Winter Camping in a 3023 for the season

Has anyone slept in their Trailmanor 3023 during a winter? I live in Colorado Springs and am considering using my trailer for the winter. Looking for suggestions or if this is even possible. I believe we got like 13 inches of total snow last season. Thanks

[rvcycleguy]

Spent 15 days in Sedona last winter. TM was warm. Furnace and oil/ electric space heater made it toasty. Also, we had an electric blanket that we placed under the sheet in the rear bed. Due to the overhang, the rear bed platform gets cold, so we slept on a warm blanket. High temp for both weeks did not reach 50 degrees and nighttime temps were as low as 20.

Also spent several days in Santa Fe on the way home where snow was on the ground the entire time. Did not use the freshwater line outside to the park water source due to freezing temps. TM are actually very well insulated units.

[countrygirl]

There are some threads on here about it not being good for snow to build up on a TM. You can stay warm in a TM when it is very cold though. We had snow last year while we were bow hunting in Missouri but it melted fairly quickly. We have camped in weather that is in the teens and stayed warm. You do need to fill your fresh water and disconnect and drain the hose unless you have one of the heated hoses. I guess your fresh water tank is inside one of the bench seats. You may need to leave it open for heat to get to it. Ours is under the sink and we just leave the door to the cabinet open.

Make sure you have some pool noodles. Also you will find that considerable moisture penetrates the mattress and condenses on the top of the bed tray making the bottom of the mattress damp. Not a big deal, but you will need to remove the mattress when you get home to dry out.

I would be most concerned about water freezing.

outdoor hookup line
fresh tank
water heater
toilet
grey tank
all lines

4 season RVs have electric heaters for some of these.

I believe that below some temperature propane will no longer be usable, but no damage will be done.

Regarding keeping warm in bed... we have used an electric mattress pad before and it was GREAT. We used it on top of a foam egg topper on an air mattress while tent camping in mid 40s (at night) and it was just fine so I imagine it would be toasty in especially cold weather. {The only reason we stopped using it was DH shorted out the wires on his side somehow. MY side was fine.}

[surfbiggoofy]

Originally Posted by rumbleweed

Make sure you have some pool noodles. Also you will find that considerable moisture penetrates the mattress and condenses on the top of the bed tray making the bottom of the mattress damp. Not a big deal, but you will need to remove the mattress when you get home to dry out.

We just purchased a 2013 Trailmanor 2027 SD and in the process of updating it to current technology. As far as cold weather camping we were in Moab when it hit 9 degrees F two weeks ago today just before dawn. We had a Little Buddy Propane heater inside to support the forced air furnace pointed at the aft bedroom. We had electrical hookups so we weren't concerned about the furnace running the batteries dry.

I had taken the step to get some pool noodles and pipe insulation (also fantastic for making sure the hanging cabinets and wardrobe don't get beat up on rough dirt roads) around the bed and my wife found a decent draft behind the wardrobe and we stuffed pipe insulation it it and it was fine. Thanks to the folks that suggested using pool noodles around the bed area. I had also put down Reflectix insulation under the bed. The condensation between the bed and the Reflectix is a problem as we noticed mold under on our mattress cover. We washed it and it seems fine. We are planning on using a pair of twin 12v mattress heaters to deal with that problem and wanted to know if others have had a similar issue and what they did to correct the issue.

We also had really good luck with Reflectix cut to fit the windows. Going the full "Cousin Eddy" saved us a ton of propane such that the forced air furnace actually shut off at 15 degrees F in the middle of the night because it was that warm inside.

Our next issue was the previous owner had put peel and stick gray foam door insulation to prevent door drafts and at anything below 15 degrees F we had to defrost the door with the portable propane heater before it would open and we have a little dog that needs to have a bit of personal time early in the morning. Any suggestions there would be appreciated, probably more by the little dog as we fire up the Coleman coffee maker and climb right back into bed as it goes to work.

We did have a water protocol for each night. Our camp host would turn off the water each night and wait for the temps to climb to 35 degrees F before turning the water back on. We left the plumbing drains open and all of the faucets open inside. Please let me know if this in y'all's experience is excessive.

We don't have a heated supply hose (yet) so we would disconnect the supply hose, filter and regulator stow that inside after topping off the water tanks and making sure the hot water tank was full. We would open the plumbing drain valves and open the under sink cabinet door and the bathroom door. We did have the gray water drain open and a had a sloped drain hose to the sewer connection and never had a problem with the gray water operation. Overnight we used water jugs. In the morning when the temps would climb above freezing, I'd run outside and close the low plumbing drain valves and fire up the demand pumps and we were good to go for the day. When the camp host turned back on the supply water, I'd hook up the supply hose and refill the tanks.

I do have plans to put some underbody insulation and pipe heating this season.

Cheers, Brian

Somebody camped in Moab during the winter and detailed their trip on here. With precautions they did fine.

[Blueduck3285]

We are going to go this Friday to St. Vrain and see how our new to us TM does. This is our first camper and first trip.

[Shane826]

If this is your first trip in your first ever camper I would highly recommend you wait for nicer weather. Winter campering presents a whole new series of challenges that aren’t always easy even for experienced camperers.