can you winter camp in a pop up?

I know someone who did on a regular basis, while out hunting for deer. One winter, they where huttled around the stove, with the furnace blasting, and shivering! But it was better off then in a tent, no stove or furnace! They lived in Grants Pass Oregon, but I have no idea where they where camping at.

You might try one of these if you want to be really comfortable in the winter.

Aliner.com

You might also consider a Olympic Catalytic Safety heater. It puts out barely any CO gas, while something like Mr. Buddy heater can put out more CO and it not designed for such small enclosed spaces.

Fred.

In regards to Catalytic heaters, it is not only the CO one has to be concerned about, but it is the heater using up the oxygen in a confined space.
Lost two buddies in an air tight tent, using one of those heaters.
BTC

most TT's even the 4 season TT's are not all that well insulated. I had one in my hunting days and the furnace never shut down.. A friend of mine camped next to me had an Olympic heater with one of his vents open just a little and he went all hunting season on two 7 gallon propane tanks. I made several trips to town for refills with my set up. I don't know if I would take any thing up to the mountains or camp in the winter in a vinyl sided tent. even a wall tent with a wood stove in it would be better. survived many an elk season in one of those.

The risk goes beyond a crack in the vinyl tent!! You could cause serious injury or even death to yourself or others! As a test, send a message or note to the unit's manufacture and ask them if they would recommend it. BB

Several reasons why I would not do it in mine:
1) A snow storm would destroy it if were set up
2) I would never keep the thing warm, at a price I am willing to pay.
3) I really don't like cold weather.

That said I would camp in it in the winter if I were in southern Florida.

Winter camping in a pop up depends entirely on where you are camping. I certainly would not do it in Canada but would in southern Arizona or Texas.

We camped in a pop up camper in Lake George NY for a winter carnival with 3 kids and they had a ball. There was about 3 inches of snow on the ground and it was -10 at night and got up to 17 during the day. Get some good winter sleeping bags and enjoy yourself.

germanic333,

If you have migrated from tent camping to the pup then my answer is Yes. As long as you don't do it when you get a huge snowstorm that will collapse your Shepherd poles. I did it with my old Jayco here in Missouri.

Here was my set up. When I was camping and there was power I would put an electric blanket under my bed roll over the mattress then a couple of heavy blankets or quilts, that equals toasty!!. I also picked up a Big Buddy heater and got the extension hose for the propane. Ran the hose out to the propane tank. Set on low it kept the unit nice and warm. I made sure that I unzipped the windows a little on each end to prevent any carbon monoxide issues (however Buddy heaters claim they can be used inside?).

If you really want to get serious you can put the aluminum insulation in the windows and zip them up. Then install thin sleeping bags in the ceiling over the Shepherd poles and bungee the ends up to prevent the ceiling from accumulating moisture and insulate the unit a little more. I obtained those tips from an Elk hunter in Idaho. However I didn't go that far. If you use a heater or furnace and it is real cold you will get moisture in the ceiling that will have to be wiped off before you put it away. My best set up was to use the electric blankets at night. Jump up and crank buddy up for a few minutes to knock the cold off and get dressed then head to the fire!

That's the way I did it. Whatever you do have plenty of fresh air when using Buddy and get a portable CO2 detector!!

I did it for years in Florida. Depends entirely on location.

You can do it; I made many winter hunting trips in an older Coleman PU in frigid and sometimes sub-zero weather. I can tell you from experience, though, a properly set up wall tent with a catalytic heater will be much warmer than a PU, air can’t get under a tent. You could use the heater in a PU too, but like a tent, you need air circulation and I wouldn’t run it overnight. If you run the furnace in the PU you need some means of recharging your battery, it can knock the battery down in one night.

I didn’t use a heater and everything froze, food, water, drains, and sometimes the propane stove wouldn’t light. I survived with a bulletproof old Coleman gas stove and lantern. That was my heat in the morning and evening when I cooked breakfast and dinner. The rest of the day I was tramping the hills and wasn’t in camp. I depended on old real down sleeping bags and jackets, not the modern junk mixed with feathers, if I wasn’t running the stove. So if you can take the cold well and have good winter gear, you can do it. I can’t speak to vinyl, mime was canvas. But it had plastic windows and before I dropped the top I’d heat the PU up so I didn’t crack the windows when I closed it up.