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Here's a new surviving an Alaskan winter in a Toyota RV blog entry!!!


Odyssey4x4

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Well folks,

Here's my latest entry of attempting to survive an Alaskan winter, completely off-grid in a Toyota motorhome. Check it out...

http://timmystoyota.blogspot.com/2012/12/cold-is-relative.html

Any advice, input, skepticism, or construtive criticism is much appreciated ;^)

Cheers,

Timmy

www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

post-6327-0-84471900-1355791137_thumb.jp

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A120mm computer fan mounted in 4" pvc pipe. Pipe runs from ceiling to floor. A couple of T fittings at different heights with caps, allows you to have some direction to the hot air . Computer fans use very little power and the tubing keeps it efficient

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thats exciting!

im full timing it in portland, and tonight was the first snow. it makes me think i may need to recharge the propane canister so it doesnt suprise me at night sometime.

whereas.... you may have been fighting for your life for about a month now...

definitely should winterize the windows but... im probably not going to do it.

Gym membership of ccourse. Is there really a liveable situation of showering full time out of an rv? I would not be doing all that work to use the toilet at all i would witout a doubt at ALL be using a big hole in the tundra somewhere and craapping in cheap buckets. all throwing them away.

I think youd want a back up car obviously also... because being stuck might mean death of course.....

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One of my hunting buddies was set on fire with a Mr. Buddy while he slept. They were in a pull camper (30 footer) and were in bunk beds. one guy got cold, leaned down pulled mr. buddy closer. he was sleeping in Carharts thank god and woke from the stench of the burning just in time to see it ignite the side of his lateral area in the carhart. in the morning I saw him patching the hole and complaining that he had just patched a hole there from last year... LOL

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Totem, Yup, that would do it.. If you don't use precautions, you'll probably suffer the same fate. :-(

I treat Mr Buddy as an open flame, at nite, I position it in the bath doorway, and verify nothing could fall on it.

JOhn Mc

88 Dolphin 4 Auto

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I love Mr. Buddy. We use them for Ice fishing very effectively. Personally for me I just ran my toyhome furnace while out hunting this year. I still have not gotten around to putting in the Ammo Box stove yet to try that route mainly because I am having difficulty on a solution on where to route the Stack. I don't want to cut a hole in the sunrader. My latest thought was to cut a window template for the hole in a partially opened side window out of osb or ply. Then cut a hole in that and run the chimney out that. Will be building that next week. Will take bunch o pictures. My TEG generator prototype is ready to go.

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Yo Totem,

I cut a hole directly through my interior food cabinet then straight up through the roof. You need (ideally) at least 6 feet of stove pipe to get a proper "draw" from the chimney pipe, that way a backdraft of smoke won't come back down your chimney while driving around. A rotating chimney cap that dosn't inhibit the smoke from escaping (and also creates a vaccuum while driving) is key. I went through 4 different chimney caps and finally found one where i can have my fire in the wood stove cranking while I drive down the highway at 70 mph (55 mph in my RV realistically:^)

A propane heater definitely works for more moderate climates. However, it creates a lot of condensation inside and it is dangerous/can deplete the oxygen in your camper if you're not careful. They do make catalytic ones that are "supposed" to be safe, but I would still be concerned. Just like John MC said, you need to treat the propane Mr Buddy like an open fire, cause it'll burn anything that touches the flame guard.

I should be receiving the T.E.G. unit in January, so I'll keep everyone posted on the performance. The solar panels most definitely make a difference in charging my battery, even in the winter (provided I park facing the sun as much as possible).

Timmy

www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

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I TAKE IT THEY CAUGHT on fire and had no smoke alarm or carbon monoxide detector. rv ones are expensive i just use house units 9 volt from walmart

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my rv came with two house units and two fire extinguishers for what it matters. I dont know why.

what do you guys think of this thing?

to me it seems like the same thing as the furnace without the fan...

I definitely notice as the temperature gets below zero another heater would be nice. Im definitely a cold weather/rv newbie

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When you say he "pulled mr. buddy closer", how close was it to where the fire started?

One of my hunting buddies was set on fire with a Mr. Buddy while he slept. They were in a pull camper (30 footer) and were in bunk beds. one guy got cold, leaned down pulled mr. buddy closer. he was sleeping in Carharts thank god and woke from the stench of the burning just in time to see it ignite the side of his lateral area in the carhart. in the morning I saw him patching the hole and complaining that he had just patched a hole there from last year... LOL

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Carhartt heavy duty work wear

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its a good thing those carhart/s overalls are mainly cotton not a lot of plastic manmade fibers. tend to smolder a while

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Yo Totem,

I cut a hole directly through my interior food cabinet then straight up through the roof. You need (ideally) at least 6 feet of stove pipe to get a proper "draw" from the chimney pipe, that way a backdraft of smoke won't come back down your chimney while driving around. A rotating chimney cap that dosn't inhibit the smoke from escaping (and also creates a vaccuum while driving) is key. I went through 4 different chimney caps and finally found one where i can have my fire in the wood stove cranking while I drive down the highway at 70 mph (55 mph in my RV realistically:^)

A propane heater definitely works for more moderate climates. However, it creates a lot of condensation inside and it is dangerous/can deplete the oxygen in your camper if you're not careful. They do make catalytic ones that are "supposed" to be safe, but I would still be concerned. Just like John MC said, you need to treat the propane Mr Buddy like an open fire, cause it'll burn anything that touches the flame guard.

I should be receiving the T.E.G. unit in January, so I'll keep everyone posted on the performance. The solar panels most definitely make a difference in charging my battery, even in the winter (provided I park facing the sun as much as possible).

Timmy

www.timmystoyota.blogspot.com

Hi, Timmy! You rock!!

If solar panels are a little expensive, have you considered going halfers with a friend and buying just the cells? You can make your own custom shaped panels that way, and have hundreds of watts of power. $400 buys you $1,000 watts of cells alone. There's plywood, glass, etc to consider as well, but it's a good bargain. Hey, do you use a charge controller? You should...

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Where can I find out more about making my own panels?

Hi, Timmy! You rock!!

If solar panels are a little expensive, have you considered going halfers with a friend and buying just the cells? You can make your own custom shaped panels that way, and have hundreds of watts of power. $400 buys you $1,000 watts of cells alone. There's plywood, glass, etc to consider as well, but it's a good bargain. Hey, do you use a charge controller? You should...

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Timmy, I have to give you a lot of credit for living in your Toy, in Alaska during the winter. I'm in north Florida and it was in the mid 30's last night and since my furnace is having issues it was chilly in my Toy last night.

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