[A/S] RE: winter camping improvements

["Barbara Bobo" <bobo@xxxxxxxx>]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I just returned from a few days of winter camping near Ann
Arbor, Michigan. We were on a business trip and decided to try our Airstream
for comfort and savings.  We were in a state park with the only other
campers being deer hunters basically, so, we were a bit cautious about
hiking around in the oak forest!  Luckily Alan left his lucky deer antler
hat at home!!  Anyway, we knew it would be cold and we had winter camped
last year too, but in the Southwest, where it does go below freezing some
nights... so we knew a little bit of what to expect. I made a change that
some of you might like.

We have a rear bath and side twins.  Even though there are "pads" along the
sides of the beds to prevent you from being up against the sides of the A/S
I remembered feeling the cold through this cotton material last winter.
Luckily I had purchased some jacket lining fleece and didn't use it for the
jacket I was contemplating. It was the perfect color to coordinate with our
lovely Pendleton blankets we use on our beds. Not to belittle Ralph Lauren,
but we have a rather upscale "Native look" going on right now, with mostly
browns, blacks and tans in the mix.  This fabric is poly and has a fluffy
texture and as luck would have it, was the perfect size to cover the
existing liners.  This involved removing the "shelf" the curtains are
attached too and using slightly longer screws to remount everything. [This
was a good time to wash the curtains too, what a pain to rehang, but no real
way to avoid it I guess]. We couldn't entirely remove the existing lining
panels as the snaps the curtain ends attach to are evidentially secured to
the aluminum skin!  We simply tucked the lining fabric in around the edges
and over the existing panels and screwed everything back on. The effect is
almost like having carpeted walls and I could tell right away it was going
to keep us warmer....and it did.  With flannel sheets, wool blanket and a
small comforter we were warm as toast.

We dry camped as we were afraid of a freeze up, but it wasn't too bad. The
park has pit toilets and we were gone most of the day on business.  We
didn't cook in the camper either but ate out (one great meal per day) and
had a snack at breakfast and  at night if we needed one.

Bodium makes an electric water boiler pitcher that is handy for hot drinks
and we also have one of those huge electric radiators.  We also had to have
a new furnace installed just before we left as the 30 year old one was
rusted through. When we go to the southwest we run a tiny humidifier at
night too.

Does anyone know if the oil filled electric radiators come in a smaller
size??? This one is great, but it is so big!

The benefit of winter camping is price-we paid $19.00 per night for our site
and relative solitude.  In a park that is certainly full in the summer, we
were one of five units...another old A/S was stored there. It was so
quiet!!! The power was still on, or we could not have done this. The dump
station, which we didn't need was open, but the water was off, so you would
have had to use a hand pump to dump.  We always carry a bucket or two when
we camp just in case.

We had always wanted to winter camp and now we know we can do it in almost
any weather as we had 3" of snow when we were in MI. We missed out on the
blizzard Ohio had last week!, which was pretty funny seeing as how we were
several hundred miles north.  That is the Midwest for you! We need to
remember to pack a snow shovel, maybe a small bag of sidewalk salt and some
deicer spray though.  I just "salted our steps" with table salt and we were
able to open our truck doors without help, but the locks were not frozen
this time.  We didn't have a real "ice storm" though, just  a bit of ice.

If you dry camp, you don't have to wonder if every little "ping" you hear at
night is your plumbing freezing up.  But you do have to be creative when it
comes to those night trips to the outhouse!  I carry an old fashioned "potty
jar" with us, just
in case!


Barbara from Ohio/Hope Bay Ontario
1973, 29' International
License Plate "OVRDRWN"