Boondocking in mountains in December?

[leadman]

I have an elk hunt here in Arizona in December in the mountains. Weather could be mild or very cold with no snow or lots of snow. I have a 1999 Winnebago Adventurer basement model and have not taken it out in cold weather yet. I did take my older '88 Itasca out in winter but the fresh water tank was inside the coach.
The '99 has all of the water tanks in between the upper and lower floor which is unheated except for the rear heater that works off the engine coolant. Then it is only about a 2" tube thru the upper floor.
Does anyone have any experience with boondocking in possible freezing weather with a basement model class A?
I was thinking of using a hole saw down thru the inside register vent holes to put some heat into the basement for this trip. Could be plugged up latter.
What are your thoughts on this?

[jacwjames]

What type of heating system to you have. If it is a propane furnace I would be surprised if it didn't have a duct going to the basement.

I actually moved to Northern Michigan in late March, lots of snow on the ground and down into the teens at night.

I spent some time before going trying to seal the basement to prevent heat loss, I used the weather sealing foam in the front and back where there were lots of holes.

I bought a couple of remote temp monitors so I could monitor the water tank bay and the basement compartment. I could confirm I was keeping temps above freezing.

I did have access to electric (you could use your generator) and ran an electric cube heater in the basement, I used a thermostatically controlled plug that would turn the heater off and on.

[Dennis123]

I think that I would contact the manufacturer and ask them their thoughts. I'm sure that they have been ask the same question.

[Gary RVRoamer]

If the temps are around 30-32, the tanks will be fine if the RV interior is heated to even minimal human comfort standards. If the temps drop to 25 or less for several hours, the fresh tank can freeze (you can put RV antifreeze in the waste tanks).


jacwjames gave sound advice.

[leadman]

I have a Suburban propane heater with floor vents down the center of the interior floor. There is no heat to the tank areas from this.
I think I will cut some holes in the bottom of the duct thru the existing register holes. I can block them off later when not needed.
We will be away from the MH most of the time during the day for about a week so do not like the idea of the generator running while we are hunting in the area.
In case it gets too cold I'll plan ahead with a mobile home park in a nearby town to hook up to at least electric. Then I can put a small electric heater in the basement.

[koda59]

Something else to consider is how much propane does you tank hold. We spend 2 weeks in Northeast Pa from Thanksgiving till mid December and the temps get down into the single digits.
Ours tank is 35 gallons and it only last about 5 days. We take along three 20 pound tanks that we use to supplement the RV tank. Our front gas heater has a hole cut below it so heat goes down into the tanks area. Ours also has an electric heater that is temp controlled and heats the bay if it gets to cols.

[leadman]

The original propane tank was huge, think it was a 100 pounds tank. It was positioned behind the right side rear dual tires and the previous owners did not replace the missing mudflap. It was extremely dinged and rusty. I replaced it with a new 12 gallon due to cost at the time. I normally can boondock for 3 or 4 weeks when the temperature is mild. I did just install an Extend A Stay kit and have 2 extra barbeque tanks and my sons will bring along a couple extras each. We are going to be about 40 minutes away from where we can get them refilled if needed.
I may install a bracket to hold one spare barbeque type tank for any future extended trips we may take.