Coldest weather you've ever camped in?

[paulnptld]

As I continue preparations for ski season, I tested my new Mr. Heater Big Buddy yesterday. Man, does that crank out some serious heat! Of course with temps in the 50s it was tough to say what difference it will make when I test my Dolphin during ski season.

So what's the coldest weather you've ever endured in your Toyhome? More importantly, were you comfortable and toasty warm inside?

[WME]

-20 with a -55 wind chill. I was plugged in to 110v ac. My 1500w electric heater ran 100%, my propane heater was running 50%. About 10 min on, 10 min off. Still need 3 blankets and a dog to keep sorta warm

[paulnptld]

Wow. That's impressive.

[WME]

Not impressive, just a bad turn of the weather on a business trip. With out the 110v heater I don't think the propane would have keep up.

Major fun pulling a 5x8 trailer, across packed ice covered roads with a 40 mph crosswind, over South Pass in the Rockies..

I've spent lots of time camping at 10-20 degrees above. Its much more pleasant with just some small lifestyle adjustments.

[paulnptld]

Sounds like you've got some experience with this. It's rare that temps in the Cascades drop below the mid-teens. Since I'll be parking at the ski resorts (translation - no hookups), is there any way for me to use the water system? What would you recommend? I'd never be in sub-freezing weather for more than two days at a time...

[paulnptld]

Corbin - Were you in a Dolphin? I replaced all of my interior lights with LED this summer. We'll see how they do in the cold, but I expect they'll perform better than fluorescent.

[WME]

The simple answer is to use bottled water and flush with a water/antifreeze mix.

[Maineah]

The simple answer is to use bottled water and flush with a water/antifreeze mix.

Agreed. Yeah if you can't keep it warm during the day you do run a risk of freezing pipes. Bottled water if you can park it in the sunny window should be ok. Every wonder why full timers go south to the Gulf coast in the winter? I did some pretty cold stuff in VT at a class I was taking the nice people that owned the wood working school saw to it that I was plugged in and I ran the furnace. Left the electric heater on but after the classes were over it was not real warm until I turned on the furnace and had dinner cooked on the stove it is not some thing I would do unless there was a real good reason.

[paulnptld]

Here's a real good reason: waking up, making breakfast, and grabbing the first lift chair.

Mt. Hood (and the Cascades in general) usually see nighttime lows in the teens. Occasionally single digits happen, but it's pretty rare.

[MontanaChinook]

I've slept in the back of my truck with a topper on it, in 20 degree weather. A good sleeping bag is all you need for that kind of weather.

In my Chinook, it got down to 30 one night, the last night I used it. Still don't have my heat hooked up...so again, just a good sleeping bag is all you need.

Nothing is going to sound impressive after WME's post...

But if you're going to hanging out and not just sleeping in that kind of weather...yeah, heat is a necessity.

[Bob C]

I was not in my Toyhouse but back in about 1980 I went snowmobile camping in the UP of Michigan with my brother-in-law. It was supposed to get to a low of 20 degrees that night so we thought that our cold weather gear was adequate. When we woke up in the morning and the thermometer in the tent was at -10 degrees (F not C.) Those late '70's snowmobiles did not start all that well and that day was no different. We finally got them running and made our way to a nice warm establishment were we got warmed up and some good food.

There were no cell phones back then and our wives were really glad to hear that we got out ok. If we could not get our machines running, we were going to stay put in our sleeping bags until the wives sent help. Before leaving his place, we left a map with our camp site marked and told people when we would be back. If we were a day late, help would have been sent. I was sure glad when we got the first sled running because I did not want to crawl into the same sleeping bag with the bro-in-law. We joked about it but it would have saved our lives.

I sold my sled about two weeks later, I didn't enjoy it any more.

[stamar]

theres someone here who lives in alaska in an oddyssey. in cold alaska too.

i lived in portland last winter. the teens is nothing.

im pretty sure i drove it up mt hood, i definitely saw a few toyhomes on mt hood.

[MontanaChinook]

I'm certainly thinking it

[MontanaChinook]

Yeah the guy in Alaska has a wood stove, and has cold weather rving down.

[stamar]

i drove up mt hood many times WITH ANOTHER VEHICLE but i dont think i ever took the toyhome. I might have once though.

Regardless i saw many toyhomes on mt hood.

[kayakthecoast]

Insulate all your water pipes, this helps a lot. I plan on cascade ski camping too. I did for years in a Sportsmobile. The only issue I had was my water tank drain piping froze - the only piping on vehicle exterior I did not insulate. At night leave the access door to your water pump open a bit to let some heat in to prevent freezing pump and pipes. Keep a kettle on the stove full of water so at least you can have a hot drink if pipes do freeze - only happened to me twice in 2 years.

[aptruncata]

it was about 2 years ago in mammoth foothills in the eastern sierras.

The temp gauge read 7 degrees at 11:00pm, i was so surprised i had to take a pic of it with my phone.

For nights like this, i carry a 0 degree mummy bag so we survived to tell about it without getting sick.

[stamar]

Its 20s every night right now here in the bay area. Stock it works ok but an auxilery heater like a mr heater would be very nice.