I did three winters in Ohio and northern Kentucky.
The first was in a travel trailer, no skirting. I did not use a heated hose, just filled the onboard tank as needed and drained and put away the water hose.
I did not have an extra propane tank, so every 5-6 days a trip to the Flying-J to fill a 7 gallon bottle, as soon as one emptied I filled it so that I always had propane, also kept another 4 gallon bottle as a reserve. I did use one ceramic cube heater to supplement the propane. No skirting, nothing froze but the floor was cold, did not have heated basement, just good insulation under the floor. No problems with frozen plumbing. Did have some nights down to -07 F.
Winter 2 was in the Jayco, a few things different. I knew that I was not moving so I skirted using 2x2 lumber for a frame between the bottom of the trailer and the ground and bought some bi-fold styrofoam backer board that is used behind vinyl siding and cut to size and skirted, taping the seams, also got a heat tape and pipe insulation and made a heated water hose and got a 100 gallon gas bottle filled prior to winter so that the propane was able to be bought for 169.00 per gallon. Floor was warm, did not have to worry with the water hose. I did use two ceramic heaters, one plugged in inside, the other I ran a heavy extension cord in through the opening with the shore power. I made it from the end of November until mid-February on the 100 gallons.
Winter 3 was the last, knew I would be moving before the end so no skirting. Did use the 100 gallon tank again. I bought one of the oil filled electric radiator heaters that I put on the heavy extension cord that I added the previous winter, this stayed on high all winter, also used two ceramic heaters, one on high and one on medium on the 30 amp side, these were on when I was in and off when I was gone. I made it through the winter without using up the 100 gallon bottle that time, at the end of winter it still had 50 gallons in it.
One thing to remember, if heating with electric, on super cold nights, back off on the electric and allow the furnace to run, on my Jayco the furnace heated the basement and while quite toasty I caught it in time that the plumbing was starting to freeze so I backed off on the electric when the temps went under 15 degrees to that the propane furnace would kick in and warm the water lines. On the travel trailer all of the lines ran along the street side wall behind furniture and cabinets, so just keeping the inside warm and the cabinet doors opened protected them, not sure how the water lines run in your unit, but something for you to check on. Also keep the water heater turned on when super cold, they will freeze and split the tank.
I did pitch the drain hose a good slope and never had to worry about a poopsicle, I kept the gray tank open and planned the black dump for the sunny part of the day.
I made it through just fine with lots of planning. Glad to be back south and hope to not have to do it again.
Chris & Dianne
Jayco Designer 3110 SOLD 6-11-2016, looking for the next one.
F250 PSD 4x4 Crew Cab
