Cardinal RV Club

i would like to know if any one has camped in the up during the winter.
i am going to set up the cardinal for the father & mother in law for the winter and would like to know what i should leave on and what i should drain (they would like to use the head for the winter) this would be weekends now and then.
any advice would be grate
thank you

I see you are from Lanse, Judy is from Alston and we are up in your area several times a year. We have never camped in the winter in the UP. If you are going to use it for weekends only then the rig definitely will need to be winterized. Not sure how you can use the plumbing without turning the tank heaters on on, have heat taped water hoses and connections. If you do not plan to use the water heater then that can be left in shut off mode (emptied). If the black tank is used I would think you are going to have to get it emptied in between weekends or leave the heaters on. I am sure there will be other comments on what to do. Good Luck .

You guys are on your own on this one! I have never camped in the trailer where it was below 40 degrees so I can't help!

Don

Hey, as you are already aware , U.P. winters, can be interesting....to say the least...........
I live in T.C., so , I am a bit warmer than you. First, formost .......how are you going to heat the rig?????? If you are going to use propane, you need a MINIMUM 100 lb tank,( or larger) the big one ..................your heater will gobble up propane .trust me on this one ............ ...Is it going to be in L'Anse area???? Sounds like maybe back yard??????

You need to deciede if slides open or closed....duhh, if living in , will need to be open ..which means ....you will HAVE to leave them open all winter, ice, snow will build up, and you wont be able to close, open , let alone seals freezing, if you put in, snow will melt in warm rig, run down inside........ ....and more propane, slides not nearly as well insulated as rest of rig (top, bottom of slides, any slide , not insulated well at all.)


So, plan on clearing snow off , oh every few hrs , from the slides ,(the weight will be a huge factor) the way it snows up there.. ...Hey, are you still interested in doing this ......

OK, we continue.if only on weekends, then heat all winter...???, if not , heating, cooling, heating, cooling ....people inside, is going to generate a lot of condensation ....read moisture every where...

Water system, Oh....dont forget ...........................THE FRIDGE will not work , unless you heat the outside part, where coils , etc are....once again, trust me on this one .....I cannot use my freezer, ( below about 30 degrees outside), it will not cool, because it thinks it is cool, just heating inside of rig , will not work.

I have lived through all this , this is how I know this ............ .........

Water system, you will need heated water line, and unhook hose between tank fills...otherwise hose will burst on some really cold night .....once again, dont ask me how I know, been there, done it, got the shirt.... . I believe you WILL NOT be able to leave hooked up all winter, and use hose as in summer.

Wow, toilet, shower.......hope you have tank heaters.......but, where , how are you going to dump.???? ...frozen Black water .....not good ............


If you use elec heaters, the basement wont get furnace heat, and you will freeze water lines....which in the U.P., you prob will anyway Wow, frozen inside lines cant even think about it ...


So, I Feel , you can get away if you USE NO WATER , and use a cooler , ( inside house freezer for frozen stuff.) Once again, I tried to use my rig one winter as extra space , did not work. These rigs are Just Not Built for year round, four season use in Really cold climates...

I hope I am wrong, but ,,,,, I think you will just be able to use it as a space ...for Hanging out in , not really use as a cottage , in the DEAD of a U.P. winter.

So, if any more questions....fire away............................ .(sorry to be a realist about this ) But once again, just my views, having tryed what you are proposing.... .

glade to hear from you all, i think i am going to try and convince them it wont work for the winter.
i know how the winters go up here if we had one like last winter i would not be too upset about it but if we have a real one up here this year it could get nasty for the camper.
i think we will let it stand until October then put it in storage.
again thank you for the input

We are a family of five that winter camps in New Hampshire. We set up the Cardinal (fully winterized) after Thanksgiving with a large propane tank and leave the slides out. We do not use the water, but use the toilet for # 1 only and every three weeks I flush the black tank with 10 gallons of hot water. We use the bath house for all of our bathroom needs. We use the oven as often as we can making cookies or brownies on friday nights. We bring home cooked meals for Saturday night frozen in aluminum pans (chicken and rice, baked ziti, taco pie, shepards pie, lasagna, ect.) eat with plastic silverware and paper plates and cups, we throw out everything so we have hardly anything to wash. We leave the Cardinal set at 45 degrees all week and kick it up to 70 on friday nights. We have a mattress heater pad, the kids have warm cloth sleeping bags, and the coach warms up nicely and keeps us comfortable all winter long.

We have a blast winter camping and other families that come to join us has the same fun!