Winter camping???

[jaxpoet]

Hi brand new to this forum this is my first post. My wife and I are getting ready to go full-time in our 2006 Keystone Montana Mountaineer. What do I need to know about camping in the winter? We will more than likely be staying in South West Florida near Tampa but could still run into some freezing temperatures. We won't be leaving Jacksonville until early in January so we could run into freezing temperatures here as well what do I need to do to ensure my pipes don't freeze Etc? Thanks for the responses in advance! Tim & Ro

[mlh]

Just heat your camper with your furnace. If temperatures are 30 or so don’t worry. In the low twenties keep that furnace running.
Lynwood

[DutchmenSport]

As stated above, keep the furnace running. The furnace needs to blow under the floor into the underbelly of the camper in order to keep the pipes from freezing. Also, if hooked up to city water, unhook your garden hose and drain it. First fill your fresh water tank and have it available. If water is in your garden hose, it will freeze up. So disconnect both ends and drain it.

Also, if you are connected to sewer service, you may want to make sure your sewer hose is empty, your valves are all closed on black and grey. Any water dripping into the sewer hose will eventually ice up, and it will not take very long for ice to begin to for and finally block your hose completely. So, make sure your dump valves are closed and the sewer hose is empty.

Do anything you can stop and prevent drafts. Open cabinet doors and make sure you don't feel drafts, or worse, see light coming in from outside. If there are gaps in the holes in the floor where pipes come through, get some foamy "Stuff" (foam sealer) and foam up those gaps. Also, check under the camper and pump that stuff into any hole you see.

This is only a start, but it's a start that will pay off big.

[AZ Traveler]

Tim,

After living a big part of my life in Jax you are going to be hard pressed to find much winter in FL. An occasional shot of furnace should be all you need.

[sourdough]

Agree with AZ Traveler; if you are going to the Tampa area you don't have to worry much about anything "cold" that would damage your trailer. I spend the winters in the panhandle and have never had any issue with cold weather. I carry a heated hose and deployed it once years ago, not since. If you're going to be in the Tampa area I would only worry about where to eat.

[mhs4771]

I hope you already have reservations in the Tampa area as many places are full with all the displaced folks from the Fort Myers area after Ian went thru.

[jaxpoet]

Originally Posted by mlh

Just heat your camper with your furnace. If temperatures are 30 or so don’t worry. In the low twenties keep that furnace running.
Lynwood

Thanks for the Response!

[RMcNeal]

I live in Jacksonville now and have had our rig for almost 4 years now. We camp year round, including several weeks in upstate WV where I am now for hunting season. I never bother winterizing but I do drain water heater and low point drains if the rig is going to be in storage.
I've lived in Florida most of my life and the last several years we really haven't had a winter. I wouldn't worry too much about the temps here.
I bought a thermometer on Amazon that has 3 wireless transmitters when I first got our rig. I put one in the "garage", which is in the bottom of the rear with a pull out tray, another in the "basement", the pass through up front under our bedroom, and the third goes outside. It's currently 10 degrees outside this morning, and the kitchen is 64, the garage is 49, and the basement is 47.
I'm using the fireplace and a stand up space heater in the kitchen. I will occasionally kick on the furnace in the morning to break the chill, but I haven't had any issues with freezing pipes. I run the tank heaters and fill my fresh tank for water using a 35 gallon bladder since the CG water is turned off in the winter.
I don't leave the water hose or the sewer hose hooked up at all. Use it, drain it and put it away.

[DQDick]

If you decide to go further north for any reason a heated water hose is a good idea, other than that, as the others have said use the furnace when the temps are 30 or below.