Winter camping in my new 2005 Tran-Sport T-2675

[happy cynic]

So, I am moving to northern Washington state in June and will be living in my camper on my land while I build my cabin. I may or may not get everything built before the snow flies, so I may have to camp through the winter.

What do you suggest I do to best insulate my camper? I have considered spray foam insulation on the bottom, along with skirting and wrapping any exposed pipes, but what else? What am I not considering?

Also would love to hear from anyone who has spent a cold winter in a Sunline!

 

[JohnGB]

We winter camp, however this is not for weeks on end.

The windows, we added the shrink wrap on the inside. It fits nicely in the 1/2" window frame area. That helps keep the condensation down and the heat in.

If yours has an outside shower, I would unhook the feed pipes inside and insulate the compartment.

I'm assuming your camper does not have enclosed tanks. Our does. You will need to skirt the bottom for sure and maybe have some level of supplemental heat to keep it above freezing.

Your going to need a dehumidifier. The moisture inside this small space needs to be controlled or you will have very wet walls which is not good for the camper. We do vent the camper by opening one roof vent about 1" up and we use a dehumidifier. Also vent when cooking and showering.

This link will take you to my Flicker account with some pics of the winter upgrades.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/camper-johnb/albums/72157690011234691

Create foam or other insulation for the roof vents. We used 2" cushion foam

Like this one

And one for the shower dome

1/8" shock cord

Your going to burn a lot of propane. Using a ceramic or oil filled electric heater can help.

How cold and for how long will it stay that cold during the day?

We have camped dry down around 10F at night. Wet the lowest I tested was 19F at night and my tank compartment was still at 45F. However during day it did go above freezing. Being in non stop below freezing for weeks on end we have not done in the camper.

Hope this helps

John

 

[mainah-SUN]

Know a guy in Maine that lives year round in a camper it's completely surrounded with hay bales and he has two 100# propane tanks and two spears! We went through a couple of weeks this year with -25* weather.

 

[happy cynic]

Thanks, John! So much useful information there! I have a skirt guy coming next week. I have two 30-gallon propane tanks and was also thinking about adding solar. I also have a small plug-in radiator heater--do you think that would draw too much power? I will look into the dehumidifier--usually we are TRYING to add humidity to this Colorado weather!

 

[happy cynic]

Mainah (love this name, btw!), does he use the hay bales to keep the heat in? Interesting.

 

[happy cynic]

Also, have any of you ever done spray foam insulation under your campers? Just wondering if that is an option.

 

[ROC-REQS]

You may want to check out this TrailerLife article Braving the Yukon. It may give you some ideas.

I agree with mainah with placing hay bales around the trailer to block air flow under the trailer. You could also put some lights under the trailer to help heat the area under the trailer.

Hope this is of some help and good luck.

 

[happy cynic]

Thanks, PTHutch! Hay bales are cheap and also a good way to keep my little dog from wandering. And lights do sound better than trying to put a heat source down there.

I plan to skirt it with insulating foam board. Hopefully that will keep the critters out.

 

[enormiss]

That braving the yukon was a good read, just wish it had specifics on the electric heaters and the trailer. I laughed at his goal of 5gal propane per month but it did use less than I would have expected...

 

[happy cynic]

And I'm pretty sure this Yukon dude is Bob Saget.

 

[JohnGB]

Thanks, John! So much useful information there! I have a skirt guy coming next week. I have two 30-gallon propane tanks and was also thinking about adding solar. I also have a small plug-in radiator heater--do you think that would draw too much power? I will look into the dehumidifier--usually we are TRYING to add humidity to this Colorado weather!

OK, I need to ask, will the camper be plugged into 120 VAC power, 30 amps with the ability to add a second 20 amp 120 VAC line?

If you have no 120 VAC and are trying to run the camper off of a winter solar system, that adds another dimension to this.

The camper furnace uses a lot of 12 volt DC power when only running on battery. And to run a 1500 watt 120 VAC heater of any kind along with a dehumidifier off of a battery and inverter even uses more power then the furnace.

Hopefully you will come back with you have 120 VAC available and how many amps?

Let us know, trying to help here. Also need to think through, what happens when the power goes out? What back up plan is their for heat?

Hope this helps

John

 

[mainah-SUN]

You may want to check out this TrailerLife article Braving the Yukon. It may give you some ideas.

I agree with mainah with placing hay bales around the trailer to block air flow under the trailer. You could also put some lights under the trailer to help heat the area under the trailer.

Hope this is of some help and good luck.

Oh this dude had them right up to the roof and left the snow on the roof till spring I think he had one window and the vent for the heater that had no hay bales. Like said we had a good two weeks the temp did not go above zero and was -25 at night. Saw another one (5th wheel) in NH) with a good size wood stove shoot it was bad enough keeping my modern house warm! I have no idea how these guys dealt with plumbing, bring water in isn't a problem getting rid of it is. The guy with the hay bales was at a campground and I believe the owners lived there hope they were good friends.

 

[happy cynic]

Well the Sunline deal fell through and I ended up buying a 2004 Fleetwood Terry instead, so I'm sorry I will not get to be a part of this lovely forum and you very kind and knowledgeable folks. But thanks for all the great information about winter camping. I have a lot to learn!

 

[JohnGB]

Glad you found a good camper. Congrats on your new camper!

No need to leave the group, we have many active members who had Sunlines and now have other brands. Or folks looking for a Sunline or tried to have a Sunline. All are welcome.

While we may not be as close to your Terry camper, we can still help and learn with you.

Point: Don't be a stranger and come join us at the cyber campfire. I'll bring the marshmallows!

Good luck with your adventure.

John

 

[Sunline Fan]

Too bad your deal with the Sunline didn't work out, things definitely didn't work out for the new owner. Hope they survived it all. Just ran across the coach here:

https://www.iaai.com/Vehicle?itemID=28123685&RowNumber=0&loadRecent=True

 

[JohnGB]

Wow....

A for sure unknown, was there and accident and then some place crush the camper flat to transport to the salvage yard.

All that damage from a roll over and not much frame damage does not add up.

Yes, for sure hope everyone was OK.

 

[mainah-SUN]

Well at least they had a trailer to haul the remains home.