I am currently in a state park about two-thirds of the way from south to north Florida, and it has been horribly cold here. Normally, freeze warnings are seen only in the north of Florida, but lately, Florida has been seeing freeze warning as far south as Miami and Naples!
The newspapers printed out information yesterday that iguanas were likely to fall out of trees or become cold-stunned on the ground and appear to be dead. Since these are an invasive species, The Florida fish and Wildlife Commission passed an order that allowed each resident to collect and turn in up to five stunned iguanas without a permit during this cold weather. This is seen as an opportunity to easily get rid of this invasive species
Where I am, north of Daytona, it dropped down to 26 degrees last night and is expected to drop to about 30 degrees tonight. Rangers said they had never had such cold weather and were really not sure what to do, but the told us who were checking in to unhook water hoses and turn their outdoor faucets to drip when the temps got down to close to freezing. I have noticed a lot of empty spots in this normally full campground and several people leaving earlier than expected.
Anyway, I live full time in a 32' long Class C motorhome, and while I try to avoid the kind of weather I left in Michigan when I bought my rig and headed out for adventure, occasionally it catches up with me. Mostly, I have been frustrated at not being able to get to Ohio and start moving into the condo I recently bought and closed on! I started to pack just before the weather turned really miserable, so am having to constantly move boxes and look for stuff that I already packed that I need now.
So, here is some advice for staying warm in an RV and at least partly avoiding frozen pipes and shivering under a lot of blankets at night. Note that these tips can help keep you warm but are not guaranteed to prevent bad things happening in really cold weather.
I know it is probably too late, but one thing you might consider in the future is to buy a motorhome instead of a trailer if you plan to do a lot of traveling. Most motorhomes have several storage compartments under their main floor. This double layer means that your floor is likely to be warmer than without these "basements." Also, a lot of motorhomes, like mine, have one of those compartments as a utility compartment that might be heated to help prevent frozen pipes.
In the photo below, you will notice that I store my sewer dump hose here because it hooks up to the dump valves inside this compartment, and then it passes though the bottom of the compartment through a hole. I am not using it to dump my tanks right now, so I have put the electric cord through this hole and covered much of the opening with a board and some bubble wrap to prevent cold air from coming in.
Most people buy their first RVs on the basis of appearance and comfort, but those of us who have lived in one for a few years consider things like surviving freezing weather and the ease of doing all the little things you need to do to keep your RV operating and comfortable.
OK, now for one of the negatives of a Class C motorhome. The dealer and some mechanics have tried to convince me that absolutely NO cold air comes through the engine area into the living area of my motorhome. Ha! Then why do i get such drafts from up there? I do have a short privacy curtain that snaps to the area between the upper bunk and the cab area, but it is too short and does nothing to prevent drafts. The following solution looks awful, but it really and truly does work!
The grey thing is that short privacy curtain, and on top of it, and tucked under the top bunk mattress is a heavy bedspread I have. I don't need it right now because i have another heavy bedspread and a down throw on my bed right now, so I arranged this one so it covers the top all the way to the floor and tucks behind the seats where major drafts come in. When I put it on each night, I feel around with my hand to see where drafts are still coming in and rearrange it until the area is draft free!
I suppose I could get energetic and just make a thicker and longer privacy curtain that would reach all the way to the floor, but I am too lazy to do that.
Also, the boxes are the result of my starting to pack for my move into my condo as soon as the weather gets less cold in Ohio and i can drive there safely.
Finally, it was really windy last night. As you probably know, these RVs are built poorly and are not made for cold weather, regardless of what the salesman will tell you. Windows leak air, as do slides and unidentified cracks. Last night i had trouble getting to sleep because I could feel cold air blowing on my face and head. Basically, I have two big windows in my bedroom, as shown here:
At around 2 am, I got out of bed because I was convinced that somehow my AC was on and blowing cold air while the furnaces were running. Nope. Just windows that were not very wind or water-proof.
I have the very nice MCD shades that consist of a mesh layer you can partly see through and heavier vinyl shades that keep the sun out completely. Running my hands around each one, I could feel substantial drafts, so I dug around and found some masking tape and packing tape. (I know I have some duct tape around somewhere, but I think it is outside and was not in a mood to go searching for it.)
I first opened the vinyl shades and carefully taped the sides of each shade to the vinyl wallpaper with the masking tape. I also taped the bottom of each shade down to air could not come through that way. Then I pulled the heavier vinyl shades down past the mesh ones and repeated the process with the packing tape. It really helped, but it took me a long time with my painful shoulder that needs to be replaced, so I did not get back to sleep until after 4 am.
In past years in cold places, I covered the rear windows with that insulated clear shrink stuff that you taped on and then used a hair dryer to make it fit tightly. However, I tried to get some a week ago, but apparently Florida carries snow boots and mittens, but hardware stores have never heard of this window insulating stuff!!
One thing you can do is close your slides until the wind abates, but I really did not feel like starting up my engine at 2 am last night to put my slides in. Here is some of the detail showing one set of blinds taped shut.
One thing the rangers asked us to do, other than filling our water tanks and unhooking our water hoses, was to go outside before we went to bed and set the campsite water faucet to drip. I could not get mine to drip, but I did get a tiny spray of water that I figured was OK. I forgot to go out this morning but at 2 pm, this is what is looked like:
One last comment: Other than a week in Ohio one November, the two coldest places I have ever camped at were Death Valley and Las Vegas, both in January. I have photos of Furnace Creek in Death Valley with ice on it to prove how cold it can get there. Also, one day in Las Vegas I got tired of the cold weather and decided to leave. When I put my slides in, ice fell off the slide toppers, but unfortunately I never took a photo of it!
I also once camped in Eugene, Oregon, in January when they had a freak storm that deposited 18" of snow, but the temperature was not as low as the Death Valley or Las Vegas stays. The big oak trees around the campground near Eugene had never had more than a couple of inches of snow on them, so lots of huge branches were breaking off and causing serious damage to some of the RVs parked under them. Luckily, I like satellite TV so always ask for an open space. It melted fairly quickly, but here is a photo of my rig with 18" of snow on it.
If you look very closely at the next photo, you will see a man in a red jacket on top of his small trailer trying to figure out how to get the large limb off his roof and the smaller branches that had gone through it. (The Class A rig next to him was not damaged.)
And his rig was not even directly under any trees!
Anyway, hope you are all staying warm, even in Florida!
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