line that ran the entire width of the RV (and sported enough "leak repair tape" from freezing and cracking, to look like a Barber Pole).

When anticipating below-freezing overnight temps, we dumped the tanks and added a half-gallon of antifreeze to each tank to protect the valves. We also disconnected the water; and opened the low-point drains (and used bottled water to brush our teeth at night and make coffee in the AM)

Of course, being Michiganders, we often camped in fierce cold. We had a 3-way valved added to the front of the pump, so that we could pump antifreeze throughout the system - we could winterize the whole RV in about 10 minutes. This is probably overkill if you seldom travel in cold weather - PLUS, I think your pump might be difficult to get to? But it's certainly mandatory for those of us who leave the cold northern winters to visit warm places for a few weeks. Which is why we've ruled out several RV brands or models due to difficult winterization, as we look for a new one.

jerseyjim wrote:
...the toilet supply hose blew out.Like it was cut with a knife...about 2 inches long. Niagara Falls outside the trailer, bathroom carpet soaked. I guess ice formed in there...

Which is part of Why I installed a stop valve in the toilet supply line. Might not have been positioned to manage a problem like the above. But, the toilet's likely to be the leaker we can't fix quickly/easily or work around. With a stop valve, we can work on the toilet and still have use of the sink, basin, etc.

SharkBite fittings will work on our PEX tubing. Home Depot has a lot of them, and they're metal. Lowe's has a good selection of similar stuff in plastic and I decided to use that with all the other plastic around that spot in the coach.

I have a 2016 Jayco Redhawk and camped for a week in South Dakota last month (March) where the temp didn't get above freezing and one morning it was minus 2 degrees when we got up. I winterized the RV before the trip and carried gallon jugs of water. We used RV antifreeze and water for the toilet and bottled water for everything else. The only issue I had was that the black tank wouldn't dump completely until it thawed out. We had poopcicles even though I used some antifreeze. Next trip with temps this low I will use more antifreeze in the black tank. I should note that I didn't have any problems with the gray holding tank and also I did not use the heater mats to keep the tanks thawed because I was off grid for the week.

Most RVs are good to about 25 while in use. Keep the propane filled.

In those temps nothing should be bothered as others have said. If you worried open the cabinet doors and use your propane furnace. If you want you could put a little rv antifreeze in the holding tanks. It is heavier than water and will go down to the valves. But really for a few hours can't see any real problems. JMHO

Like others have said not a problem if only cold at night. Plus you will be living in the unit so the heat will be on at night and it will warm up nicely in the day. As long as it is warming up during the day you are good even to leave the unit even unheated. I have done it many times down to -10C or 14F with no problems. The real problem only happens when it hard freezes and then not fully thawing during the day.

I like to leave the hot water pilot on (if you have one)or leave the tank on till bed then shut off and it will stay warm all night.