Community Forums

Island Ranger · 10-05-2018, 05:36 PM

We are planning on leaving the Pacific Northwest in mid-December and travel/camping down I-5 (weather permitting) to NorCal and beyond. When camping and traveling in cold temperatures say 10F or low 20F's what precautions should a person take? Travel with furnace on? Water and holding tank system precautions? I didn't see anything in the owners manual.

seaeagle2 · 10-05-2018, 08:24 PM

You might want to think about cutting over to the coast and avoiding the syskayous

Rickeoni · 10-05-2018, 10:06 PM

Do you have the freshwater heating pad?

ModestMonk · 10-05-2018, 10:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seaeagle2

You might want to think about cutting over to the
coast and avoiding the syskayous

Say what?

Island Ranger · 10-06-2018, 07:41 AM

Yes we have the 12 V water tank heating pad.

Island Ranger · 10-06-2018, 07:48 AM

I thought about going Hwy 101 but only if we encounter snow on I-5. I figure the temperatures can still go below freezing before we get out to the coast. I know we could winterize and "dry camp" or stay in motels but since the trailers are supposed to be good in cold weather I though we might be able to camp enroute and stay put if we encounter snow.

Rickeoni · 10-06-2018, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Island Range

Yes we have the 12 V water tank heating pad.

Use that while travelling, the basement is heated by the furnace when camped. You should have no issues doing this.

ktn1966 · 10-06-2018, 08:56 AM

No issues at all, I have stayed in my 280RKS in 12* cold for weeks. If you are rally worried just travel with the heat pad on, no need for furnace, although I have accidentally left mine on while traveling, do not approve since the vents are under the slide when in.

1bigmess · 10-06-2018, 10:00 AM

Where do you think along I-5 your gonna run into such unusually cold temperatures? If you're talking about the same I-5 I've lived within a few minutes of for my entire life and traveled on for nearly the same amount of time, it virtually never gets that cold.

Searching_Ut · 10-06-2018, 11:18 AM

We’ve done the sub freezing travel quite often. Most of the rigs we owned were set up for pretty cold temps when in use, it was just when the freezer is off we had to worry. Never had issues with the tanks as they take a fair bit of time to freeze. What you have to watch is to not subject the smaller lines to well below freezing for more than a couple hours, time varying depending on how cold. Even with the wind etc. from towing we always got away with 4 or 6 hours on the road no issues. For longer periods I would blow out the lines, but never worried about the tanks, water heater or traps unless we were talking a day or more.

Lac · 10-07-2018, 12:14 PM

Plan for the worst and hope for the best. Weather is unpredictable. For the time and effort and cost to winterized and de winterize....I would winterize from Vancouver Island and dry camp if going down I 5 until the weather warms up the then de-winterize
Use campground facilities toilets and showers and use the trailer to sleep in only..or better yet hotel or motel it.

Most important....Have good winter tires not M&S. Carry chains for tow vehicle. Some places it’s the law. Stop if the weather is iffy get a hotel.

We left Kamloops beginning of Jan. 2017. South from Osoyoos BC. Coquihalla was closed. Ran into heavy snow on the roads from Osoyoos to Portland. At that point I really didn’t care if my trailer was 4 season or not. I knew the trailer was winterized with antifreeze and the pipes would not freeze... if I got snowed in and had to hotel it.
We now leave to go south beginning of November...still carry trailer antifreeze.

Winter Highway travel is unpredictable at the best of time...add towing a trailer and it makes it a little more interesting.

IMHO.. winterize before you leave...your traveling not stopping to camp for periods of time and more importantly one less thing to worry about...

Picture is Richland Washington...Jan 2017...didn’t put slide out as the rubber bulb slide seals were frozen hard and frozen to the side and didn’t want to rip or tear them when opening.

Coops

Super Thirty · 10-07-2018, 01:59 PM

Lac you answered a couple of questions for me but I was wondering if you do anything to help keep road salt out of the tough to wash locations?

Super Thirty · 10-07-2018, 02:00 PM

On your rig of course! I could just hear the keys starting leaving myself wide open like that. Jeesh

IdahoBob · 10-07-2018, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seaeagle2

You might want to think about cutting over to the coast and avoiding the syskayous

X2

That is what we do every January, now! We started that plan after having to spend 3 full days at a Yreka, CA campground while we waited for the "chains required" restriction on I-5 to be removed between Yreka and points south.

Ice on the roads is always my biggest concern. When you encounter those situations, you may have to continue on for many white knuckle miles before finding a suitable stopping point.

In our experience, the heat provided by the furnace or a 1500 electric heater for our personal comfort (when not driving) has always been good enough to keep the water system from freezing. Keeping cabinet doors open helps to keep the water lines warm. We did freeze a hot water line while driving in -0 to -10F weather one year. It thawed in an hour or so after were set up for the night.

The Siskious can be nasty even if the temps are not much below zero F.

Bob