Rainier 18B - Winter Camping - Dutchmen Owners
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Old 11-19-2018, 09:53 PM   #1
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Rainier 18B - Winter Camping

Hi-
I have a 2010 Rainier 18B travel trailer and am hoping to use it to stay in this winter at some of the local ski areas. Has anyone used one of these to winter camp in? It will be cold - below freezing, but here in the Northwest it doesn't get all that cold. Probably somewhere in the high teens - low 30s.



We should have electric hookups for power, so I was planning to use a space heater+ the onboard furnace to stay warm.


I traced the freshwater lines and it looks like all the PEX plumbing is inside the trailer - except the low point drains. Not sure if those matter.


The fresh, black and grey water tanks are under the trailer, but protected by the coroplast plastic coverings. Do people just put a halogen under the trailer to keep those warm? I was thinking of dumping a gallon of antifreeze into each to keep them liquid.


Any tips on using this trailer in the winter?
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Old 11-21-2018, 04:41 PM   #2
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I am interested in this as well. It gets pretty cold in northern Indiana, but I would still like to leverage my portable hotel room during winter travel too.

My biggest concern is driving conditions.
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Old 11-21-2018, 11:26 PM   #3
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With the temps you are talking about, your best bet is to dry camp. Tanks will freeze unless you have tank heaters, and even that isn't a solid bet. We used to do it with our popup, use the bath house, no water in the trailer tanks, maybe a cooler of drinking and cooking water.
Using the LP furnace you are going to go through a lot of LP. Easily 20# tank a day, if not more. I used electric heaters and an LP fired Buddy Heater to take some of the load off the main furnace.

Not saying it can't be done, just not easily or cheaply.

Aaron
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Old 11-22-2018, 02:29 AM   #4
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Thumbs up Freezing weather modifications

A Rainier 18B 23 foot looks similar in size to my Kodiak Cub 20 foot. After modifications, we used it early last March for up to 5 nights in temperatures down to 20 degrees. Day time temperatures were above freezing. Plumbing did not freeze. We used about two 20# cylinders of propane. See the following link for details. We emptied the water tanks during the day when temperatures were above freezing. I don’t know how well it will work when the temperature stays below freezing. I wish I had wrapped the drain pipes and valves with electric heat tape.
http://www.dutchmenowners.org/forums/f26/kodiak-cub-modifications-7378.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
I heard from others that adding RV anti-freeze to the tanks would keep them flowing in freezing temperatures. Instructions for the anti-freeze say not to dilute it. I suppose they mean it won’t prevent expansion in temperatures down to -30 degrees F. How low can you go? I intend to try this technique this winter in colder temperatures. I have a small “milk house” electric heater I may try with the electric tank heaters.
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Old 11-27-2018, 02:20 AM   #5
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Thanks. You did a lot of similar modifications that I was thinking of doing! Looking through your list, I had a few questions:
1- Why did you need to ventilate under the tub/shower area?

2- Where does the furnace blow into in the underbelly? Can the warm air circulate freely, or is it blocked by the cross members?

3- Did you insulate the roof vents or windows?


I think I will try the antifreeze in the grey and black water tanks first before springing for the tank heaters. Much of our winter camping will be dry camping so I won't have reliable 120V access and need to keep power consumption to a minimum. It doesn't get much below the mid-teens in the PNW in the night, so I'm thinking it should be ok.



Thanks!
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Old 11-27-2018, 02:19 PM   #6
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Free flow in Underbelly

1- Why did you need to ventilate under the tub/shower area?
ANS: The vent under the shower also removes cold air from the floor in the bathroom.

2- Where does the furnace blow into in the underbelly? Can the warm air circulate freely, or is it blocked by the cross members?


ANS: In my Cub, the furnace is on passenger side, plumbing comes through the floor on the driver's side. The plumbing hole is about 6" in diameter. I cut a 4" hole next to the furnace for the 4" duct. Flow is from one corner of underbelly to other corner of underbelly. A long duct would greatly restrict air flow.
Air circulates freely. When the dealer took the underbelly cover off, I saw lots of holes in the cross members including a 4” hole in each one. Cross members in front of and behind the space I wanted to heat were closed off using closed cell foam board.

3- Did you insulate the roof vents or windows?


ANS: No. We have three very large windows in our rear dinette floor plan. Double pane windows would be good, but were beyond what I was willing to do. The small ceiling vent and skylight would make little difference.
I don’t use the tank heaters for the same reason. It was relatively easy to do with the bottom off already. You would probably also need to wrap pipe heaters around all water supply and drain pipes for effective 120 volt use. If I did it over, I would even though I did not plan to use them.
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Old 11-27-2018, 02:19 PM   #7
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I put anti freeze in the tanks last year, i had a valve that was leaking but put a cutoff valve on the outlet. didn't work! Too diluted...
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