Winter camping

This is my first year with the Cyclone and plan on taking it hunting in late October. I was wondering if anyone has tips or tricks for camping in the winter with water...or do you just dry camp and haul it in jugs....I am planning on bringing jugs but would value your suggestions.

I've been using my Bighorn for hunting for 3 years now and have never had to add water. Where we go it gets down to freezing every night and never a problem. We used to take water jugs with us but they were never used. Hunt for 10 days shower only when the wife joins us at the end of the week. Used the water for teeth brushing and cooking and flushing. If you take jugs, put them under the 5th wheel and try to find a way to keep them from freezing. Good luck on the hunt.
My son calls it winter camping with guns and booze.

I use mine for hunting also, I don't know how much fresh water your rig holds. Mine hold 100 gls., I also run the hose through the waterheater for the extra 12 gls.. I hunt on the Georgia-Alabama State Line. I know the folks at the country store there, since i've hunting in GA for 15 yrs. So I just take a 150 qt. cooler, that i will use for the deer, and if i need water for showering, etc.. I just fill it up & use a 5ft. piece of hose that i use to siphon the water out of the cooler. How water depends on how many days, how many persons, if you take your wife or significant other (ladies pls don't get upset my wife likes long showers, no hunting trips for her). For storage put them under your rig like Big Al said. I think your underside should be heated, so get it close to the underside. Good luck on your hunt. I put 3 in the freezer as of this past sunday. Will return on mid Oct. for Black Powder.

Ivan

We going back up to MI at the end of the month and are planning on living in our Sundance. I've stayed in travel trailers hunting myself but always dry camped and used the campsites showers. This is not a hunting trip, I'll have the wife and dog.

Can I travel with water in my tank, lines and HW tank?

Can or will my heater work while traveling?

This is new territory for me as well.

Hastey, yes you can travel with water in your fresh water tank, lines & water heater. I usually travel with 112gls. for over 800 miles to my hunting lease in GA. There are no camp showers, just the water you bring with you & your shower. I hate hauling all that water because you will be hauling maximum weight from point A to B. Not to mention another 54gls. of fuel for genset & toys. Yes, you can use your water heater while you travel. You can either use your genset to use your 110 or use your propane. If I take the family (wife & daughter) i will take an extra 150qt. cooler to use if i need to get more water & a 5ft. hose I have set up just to siphon the water out & into the water tank. My wife & daughter don't understand what a Combat Shower is.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to the trip.

A question on cold weather camping. Has anyone done any sort of heat tracing on the exposed sections of drain lines? How about any heat for the fresh water connections? Just looking at some thoughts about getting more time using the camper and we are considering going south some for a couple months (Jan - Mar). Not so far that some cooler days will still could pose a possible issue.

We camp year round and have camped when the temp is 12 degrees. We don't use any heat tape but use the internal tank at that temp. Be sure to run the furnace as that heat the underbelly. We do have the heated underbelly but do not have heating pads on the tanks nor do we have heat tape on the water lines. Turn off the city water below freezing and drain the water hose. Nothing like waking up to fresh snow on the ground in the morning when you are camping. BRRRRR

Will the furnace stay lit and run on 12 volt while towing?

yes it should although I have never done it I have talked to those that have.

We do it all the time while traveling south, when we stop we usualy shut it down to keep the batteries loaded for the night, never know when it will get cold again during the night.
So when we stop the batteries have been charging during the trip and its nice and warm.
When parked for a while make sure you run the genny often because that large furnace realy takes the batteries down fast.

In addition I have installed a digital thermostat and its so accurate that the furnace starts and stop more often, and the fan has to run over an extra minute to cool the furnace down.
So we have to leave it on manual when we dry camp.

caissiel said:

We do it all the time while traveling south, when we stop we usualy shut it down to keep the batteries loaded for the night, never know when it will get cold again during the night.
So when we stop the batteries have been charging during the trip and its nice and warm.
When parked for a while make sure you run the genny often because that large furnace realy takes the batteries down fast.

In addition I have installed a digital thermostat and its so accurate that the furnace starts and stop more often, and the fan has to run over an extra minute to cool the furnace down.
So we have to leave it on manual when we dry camp.

Click to expand...

Did you buy a RV T-stat or Hunter or Honeywell that you can buy at Lowe's, Wally World, Etc. My way of thinking is that they should work but I'm not sure.

The heater will stay stay light while driving, however it consumes a lot of propane while driving... our experience. We travel cross-country each Christmas and regularly stay/drive in temperatures below 0, however at around 4-6 degrees the freshwater line froze while driving with the furnace running. We have since install 12 volt tank and line heaters which work great. Also, the TCO is better than using your propane. We now travel without the furnace and utilize the 2 12 volt optima batteries for the tank heaters without any issues.

Previous post on tank heater installation:
//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/20316-2010-Cyclone-Prepped-for-Winter?highlight=

I am as we speak---loading our Elkridge for a 10 day elk hunt in Western Montana, this is the first hunting trip with the Elkridge. We alway used our water tanks in our Nash with no problem and temps would get pretty chilly some years. I can recommend putting a little salt down your drains every day or so. It always kept our gray and black tanks from freezing up. I have a gallon jug that i fill with canning salt, by the end of week, would be almost empty. At night we would leave the lower cabinet doors open a tad, I did have one problem with the bathroom sink water, if it was going to freeze, it was there, I carry a little 6 inch fan and just turn the generator on and blow some air towards the pipes and 20 minutes or so I would have water. I sure hope our Elkridge is as good a hunting rig as our Nash was. I was almost sorry to see our Nash go, even if we only used it at hunting camp. But now with the slide its like how did we cram so many in that little tiny camper!! Make sure you have a couple of batteries and a genny, cuz the heater sure sucks the juice!!