Tips on being ready to go during winter?

[ShinySideUp]

Does anybody have any advise, comments or suggestions on the subject of leaving a winter environment mid-winter?

This is our 1st winter to RV In SW States. DH retires Dec 29th. We would like to leave Jan 3-5, 2018. Specifically I'm wondering how to keep the jacks and tires from a full on frozen winter burying and/or becoming frozen to the ground. The only thing I've thought of is to put the jacks down on some extra jack pads and dig out the tires and underneath it after every snow. ???

We opted not to build storage for it because this will be the only time we'll leave this late. I'm not talking about the winterization of the RV. Thanks for any help out there!

[saddlesore]

Old (really Old) trucker trick is to fold over several layers of heavy cardboard for each tire to sit on.. even if the tires do try to "freeze down" the cardboard will "give" first

[Smitty77]

While maybe not ideal, could you relocate the rig relatively close without winter impact? Then go back and get it to load up in December!

I'm from San Diego, so know very little about long term storage in winter impacted areas... But while camping in up to -6 degrees temps, we make it a point to 'cycle' all systems on a regular basis. We have air leveling, so jacks are not a concern for us. But while you are in the holding pattern, could you reduce the concern of jacks being a concern, by just leveling with blocks of wood (Or as above, with cardboard on top?). I can't imagine a few months of the RV sitting on the tires only (If properly aired.) would be a problem(?). Thousands of coaches don't have any form of leveling!

And of course, you should know the normal steps of keeping the temperatures up. Plug into power to maintain battery levels, run heaters and keep tank heaters zones on, etc. I believe I read in the past to be on top of potential moisture builds ups in cold seasons too(?). Heaters on will help some, a crack of the roof vents (If covered and protected from snow/rain on top.), and I believe even dehumidifiers were used by some(?).

I will follow this thread to learn too!

Best of luck to you, and have fun when you do head out!
Smitty

[0rion]

Boards and leveling blocks will sink a little and freeze to the ground so keep that in mind. I've had to chisel a few out over the years. When the ground is like concrete that's not fun at all.

[ShinySideUp]

Thank you for your responses thus far!

I think we should winterize it and then unwinterize it once we are south. It just seems to make less hassle worrying about freezing things up, etc...
DH was thinking about leaving it going and running the furnace etc until we leave in January. The 5er has the "4 seasons" pkg. ??? Any thoughts?

For tires, I think we should put down wood, top with thick layer of cardboard so that we don't care if it freezes. We can rescue it when we get back in the spring or our son can rescue the stuff if there's a thaw. For the jacks, put down wood there also with cardboard on top. Any better thoughts out there?

[nothermark]

Winterize it. A lot cheaper than trying to keep all the plumbing warm. It's not that hard. When de winterizing also sanitize with bleach. It cleans out the antifreeze residual.

I would be inclined to schedule a short day or rest day when I expected to hit weather that stayed above freezing. Time to unpack, maybe start to de winterize and make a list of whatever you need to pick up on the way to your winter destination. At that point you can get the furnace going to be comfortable while working inside.

[buzz57]

Interesting topic. I did that last winter. In my storage location it was flat and open so I did not think I would have issues.WRONG! We had a thaw in January, my tires sank about 4 inches into the grass then refroze by the time we wanted to leave. This year we're planning to leave in January again and I will be jacking up with the hydraulic Jacks and Stacking boards under all the tires. I figured inches should do it. Then let down onto the planks. My Jacks are slow to retract in warm weather so I'm definitely not leaving them down in winter.
Cardboard is very slippery so I'm not sure if I would use that as yes it'll let go but it can cause loss of traction.
Good luck and safe travels!