Winter campers thread (1 Viewer)

[Wildbill]

This is one for all us hardy winter campers none of this namby-pamby putting the van away for the winter stuff her just your winter time tales and ideas where you have been to watt went wrong frozen pipes to frozen toes we want to know before the winter comes

 

[Armytwowheels]

Hi Bill. Have you got your new van now?

We lost two taps in the van last winter, due to not draining them down properly. Won't be making that mistake again!

 

[bungy]

Hi Bill. Have you got your new van now?

We lost two taps in the van last winter, due to not draining them down properly. Won't be making that mistake again!

crikey - is your van a tardis? did you find them again??????

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[Armytwowheels]

Ha ha very funny! Yes we found them again at the cost of £35 a tap

 

[Wildbill]

Hi Bill. Have you got your new van now?

We lost two taps in the van last winter, due to not draining them down properly. Won't be making that mistake again!

got it home yeserday just fixing sum of the bit's but was sleeping in it last night LOL

 

[thehutchies]

Perfect weather! :thumb:

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[Ed Excel]

Driving through France, in January, it got down to -15C during the day! Had to pour warm water on the fuel lines, to get the van started one morning, and we lost water supply in the van. The water pump froze solid and died. Spain by ferry in the winter from now on!

 

[Wildbill]

Driving through France, in January, it got down to -15C during the day! Had to pour warm water on the fuel lines, to get the van started one morning, and we lost water supply in the van. The water pump froze solid and died. Spain by ferry in the winter from now on!

Well that watt this thread is all about how to avoid this sort of thing
:thumb:

 

[Wildbill]

Perfect weather! :thumb:

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now thare not namby pamby motorhomers true winter campers

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[jonandshell]

Proper Winter Camping!!!!:thumb:

And to prove where there's a Funster, there's a party, there's Bruno (Champer's and Sherriff's Frankia) in shot too!
Ash and Lynn's Bessy and Pete and Sal's Dethleffs is in the background!

There's a wealth of info on Haganap's blog about winter van preparation.

We have a French van built for the conditions, but after 10 days of temperatures no warmer than -5, dropping to -20 odd at night, we but 2 burst water hoses due to the heater trunking melting them! Those heater ducts were HOT!!!!

The hoses are clamped out of contact with the ducting now. Chausson, in common with other some continental manufacturers, follow all the water piping with heater ducting to avoid freezing.

Just to make us all double-hard, there's no hookup at Val Thorens!!

 

[jonandshell]

Back to the subject of preparation though, the first thing you need in your winter arsenal is a bucket to go under your waste drain!:thumb:

 

[FULL TIMER]

Best preparation is to be using it , when I built ours all water tanks plumbing etc all positioned on inside of vehicle, waste tank is in an outside locker with only the outlet tap poking out, tap left open all the time, I think over the last six winters in caravan and motorhome we have been more prepared than any of the sites we stayed on, one year I had to totally re plumb a toilet /shower block for the owner when most of the pipework burst, no heating or insulation didn't help matters, all ways have a blowtorch handy to thaw out campsite taps etc

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[Wildbill]

Back to the subject of preparation though, the first thing you need in your winter arsenal is a bucket to go under your waste drain!:thumb:

Winter camper’s arsenal
1 bucket
2 blow torch
3 duct tape
4 plastic sheets
5 Candles
6 snow shovel
7 matches or lighters
8 extra leisure battery

 

[Chris]

I really like using the motorhome in the Winter.

Not tried the new van in the winter yet - but I will be - starting with France over New Year:thumb:

 

[cmcardle75]

I really like using the motorhome in the Winter.

Not tried the new van in the winter yet - but I will be - starting with France over New Year:thumb:

Tempted to give it a go. In the UK, too. However, I suspect I'll need to fit a battery charger to old 1978 110V one gave up the ghost and I haven't bothered buying a new 230V one as the solar seems to have me fully charged by 9:30. OTOH, I'll probably last a weekend anyway with a 180Ah battery, a tiny bit of solar and not watching much TV.

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[Wildbill]

Tempted to give it a go. In the UK, too. However, I suspect I'll need to fit a battery charger to old 1978 110V one gave up the ghost and I haven't bothered buying a new 230V one as the solar seems to have me fully charged by 9:30. OTOH, I'll probably last a weekend anyway with a 180Ah battery, a tiny bit of solar and not watching much TV.

just fit extra battery and that will do you i only had three lesuer batterys at utoxeter heeting 24/7 and lasted right over the utoxeter meet no problem:thumb:

 

[cmcardle75]

just fit extra battery and that will do you i only had three lesuer batterys at utoxeter heeting 24/7 and lasted right over the utoxeter meet no problem:thumb:

I suspect a single battery will be enough. Only light, water pump and AV are on 12V. Space heating, water heating and fridge can run with no electrical power at all. (Fridge needs 12V to light initially).

 

[Campercaillie]

Ideally placed for winter touring up here in the Highlands, but the one thing that stops me, (apart from temperatures of minus 20!!) and that is the copious amounts of salt that are put on the roads during the winter months. My van will be tucked up.

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[Wildbill]

I suspect a single battery will be enough. Only light, water pump and AV are on 12V. Space heating, water heating and fridge can run with no electrical power at all. (Fridge needs 12V to light initially).

it may get cold arownd feet but think you will be ok in winter in uk :thumb:without blown air heting warm socks will do the job you gas may frezz on colder days

 

[Ridgeway]

May join this elite camping crew this winter. Been looking for some 2nd hand winter tyres locally, not found any yet but will keep looking.

Blow torch what for ?

 

[Wildbill]

May join this elite camping crew this winter. Been looking for some 2nd hand winter tyres locally, not found any yet but will keep looking.

Blow torch what for ?

Defrosting your beer

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[joner8888]

I like going off in the winter-- the expensive summer sites charge £5 so as to get you in to use the facilities.

On to a hook up ,-5 outside ,bar /restaurant open next door and MH +20 degrees inside on the hot air blower :thumb:

It`s the 50 yard run outside in -5 that's a pain when full of beer

 

[JJ]

Move down to the Algarve for the winter...

Freezing problems disappear...

JJ :Cool:

 

[Armytwowheels]

Winter camper’s arsenal
1 bucket
2 blow torch
3 duct tape
[HI] 4 plastic sheets[/HI]
5 Candles
6 snow shovel
7 matches or lighters
8 extra leisure battery

Plastic sheets? Is that for when you've had too much beer?

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[Peter & Elaine]

We survived newark this year so we must be ether lucky or stupid
Maybe both

 

[Wildbill]

Plastic sheets? Is that for when you've had too much beer?

cuver the soler when it snows so you dont scrach it scraping snow off just lift off the sheet and as matress protection for weet beads when drunk

 

[milpol1]

Off to southern spain on 15th december, first time, going through France and portugal.

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[jonandshell]

Skiing for us this winter will be February!

Can't wait!!:coolthumb:

We are planning a couple of days at Les Rousses on Mt Jura and then the Funster's favourite of 6 days in Val Thorens, just to test the winterisation a tadge!

 

[jonandshell]

Interesting that the subject of winter tyres has come up.

We are now on M+s tyres. The extra traction will be welcome on the slippery mountain roads. We aren't worried about the faster wear, we travel far more miles in the winter and they will perish before they wear out!

We carry chains as required by law in France, they have been out a couple of times in the Alps. The RWD Transit seems to have very good traction, I think they would have seen more use if we were FWD.

On the subject of batteries, although we have a large traction bank, I think the biggest consideration is your ability to quickly charge your battery, rather than its outright size. Two of our batteries froze last year, being mounted low in the garage. We were down to only one 115 Ah under the passenger seat. A half hour run of the engine was all that was required to recharge due to the Sterling Alternator to Battery charger that we have fitted.
I am not sure solar alone would be adequate for the job with the low sun and short days of winter.
Remember that a generator's ability to recharge your leisure battery is dictated by the output of your on-board charger, not the output of the genny!! The biggest genny in the world won't do any better than an Aldi 800W job if you only have a 16 Amp onboard charger. Chargers are upgradeable and and will speed up your battery charging, allowing us Sterling users a peaceful evening in!

 

[lorger]

We use our van all year, although this will be first full winter in new van as only got it in Febuary.

Our old van was an Elddis which was a great wee van but very little insulation, even so we used it in temps as low as -15 even had a BBQ at Hogmanay when it was -9. We did as a few have said left drain tank open with bucket under also used a 25 L container for water and kept it in van next to heater to prevent frozen pipes.

New van has better insulation and blow air heating so nice and cosy, after we purchased it we headed off to Glencoe for a weekend of sking and it was -20 outside while we sat inside in tee shirts and shorts also had to turn heater off during the night as it got to warm.

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