Ski RV's, who's sleeping in parking lots?

[El Chupacabra]

Rontele?

[philth]

^^^^ really great site^^^^

[Stairmaster]

Just out of curiosity, how do you guys typically heat your rigs?

I've heard of wood stoves for campers, but never actually seen any or heard how they work.

[MakersTeleMark]

I use an Atwood propane forced air heater. Lots of people use Wave heaters or Buddy Mr. Heaters.

[C.O. Jones]

Just out of curiosity, how do you guys typically heat your rigs?

I've heard of wood stoves for campers, but never actually seen any or heard how they work.

I've never used one - actually looking to purchase my first RV, subject of a whole different story - but i stumbled upon these guys yesterday. There's a youtube vid of a guy in AK living out of his camper using one, seems like a cool idea if it comes through on the promises. His blog is pretty sweet.

On a side note, I'm pretty stoked on the 1980's toyota RV's. Found a few in the $4-7k range, 18-20ish mpg. Since most of my trips will be east coast - west coast, this sounds great. Anyone have first hand experience with these in the snow, in the mountains? Max out at 35mph uphill and keep chugging?

[philth]

Lived in this for 3 month this past season. I used a wave 3 heater but it was almost useless at altitude and had to use a Mr buddy as well.

[Dave Marshack]

I bougut a 77 dodge maxiwagon van conversion. High roof, seating for 6 sleeping for 4. Small kitchen and nice storage space. Its torn down to the sheet metal and being rebuilt into my ski/surf/sled/adeventuremobile. I plan on doing a AK to Argentina assault on the western hemisphere, then set her on fire (or drive it) and fly home.

[powdrhound]

Just out of curiosity, how do you guys typically heat your rigs?

I've heard of wood stoves for campers, but never actually seen any or heard how they work.

The first thing I do when I pull into the RV lot is to fire up the Wave3. It stays on 24/7 until Bella and I leave for home.
The SkiBumMobile was not designed for winter use, so usually has plenty of air infiltration to provide the oxygen that the catalytic heater is using. I also leave open the bathroom fan/vent. There has been occasions, when the vent is snowed over, that my fire/CO/CO2 alarm has started screaming in the middle of the night. Very Good Device. Jump up, open all the vents, fans on HIGH, heart pounding. Yes, I now keep that vent well cleared during the storm.

The Wave3 is not enough by itself. I keep the digital thermostat set to a minimum of 59 degrees for Bella while she waits for me. While I am there, I set it to 68 - 72, and drop it to about 65 at night. Between the two, my little propane tank lasts for about 4 - 5 days. The main challenge is power. The fan will kill your battery well before morning until you find the right balance for your rig. And if the forecast if for under 10 degrees, I have to run my little Honda all night. Oh, for a plug-in.

If you have to replace the built-in heater, read the amp ratings for the fan motor. Get the smallest fan that will work for you. When my heater died, I went with the super dual-speed fan model. Learned how quickly it killed my battery. And was so hot that it ran longer for the warmup and cooldown than it did for the heat cycle. That heaters failures of the dual speed control allowed me to replace it with a much smaller heater. This one runs longer heat cycles with more pleasant temperatures, but the total load is much less. Still have to watch the battery very carefully, though.



I have seen a trailer that had a diesel heater installed. It worked quite well, but still smelled like burning diesel...

A wood stove would use a whole bunch of fresh air. Be very careful.


Stay dry, stay warm.

And Let it Snow!

[El Chupacabra]

I use an Atwood propane forced air heater.

Our pop-up truck camper has the same thing, built in to the camper (exhausts to the outside). Works almost too well -- have to set the heat low for sleeping, or it gets too hot. Also, the bed in the cabover camper is up near the ceiling, where all the warm air rises.

For anyone with a built-in furnace, with a thermostat control: if you still have an old-style thermostat (mercury switch), you really need to swap it out for a digital unit. They're about $15-20 at Walmart, run off a single AA battery, takes 10 minutes to install, and are much more efficient at keeping the temperature where you want it (smaller range of hysteresis).

The old mercury switch one was sloppy -- would heat up the camper until it was roasting, but then let the temp drop to where it was freezing, and repeat that cycle. The digital one is much more comfortable.

[Conundrum]

Just out of curiosity, how do you guys typically heat your rigs?

.

Alcohol and fornicating.

[MakersTeleMark]

x2 on the digital thermo upgrade. Big difference and more efficient to boot.

[Micol]

I see a hudge Freeride Systems logo in that vans near future. You gotta keep those classic Winnebago lines though. That thing is sweet!

Thanks, I want to kind of keep it pretty plain. Maybe get the original stripes redone. Right now it has one logo to many.

[Sparwood Dave]

Quote "I stumbled upon these guys yesterday."
Nice unit but $4000!!. That's more than I spent on my first RV. If you like the marine/stainless steel and brass look, Dickinson Marine makes a wonderful little sealed vent propane fireplaceheater (9,000 or 12,000 btu optiosn) which runs without power or with a low draw computer fan. They are around $12/1300 Canadian http://www.dickinsonmarine.com/propane.php
The big issue is power draw on the furnace fan and if I was building an rv I would look carefully at domestic (home) sealed vent no electricity wall mounted heaters. Much much cheaper. You might have to remove the outside side stack when travelling but that's not a big deal.
.

[Danno]

my new-to-me camper:



Doesn't have a furnace, but the guy threw in a Mr Heater, so that will help. For $600, it was a steal.

[MakersTeleMark]

Welcome back Danno.

[daver]

just picked up this today




1976 International Scout II w/built in pop-up camper. These were made in colorado, the cab is part of the camper so you can climb through. It has a 345 v8 (rebuilt about 3000 miles ago) engine put in replacing the original 4cyl. It's been sitting for a while, none of the camper electrical/propane works, neither do the turn signals. But it runs, 4wd works, and supposedly the roof doesn't leak. Gonna be a fun fall project! Got it for $1500!

[Conundrum]

^^^ Nice parking brake.

[Cruiser]

my new-to-me camper:



Doesn't have a furnace, but the guy threw in a Mr Heater, so that will help. For $600, it was a steal.

Wait a sec. It's a recognized fact that your primary residence is a single wide trailer. But now you've gone and bought a little trailer too. Is that kinda like having a dingy to tow behind a yacht? Or is it more like a sidecar on a motorcycle?

[Danno]

Cruiser, more like this:



And MTM, let's go camping sometime.

[NoPostholio]

Must be the season - I just bought this and hopefully it will be parked at many a western ski area next spring....

[Micol]

never mind ...found it

[Micol]

just picked up this today




1976 International Scout II w/built in pop-up camper. These were made in colorado, the cab is part of the camper so you can climb through. It has a 345 v8 (rebuilt about 3000 miles ago) engine put in replacing the original 4cyl. It's been sitting for a while, none of the camper electrical/propane works, neither do the turn signals. But it runs, 4wd works, and supposedly the roof doesn't leak. Gonna be a fun fall project! Got it for $1500!

Nice!

gsa23

[El Chupacabra]

just picked up this today




1976 International Scout II w/built in pop-up camper. These were made in colorado, the cab is part of the camper so you can climb through. It has a 345 v8 (rebuilt about 3000 miles ago) engine put in replacing the original 4cyl. It's been sitting for a while, none of the camper electrical/propane works, neither do the turn signals. But it runs, 4wd works, and supposedly the roof doesn't leak. Gonna be a fun fall project! Got it for $1500!

Sweet find!

A guy on ExPo has one for sale in San Francisco (craigslist link is in here too), around $8K:
http://www.expeditionportal.com/foru...-Pop-up-Camper

[philth]

NoPost. Nice rig. The Bigfoots, like Northern Lite, is a two piece molded unit. Super nice and warm!!! Nice find!!! was it $$$$$$$?

[Micol]

that is a dang good deal ! nice

my new-to-me camper:



Doesn't have a furnace, but the guy threw in a Mr Heater, so that will help. For $600, it was a steal.