Wintering in a Holiday Rambler?

[RV_Dawn]

We just bought a well maintained 1995 Holiday Rambler Imperial motorhome, which we plan to use full time starting in the spring. In the meantime, hubby and I are looking for temporary employment for the winter months and are considering Amazon in Kentucky, where we would get a company paid campsite with utilities.

Based on what I've read, some RVs are more suited to being lived in in a cold climate than others, based on how they're built and how much insulation they have and probably other factors as well. Our HR looks a lot more solid than the other RVs we looked at prior to finding ours, so we're hoping we'll fare okay. Are the HRs built to withstand the cold? Anybody have any experience spending winter in a HR motorhome in a cold climate?

[pasdad1]

Since electric will be provided (free).... You should get a couple of 1500 watt heaters ( I like the oil filled radiator type, or the fake fireplace type).

Using the electric as much as possible means you don't use up your propane supply as quickly.

Also get a couple of trouble lights with 100watt bulbs for the basement (or another small ceramic heater that could be turned to 750 watts. This will heat the area where your tanks are.

[BVThunder]

Will the campground water system still be on? That would be a deal breaker. If it is, you will need a heated water hose. You may need heat tape to wrap the faucet.

Get a couple of heavy gauge extension cords because you will need to run some of you heat tape and heaters using the additional outlets in the campground power pedestal.

They are very expensive it you buy ready made. You can make your own. As mentioned, you will need to make sure that your wet bay is heated. My unit has a built in ceramic heater. I supplement that by draping about 2' of heat tape around the compartment that is part of my heated water hose. I've camped well down into the teens with no issues. But you are possibly looking temps around zero.

You will need to make sure you a good slope on the sewer line. You will probably need to run the water at night when it is really cold to make sure that you don't freeze up. You will build up some ice in the line but not enough to block it before morning.

Some nights/day you may just have to give it up and drain the water hose. Some units have enough heating capacity to keep on board fresh water tank from freezing. If your unit does and you can supplement the tank heaters, you can fill tank when possible and use on board water. But think ahead about being without campground water for a week at a time or more if it really gets cold.

[nothermark]

FWIW get some heat tape and pipe insulation for your fresh water hose and you will not need to worry about the hose freezing.

When we are out in weather than drops below freezing we run self contained. All the plumbing except the waste tanks are inside the heated envelope. Waste tanks have heaters and can stand some freezing if they are not full. If I was planning on parking long term I would figure out how to add some tank insulation. Styrofoam and hot glue and/or fiberglass and duck tape. As long as it stays warmer than freezing most days one can dump and fill as needed without a problem. Don't leave the dump valves open unless you want to deal with a pyramid of poo.

While I think about it I would also invest in a short roll of reflectix and use it to insulate as much glass as possible. A second temporary insulated curtain accross the front or front window area will also cut a lot of heat loss. Ditto vent cushions.

[jacwjames]

I camped in Northern Michigan in Mar & April a couple years ago, got down in the low teens, which is about you should expect in KY. Prior to driving from TN to MI I took the time to spray & seal the box ends of my chassis as best I could which prevented heat loss in the basement.

The RV was only hooked to a 20 amp circuit so I had to use power sparingly.

I did not leave my propane furnace on as I didn't want to run out of propane, I did use it occasionally when I was at home to take the chill out of the air.

I bought a couple thermostat plugs that kick on at 38 degrees. I used these in the basement to control a ceramic heater and a couple of 100 watt bulbs. I ran a separate extension cord into the basement to run these.

In the living room area I ran a radiant heater. I left all the sink doors open to make sure heat got in. At night the coach would get down ~40 F, I slept under heavy blankets and was comfortable.

I insulated my Koolmatic fan to prevent heat loss. I also bought a insulating pillow for the Fantastic fan in the bathroom.

At times I had to go out of town so I would bring my slides in.

I did not have water or sewer hooked up, it wasn't available, but instead used the shower house. I used my 100 gallon fresh water sparingly. I boondocked like this for ~6 weeks.

I bought a remote temperature gauge that I put in the basement to confirm that the heaters were working,

Good Luck

[fastcat]

Does it have a slide? My 07 Endeavor has four and LOTS of cold air will come in if the wind blows much. I'd go to extremes to sel it up as well as possible.

[nothermark]

If you have an outside shower you need to look at it also. There is no insulation in the normal setup. An inch or two of styrofoam under the cover and around the valves helps a lot. Let the hose hang down to drain then stuff as much as possible into the MH hole. If the head comes of store it inside.

[RV_Dawn]

Thanks for all the excellent advice. Fortunately (depending on how you look at it), we don't have any slides to worry about so that should make keeping warm a little bit easier. Being newbies, I'm thinking it might be easier this time to empty and winterize the tanks and just dry camp. I believe there will be a shower house available. It won't be an ideal situation, but it sounds like there is a lot to do to make sure things don't freeze and bust, and that's one mess I don't want to have to clean up. For sure we'll have to give this some more thought and get very organized if we decide to try to keep the water flowing.