Cold weather camping

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by arniesea

Jim, From the photo, it appears that you moved the spare to under the front frame. Correct? How is it mounted?

I used a Lippert tire which. Once I finally get this project done I will do up a thread.

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

And the lake bottom is strewn with ...

--
Alan

Bottom feeders (not referring to the fishermen here).

[C&G in FL]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

I used a Lippert tire which. Once I finally get this project done I will do up a thread.

If possible, when you do up a thread Jim, would you please address the combined effect of your relocated tire and your storage box on the pin weight of the trailer (not that I am considering something similar, but I would be curious).

[Jim Bennett]

Originally Posted by C&G in FL

If possible, when you do up a thread Jim, would you please address the combined effect of your relocated tire and your storage box on the pin weight of the trailer (not that I am considering something similar, but I would be curious).

This will be tough as I have no idea what my pin weight was before, but imagine it would be similar to others.

I would bet the overall effect will not be much on the pin weight though, not much different than someone carrying a loaded rear rack on the existing receiver. Given how close the cargo box will be to the center of the axles compared to the distance of the pin, I would be the pin might be 50 lbs lighter, though we do store lots under the stairs.

[Steve Clark]

[QUOTE=Mike Lewis; When I told my relatives that my new goal was to drive across Rainy Lake, they were mortified. [/QUOTE]

I can hear them say, “Oh, Mike, bless your heart”.

[Mike Lewis]

Originally Posted by Steve Clark

I can hear them say, “Oh, Mike, bless your heart”.

Yep, which is Southern for "you are an idiot", as Steve apparently knows.

[Steve Clark]

Originally Posted by Mike Lewis

Yep, which is Southern for "you are an idiot", as Steve apparently knows.

I learned that from you, Mike. I crack up every time I hear it used, even when it is turned on me....... (I never should have told my grandson )

Cheers!

[Ray B.]

Linda and I have used our 2017 Escape 19 as additional sleeping accommodation during the Christmas holidays while staying at my brother's house in Windsor. We have the insulation package, thermal windows and the spray foam underneath the trailer. The water system is winterized so we had to run into the house to use the washroom when necessary. We slept in the trailer from December 19 until December 31. Nightime temperatures varied between -20 and +1 Celsius with all but one night below zero. It worked out to 13 nights sleeping in the trailer. Nine nights we had two people in the trailer and four nights we had three. Of course the furnace was always on and seemed to run for ten minutes on and five minutes off. We also had a Davis dehumidifier running under the front dinette/bunk and had the front, driver's side, window cracked open.

https://www.davisnet.com/product/air-dryr-1000/

We found the trailer to be quite cosy in the back bed and my son had no complaints in the front bunk for the four nights that he was with us. We did have some condensation on the front window when the front bunk was being used but none when there were only two in the back bed. We found that the sheets froze to the driver's side wall and that the foot area on the driver's side was really cold when we first got into bed but warmed up quickly. Also, there was quite a lot of ice build up on the roof either from heat escaping through the roof or sun on the accumulated snow on the roof. We used two tanks of propane per week at approximately $15 per fill. We were also connected to shore power in my brother's garage.

[steve dunham]

Originally Posted by Jim Bennett

We get to drive on lakes all the time in the winter. Lakes are strewn with ice fisherman all winter.

This morning as I look out my front window I see several trucks parked on the ice on the North end of our lake .It has not been cold enough for long enough to park or drive vehicles on the south end of the lake but the ice there is good enough for snowmobiles.
I am very cautious when walking on the ice in front of my cabin because of springs , I have gone through the ice on several occasions even in January & February .
When I lived in Northern Minnesota the townships and counties would cut roads across the ice in winter complete with road signage. Once you get 4 or 5 ft of Lake ice you can pretty well drive anything across it , even small delivery and lumber trucks.

I love to listen to the lakes making ice when it gets really cold .
It is a unique sound !!

[rbryan4]

I know Charlotte (or the Carolinas for that matter) aren't used to sub-freezing temperatures for extended periods, but maybe y'all could remember to turn off the water fountains next time?

[cpaharley2008]

We found that the sheets froze to the driver's side wall and that the foot area on the driver's side was really cold when we first got into bed but warmed up quickly.
We too had ice around the bed as well as behind the front dinette cushions. Ordered some hypervent type of material to install, hopefully to eliminate this issue.

[richardr]

Originally Posted by Defenestrator

A cold-weather camping report: we hit 4F overnight here and did ok unwinterized, but it was cutting it close. We have all the extra insulation options and heated tank pads (and upgraded aftermarket batteries/inverter/charger) We're also plugged in, but via a 50' extension cord so I could only pull about 11A (so, electric space heater on low to supplement the furnace).
I think the pipe to the bathroom sink may have partially frozen; it was flowing slowly at first. Pretty good layer of frost built up around the door frame, and some condensation around the mattress. I've been leaving cabinets open, so no issues there. I toggled the water heater on every few hours just in case. I also poured a gallon or two of -20F windshield cleaner in the black and grey tanks after dumping to keep the area around the valve from freezing.

General results this week:
15-20F low, high above freezing: no problem even without plugins other than burning through a tank of propane in 4 days. I think we did use up to 75Ah overnight, which could be an issue for those with smaller batteries.

4F low, high below freezing: space heater and plugins become important, pipes threaten to freeze inside the walls. Pretty sure around 0F is the point where you're in trouble unless you winterize and dry-camp with plugins.

Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk

Thank you for this report. I have been trying to obtain information on what we can expect with colder weather in our un-winterized Escape 21. We also have the double pane windows, extra insulation, bottom insulation and heating pads.

This past week, in the Dallas area, we had 3 days continuously below freezing with a low of about 18F one night. At night we kept the cupboard doors open and the thermostat at about 50F. We had a small amount of condensation on the windows the coldest night.

Since this is our first winter in the Escape I have been trying to verify the tank heating pads work. I finally caught them on one evening. I could see a 3 amp drop in my EMS when I shut them off at the switch.

[drjenk]

We picked up our 5.0 ta last Monday, and the first night was below freezing. We do not have the insulation package. Off a tip from one of the guys at escape who met us at Bobs Burgers, we stopped at an RV store in Lynden to pick up a heated water hose. Expensive, but we were able to have running water the whole time.
However, upon leaving, pulling the gray water valve resulted in 0 flow. The water had frozen in the exit tube between gray tank and valve. So we rode a while too our next stop (Rasar state park) in 35F temps, and immediately stopped by the dump station upon arrival. A small trickle soon turned into full flow, followed by the chunk of ice. So we were relieved with that.
This was to be our dry camping test location, so we reserved a site with no hookups. The host was going to oblige and fill our fresh tank, but I was nervous about it freezing up and opted not to, and instead drove to Concrete to by bottled water. I imagined upon leaving the park a solid block, followed by slow thaw, and eventually a large, heaving block of ice slamming into the side of the water tank on every turn on the way home. But I also wondered if the heat from the internal of the trailer would have been enough to keep it from freezing, but was scared to experiment. Would this have damaged anything I wonder?
I also though if I had our Buddy heater along, I could have run that a while on the tank to help things. Anyone tried that?

Thanks
Dave