When you think of RV living in the winter…don’t you imagine snowbirds traveling south in the winter for a mild weather RV living?
Well, that’s not us – we do things a little differently than the norm – just ask our family!
We found the option to live in an RV full time on the banks of the Missouri River where we are currently serving as hosts at a private camp and preparing for our third year of winter camping in Missouri where the weather can be mild one day and brutal the next.
A lot of people think we’re crazy… crazy for this full-time RV lifestyle, but it’s even crazier to spend the winter in Missouri when we’re in Arizona, Florida, or Texas where the winters are warm and sunny.
Well – we used to raise eyebrows!
We had these same destinations in mind until we hired a camp owner to operate year-round and fell in love with the beautiful setting on the banks of the Missouri River.
We decided that winter camping in the cold and snow would be a new experience to add to our full-time adventure living trips.
Perhaps the challenge was figuring out how to comfortably survive winter, or perhaps the universe was telling us it was time to change our perception of winter.
(We complain a lot about the snow and cold).
In fact, it was both!
Little did we realize that our first experience of living in winter would happen during Blizzard 2011!
Little did we realize just how tried and tested our perspective was when total snowfall for the winter set a new record for our region…43 inches to be exact!
Our preparations for the RV surviving winter weather were valuable survival lessons. Our only winter preparations prior to this were keeping a snow shovel and snowmelt on hand at the front door.
We’ve spent hours Googling tips from other RVers. It took some searching to find the correct information because most tips for winterizing an RV focused on preparing the RV for winter storage—not an RV in the winter.
We’ve made countless trips to Lowes, Westlakes and Bass Pro asking for help with our winter living RV project. (Again, raised eyebrows from the clerks who tried to help us!)
The most valuable resource of all is found at a local mobile home resource. There were answers to all of our questions by knowledgeable people who know the HOW, WHAT, WHERE and WHY to protect our RV’s for RVs that live through the winter. Their solutions were practical and simple…they were incredibly excited to help a crazy couple with an RV idea who are living in the winter weather!
For starters, all the tubes I could reach inside and out were wrapped in tubes of foam insulation. Empty spaces around pipes and storage tanks were filled with insulation. The interior roof vents were covered in plastic to help keep cold air out. It’s easy to do – tasks familiar to any homeowner… and especially necessary for RV living in areas where extreme cold, snow and ice have been attacking you for months.
I’ve read many suggestions about covering the windows as well to keep out the cold, but I couldn’t stop myself from blocking my view, especially since I could look out my window and watch the river – it’s my saving grace while I’m hiding inside while the snow blows and temperatures drop.
This kind of outlook is what makes RV life worthwhile.
We soon learned that for an RV that survives in winter weather, it was essential to protect the water supply and sewer hose from freezing temperatures. With the help of the staff at the motorhome store, we fashioned a water hose from a small plastic tube with connections for our camper and camper water pump. This tube was wrapped with electrical thermal tape, and then rolled into a foam insulation tube.
Our flexible sewer hose has been inserted into a larger PVC tube for added insulation. It took a few adjustments to find the right tube elbows, but we did it! Now the outside hoses are protected and we have a protected water supply for RV living’s first experience with winter camping!
These fixes worked great to protect our water supply and sewer hose; But, when we unpacked everything for a road trip, we soon realized how “delicate” our parking had to be when we got home. It took several attempts to back up – pulling a little closer – backing up – pulling to the right a bit more – nope – angled more to the left… over and over until the tubes lined up right to reconnect.
Normally, no big deal to do this – but it was cold that day. Just another part of the process of learning the art of RV living in winter weather.
When we started our second season of RV living in the Missouri winter, we looked for other solutions that would help us easily and quickly reconnect our hoses. We had to find more flexibility.
Google search popped up again as we looked for more ways to survive the winter weather. The following winter, our hose was wrapped in heavy-duty aluminum foil, followed by heat tape, followed by foam tube wrapping. We also purchased a heavy-duty sewer hose that can withstand freezing temperatures. Now we have flexibility! No more hard tubes to reconnect when we get back to camp.
One of the most valuable finds in preparing for winter living was the electric radiator heater. These heaters work well as an additional heat source in small spaces and keep you warm without using a lot of electricity. Because natural convection distributes the heat, there is no fan to make noise, which makes it incredibly quiet. We didn’t have to constantly run the furnace, and we never had to worry about running out of propane in the middle of the night and waking up to a cold wagon.
With all of these fixes in place, the only big problem we had with surviving the winter was the condensation that built up under our mattress where the cold outside air met the warm ones. (our bed is above the cab of the pickup truck)
the solution?
Create an air space between the mattress and the floor of the bed. I headed to Lowes with measurements in hand and asked for help in figuring out my crazy idea. Fortunately, someone who knows exactly what we need helped me –
Sheets to use as slats and 1/2″ foam board to lay over slats and under your foam mattress.
Now the air can circulate…and the best part is the added protection of the foam board from the cold floor of the bed.
I’m a happy camper… RV living in the winter is a piece of cake!
Two years ago, we were stocking up on food, movies, and water because the forecast called for a blizzard! We were expecting lots of new adventures with RV lodging and winter camping, but a snow storm was something we hadn’t seen before! 19 inches of snow fell as we were snuggled safely in our camper.
The next day, we were like little kids. We couldn’t wait to get out and jump into the deep, deep snow that drifted several feet deep.
If we had decided to take off that winter and settle down in RV living in sunny Florida, we’d have missed the magical views of snow-covered fields glistening like fairy dust in the light of a full moon, shrouded in stillness.
If we had headed south for the winter – sure, we could have played on the warm sandy beaches, but we would have missed sinking up to our thighs in the snow – just as we did when we were three years old and three feet tall!
I would miss that magical January morning when I headed to the river, wrapped in my sub-zero sleeping bag, camera and coffee in hand… and watched the glorious dance of gulls swooping and curling with grace and majesty.
The full time RV life is our life and our dream.
He gives us freedom. It also gives us opportunities to get the most out of any situation.
What’s that saying – when life gives you lemons, make lemonade?
Well, for the RV who live through the winter, when life gives you 19 inches of snow, you’ll be a kid again!
