Winter Weekends in a Coachmen Mirada 34BH

[lordnorth]

Bought a new to us 2011 Coachmen Mirada this summer. It is entry level, but so are we -- so its a good enough fit for now.

I would like to be able to use it to do some ski weekends in PA and maybe a little longer in New England, but am concerned about the winter livablilty... which may be next to zero. I am thinking that many of the places that I want to ski might not have an actual campground... so I would be looking at basically boondocking in the parking lot for a night or two.

Please keep in mind that we are talking mostly about 2-3 days, maybe 7 at the VERY outside... not 3-4 months at a time.

I know I could always completely dry camp, and avoid all of this... but I would like to be able to use the toilet and shower after a day of skiing, if possible.

Can anyone tell me if running the furnace will keep the wet bay warm enough to keep from freezing? (Keep in mind.. Coachmen Mirada... not a Prevost!) If not, I have seen posts about running a 100 watt bulb or small space heater in the bay... but this requires either shore power or generator. Are their any other options if I do not want to run the genny and have no shore power?

I am thinking that unless we are talking severely cold weather I shouldn't have to worry too much about holding tanks as long as the fresh is full and the grey has a little bit of anti-freeze in it (I figure the black has enough "impurities" to avoid freezing. Has anyone tried a recirculator pump to send the water from the water heater back into the fresh water tank... or is this overkill.

Thoughts on this please?

Chris

[JaxDad]

Not that it’s always convenient hours but check with municipalities in your area, except for more urban areas, I’ve never come across one that doesn’t allow you to dump into their sewage treatment plant or a pumping station leading to it.

The problem is it’s normally only during their business hours, a few though have staff 24/7 to monitor them.

[lordnorth]

JaxDad wrote:
Where do you dump and how do you winterize it afterwards?

I look up dump sites on sanidumps.com and dump there.

As for winterizing... that is an issue that I'm currently going through. Previously I have used the anti-freeze method -- which has worked very well. This year I want to be able to use it on weekends, but don't want to go through anti-freeze each time.

I'm working on a good way to get the lines blown dry to avoid having to use anti-freeze.

I'll repost to let you know how I'm making out.

[JaxDad]

Where do you dump and how do you winterize it afterwards?

[lordnorth]

Just wanted to follow up in case anyone is using this thread to learn more.

The Mirada does indeed have venting into the bays. And, probably due to the really crappy insulation, ALL of the bays stay relatively warm.

We used it this weekend and the outside temperature fell to 20 F. The wet bay never got below 39 F. I DO have a small space heater hooked up to an outlet that comes on at freezing, so if it did look we were having problems with temps, that is an option.

As for the furnace running all night, as someone had mentioned.... This was no problem for us. I have two 6 volt golf cart batteries that have great amp-hour capacity. We would run the generator for a few hours before bed to make sure they were completely charged, then the furnace ran all night (off and on obviously) with no problem.

Hope this helped out anyone who was wondering the same things!

[John_S_]

Your batteries will not make it long enough so the genny is required but if it si not too cold out then you should be fine. I will say that I try not to take my born free in freezing weather for any period of time. I cracked the pipe coming out of the black tank that way. No heat or insulation on it and it was just driving it home one day in the cold but it was 15 degrees. I had antifreeze in it but it did not matter. Now the Foretravel has been down to below zero with out a hiccup.

[njtony]

We have a 2013 marida and the wet bay is heated by furnace. We did have to put a light bulb in water connection bay because that froze over night. you will have to run genny to use furnace.Battries will not last all night.

[MountainAir05]

Along with what others stated, you can always use salt pellets and dissolved them and put in your holding tanks. We keep a part bag just in case we run into unexpected drop in temp.

[Effy]

Most newer MH's, even entry level ones, have the air ducts run in a way to provide residual heat to the tanks. In order for your tanks to get damaged they would have to be almost full and freeze solid. running heat indoors will certainly keep the inside plumbing from freezing. I would just make sure you winterize the outside shower. I'd probably be more concerned about running out of LP. It also sounds like you'd have to run your gen a good bit to keep batteries charged.

[WyoTraveler]

Some of the higher end MHs has some insulation srayed under MH wet bay. That helps. Some have heaters in wet bay. Light bulb would help. I bought a indoor/outdoor thermometer. I mount the outdoor monitor in my wet bay up off the floor. I mount it on my black tank dump valve so I can monitor the temp. You can buy heat pads for tanks. I think you would be OK but watch it closely and have a plan of action. I carry a compressor and just blow out my lines. I can winterize on the road. I only use antifreeze in traps. That way I can dewinterize quickly.