Brand New to owning a travel trailer HELP!!

Since most TTs have 2 inch walls, single pane windows and exposed underbelly, you are starting out with a handicap.

As mentioned, insulate everything, skirt the TT, wrap all pipes with heat tapes and hope for an easy winter.

Good Luck

hope op comes back

At a minimum: Skirt the trailer with as much insulative material you can find or afford. Straw bales work well because they are 2' in width, offering good insulation. Foam board also works, especially with heat lamps underneath the trailer. Seal it all real well so you have a captive air space underneath.

Heating appliances can vary but electric baseboard heaters offer good heat production and can be mounted out of the way. You will probably need to establish a separate circuit for just heaters. Pipe heaters/tape and tank heaters will be needed.

I'd suggest to use foam board on all the windows and sacrifice light for insulation. If you have LED's in all the light fixtures, indoor lighting is cheap. You will soon find how to remove condensation and where to seal openings to combat heat transfer.

This whole regimen is not for the faint of heart parked in a Winter climate. A good suggestion is to move South for the Winter and not engage the battle of trying to stay warm, having operating plumbing.

Good luck!

I've seen straw bales with tarps used as skirting around the exterior then heating the space under the floor (I presume with electric heaters).

What is written above by many posters is true...mostly.

There are people who live in RV's in North Dakota, the Yukon and Alaska in the winter. BUT they have taken some extraordinary steps to insulate and heat the undersides.

What you are proposing in surely possible but not easy and it will cost you several hundred dollars most likely to insulate it to be livable.

You might, if possible, think about using some of that money to get it to Arizona or Fla (Arizona is much cheaper living)instead of staying in Mich. But of course if you have a job that wont be possible.

To give you an idea of what is involved I insulated the underside of my trailer two years ago and the storage compartments (this is key as a lot of cold air gets in there)just before a trip to Alaska in March.

This project took me a week. On my back under the trailer and crawling out a thousand times. And I did it in Tucson where it was nice and warm at the time.

To stay in a Michigan winter you will definitely need to insulate the underside, all of the storage compartments AND put a skirt around the underside AND heat that with at least a heat lamp to keep your pipes from freezing.

You can buy waterbed heaters to put on your waste tanks to keep them from freezing and enclose them also.

And as already mentioned you will need a heated water hose or bring ALL of your water in by bottle.

As you can see this will not be cheap in electrical terms.

I assume you understand your situation better than any of us can and it really isnt any of our business...but if there is another way open to you I would give serious consideration to that.

Fogged windows and condensation will be the LEAST of your troubles.

Good Luck.

RVs, especially camper trailers, are very poorly insulated. Their heating system is designed to make it tolerable in spring and fall on chilly nights, not keep you alive in subzero temps. You will spend incredible amounts on propane and electricity trying to stay warm. The plumbing system is not designed to survive cold weather.

A friend whose house burned tried living in his 5th wheel in January while the place was rebuilt. The guy is an experienced RVer and knows all the tricks. After one week, he moved into an apartment.

Is there a chance that you can go south?

Here's what I've read that RV'ers do when trying to stay as warm as possible in their RV's during the winter:
> Put insulating material on the inside of all windows
> Use electric heaters if it will be difficult to get propane. The propane furnaces use a lot of gas so most RV'ers have extra large tanks delivered by the propane company.
> Put insulating material in the openings for the roof vents and skylight
Consider putting a skirt around the RV
> Use a heated hose for freshwater or make sure you unhook the hose and drain it if temps are near freezing.

Following. Curious to see the though process and circumstances that brought OP to this nightmare

TheMomo wrote:
No I live in Michigan

You are in for a rude awakening as the cards are already stacked against you. Your claim is that you know nothing about your camper, are planning on living in it during a Michigan winter, and can't even find the furnace.

I grew up donwriver not too far from Monroe - I know the winters there.

You are going to be dealing with large costs for propane usage, lots of condensation inside, frozen pipes and dangerous conditions brought on by alternative sources of heat, electrical, or fuel powered. Your fridge will most likely stop working in sub freezing conditions. Your windows will be covered in ice and you won't be able to see out of them.

What's your plan for emptying the holding tanks - provided they somehow don't turn into ice blocks and then shatter themselves at the seams?

Sure - lots of people live in these ice box's during the winter, but I don't think your ready to count yourself among their ranks. It is going to be a hardship - not a walk in the park with fuzzy slippers.

I'd seek out a plan B.

Otherwise, hoping somebody knows your plan and can check on you. Good luck

No I live in Michigan