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

[steveski]

New to camper ownership with my 96' Bigfoot but my current plan has water systems winterized. Using grey water tank and pouring small amount of antifreeze into P traps when at home or after emptying. Haven't needed to use black but have it available for the wife and kiddo. With small amounts of use, regular emptying, and adding antifreeze I think the holding tanks do fine over the winter.

[Yukonrider]

If you want to run water in the winter without a 4 season camper, this is the product you want to look into:

https://www.ultraheat.com/ultraheat-rv-tank-heaters

They make various sizes and applications from tank warmers to pipe warmers to gate valve heaters.

The trick is the larger the size, the more amps they draw when in operation. With my 320w solar setup and 255 AH reserve capacity I would probably be able to run one of their pads on the tank all day if it wasn't snowing, easier if you're just a weekend warrior because you can just let the batteries charge back up over the work week.
I found that for the most part my water wouldn't freeze during the day while I was away, and at night the heater was on which kept most things warm, I never did run camper water in the winter though. In a rig with a shower and a toilet the shear amount of piping is the limiting factor on knowing whether you can get away with it, add a hot water heater for a shower, and wow, that's a lot of water to worry about, and the aforementioned dumping issue.
If most of your piping can be kept warm by the heater at night then I would add a heat pad for driving and go for it, just make sure your lines are drained, also your drain traps.

Possibly add a shut off at the tank, and pull the low point drain to the faucet and toilet (sorry shower people) before moving, or extended freezing conditions? With a heat pad that will keep your water warm until you can heat the living space again.

Another possible option would be to put a 120V pad on your black tank, and run your black into it and let it freeze until you got home, then plug in your tank heater to unfreeze it then go dump, would depend on your piping setup though, but would save a lot of power from your battery bank.

[mattig]

Doesn't motion make the liquid freeze more easily since there's disturbed air bubbles for crystals to nucleate around?

Nerding out on that stuff aside, it seems like maybe you just live in a warmer place than I do? You're talking about draining the black / grey tanks on the weekend - but those things would be frozen solid within 12 of not having regular heat on them. And even just filling and draining the fresh water tank would be a hassle - I'd have to blow out the lines after every use.

Consider me envious of you having that stuff dialed (driving with propane on notwithstanding).

I was thinking of rivers being harder to freeze than lakes.

And yeah, pretty temperate here in the PDX area and up to the local mountain (25°-34° on average, but in the teens this week). My tanks always have regular heat on them except for the 2 hours of drive time Norse just talked me into, and they're at 60 ° when that drive starts.

[Flyoverland Captive]

New to camper ownership with my 96' Bigfoot ...

Holy crap, that's huge!

[steveski]

Holy crap, that's huge!

Yeah I was quite pleased with how it handles at that size.

[3PinGrin]

Yeah I was quite pleased with how it handles at that size.

Must be a custom order, ha. Are you pulling it with a Peterbilt?

[Norseman]

[powdrhound]

Room for the snowmobiles, too.

[steveski]

We should park this along the west snow bank at BBI and call it a wrap.

[Todds]

climbervan
Attachment 268358

How did you setup the ski box for vertical storage?

[climberevan]

I put a piece of plywood inside with slots for ski straps to hold each pair. 4 pairs fit with plenty of room for poles. I'll get a pic when i can. Right now we're in Hope Valley again, and again it's nuking. In other news, the old girl got some face shots today on 88 busting through the drifts.

[El Chupacabra]

Somewhere in this thread, in the 178 preceding pages, there was some discussion of later-model gas Ford F250/350 trucks. IIRC it was something like 2011+, with the 6.2L V8, were getting (relatively) inexpensive and are reliable. Who's got the knowledge here on those? Any significant options to seek out or to avoid? (e.g. any known bad transmissions or bad transfer cases?) I want either 4 full doors or at least rear doors that open on both sides (currently have a 3-door ext cab), an 8-foot bed, 4WD, and SRW.

I think it's getting to be time to replace our camper/beater truck (2000 GMC Sierra 2500, 6.0L gas V8). It'll need a bunch of front end work sometime soon, and the rust underneath won't make that easy. It'll need new tires in another year or so as well.

I don't need a diesel (low annual mileage use, only light towing) and don't want the added expense of purchase & maintenance.

[mattig]

No direct experience other than listening to others, but hear great things about reliability of both Ford and Chevy HD gas motors, including your 6.0 (borderline legendary to hear others say it).

New gas motor for 2020, so slightly older models could get cheap.

[3PinGrin]

still not near 96 feet, but still

(and I get that he meant years) Had no idea there was such a beast as in your pic. They should definitely rent those out to people from the south on skication.

[DanoT]

Any suggestions for car camping around Jackson Hole?

A room in the Motel 6 in Jackson is $200/night in summer but only $60 in winter. In the morning drive 10 minutes to the Stilson free shuttle bus lot where they have a heated waiting room, free coffee and free granola bars.

Also weekly rate at Motel 6 is 7 nights for the price of 5.

[simple]

For real. Bonus, there plenty of cheap eats on that side of town. Albertsons also. Not a good car camping town. Sheriffs are on watch 24/7.

[Foggy_Goggles]

Somewhere in this thread, in the 178 preceding pages, there was some discussion of later-model gas Ford F250/350 trucks. IIRC it was something like 2011+, with the 6.2L V8, were getting (relatively) inexpensive and are reliable. Who's got the knowledge here on those? Any significant options to seek out or to avoid? (e.g. any known bad transmissions or bad transfer cases?) I want either 4 full doors or at least rear doors that open on both sides (currently have a 3-door ext cab), an 8-foot bed, 4WD, and SRW.

I have a 2013 6.2 and it has so far proven very reliable. It has the best automatic trans for towing and hauling I've ever used. You can find good deals but most people want $$$. Check with your local dealer that goes to auctions. Low mile fleet trucks are a good option. Word to the wise, a 4dr long bed is a big truck. I don't care but I wouldn't suggest for a lot of in town, city, parking lot use.

[El Chupacabra]

Thanks. Been reading up online, and it seems that there was only one transmission used during the years of this model (2011-2016), for both the gas and the diesel motors (and the diesel put out significantly more torque), so that trans should be pretty strong. Also seems that there are hardly any differences between the 250 and 350 SRW - just beefier rear springs in the 350.

I'm not concerned about city parking etc with the truck, but agree, these are bulky. The truck I have now is an extended cab 8-ft bed, so a crew cab would be a bit longer still.

I have time to shop, so will start looking and see what turns up.

[mooseknuckle]

I have a 2013 6.2 ....... It has the best automatic trans for towing and hauling I've ever used...

Guessing you haven’t towed with the Allison tranny. Not sure how any auto transmission could beat that one.

[simple]

Pics of tranny for reference.

[toast2266]

Pics of tranny for reference.

You're gonna love the subreddit called "traps"

[simple]

A tranny named Allison....what could go wrong?

[Foggy_Goggles]

Towed with a few allison/duramax outfits. Not available on gassers as far as I know. But yeah ford...just as good.

[TAFKALVS]

Towed with a few allison/duramax outfits. Not available on gassers as far as I know. But yeah ford...just as good.

8.1L Big Block has the allison as well.

[climberevan]

How did you setup the ski box for vertical storage?

Plywood platform for them to sit on, and the aforementioned piece above with ski straps to hold them. 4 pair fit, but it's better with 3. The Thule box is screwed to 2x2 runners, which are screwed to the back of the Winnebago.