i bought an older shadow cruiser slide in camper a couple months ago so i could get out of paying for hotels and restraunts on our travels. (80,000 Miles ) since Nov 06.
Been loving it until this last trip. Got down to 13 degrees in Nebraska a couple nites ago when we were there and could't keep warm in the camper.
Furnace ran all nite and wasn't to bad in the overhead sleeping area but we had milk on the floor that froze.
This is my firsr camper. are there some tricks to keeping warm in these things?

 

I dunno. Maybe six layers of down comforter and sleep with the milk?

I've never owned a slide-in, but I'll be keeping tabs on this thread to see other responses.

Justin

 

Something must be wrong with the heater. I've had three and they all kept it reasonably warm, even deer hunting in Colorado.

Just a thought......if you're out of propane, the blower will run, but no heat. Also, be sure you have propane and not butane. Butane will not flow when it gets real could outside......I made that mistake onece several years ago.

 

It was blowing heat all nite (propane). Thinking i may put some foam insulation board between truck bed and camper bottom and cut some foam the size of the windows to put up over the windows.
Also looking around for a catalitic heater

 

Is your furnace near the floor? It should be. Mine works great. Maybe you've got a leak through one of the lower doors that go into the truck bed? Maybe the seal on the bottem of the main door?

 

From my experience with cold weather and truck campers I've never had much of a problem keeping them warm. Even in a popup in windy cold 5 degree weather out by Valentine Wildlife Refuge I've stayed plenty warm.

For one, I always use electric heaters since you usually have to pay for electricity at a lot of campgrounds. Propane is only for the middle of nowhere!

I'd check to see how well the heater is really blowing. All of my propane heaters usually put out lots of heat to the point of melting me out of the place!

Is it a popup or a hardside camper? Lots of cold air can get through the floor and providing some insulation between the camper and truck bed can help. Make sure you have no major leaks or cracks in the seams. If anything get some good caulk and seal the heck out of it. See if you can cram some insulation in places too. I also used a sleeping bag with a rating down to zero degrees as a comforter and that help keep a lot of body heat in the bed. Oh, make sure your roof vents aren't wide open as a lot of heat will escape there.

Well, good luck. Have good one.

 

the heater is on the drivers side wall about 18" above the floor. i am going to go thru it this weekend and stuff it full of insulation anywhere i can find a place to stuff it. i think the windows are a major part of it but the walls themselves were cold enough you didn't want to get close to or lean against them.

 

Ihave run across older lower end R.V.s of all types that had NO insulation in them at all. Look at any inside openings to see if there is any fiberglass insulation. In R.V.s it is almost always yellow in color. Most of these units were sold new out of the warmer parts of the Country. Frank

 

i will check it out this weekend. I know i was having problems with the tail lights when i first picked it uo and when i took off the lens there was insulation in that part of the camper.

 

Here is a link to the wave heaters. These are supposed to be very nice heaters. I have not purchased one yet but plan to.
http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/r...an-heaters.htm

you can google wave heaters and get more info.

For your bed area you can get a piece of pink styrofoam and put that under your bed.

another thing I heard about was using a large computer fan to help circulate the air in the camper. The computer fan runs on so little juice it is supposed to help the batteries last alot longer if you dont have a hookup. and they are quiet.

how about making some storm windows for the inside? On rv.net a guy posted some pics of his camper mods and his storm windows were great. He made a wood frame to fit over the window and in that frame he put plexiglass. each storm window was made to fit over the existing windows. he made simple locking mechanism's and used sticky foam tape to seal the frame to the wall. these storm windows fit over the shades. He also said that it helped with condensation as well as helped with the heat.

 

Hot air rises so I'm not real surprised at the milk freezing. If your bunk was somewhat comfortable, you might consider putting things that freeze up in a cupboard or at least on a table.

Another thing to try is putting milk, etc. in a cooler. It helps keep the cold out and might keep it from freezing.

We have used our furnace from time to time but have not camped at 13 degrees. I am not so sure ours would keep things warm enough even at full blast. As long as there are electrical hookups I'd probably opt for an additional space heater. If you are on DC only, the options are very limited.

 

If the furnace is blowing hot air 18" off the ground, you can use a battery operated fan to move the air down low, you know it will rise again.

Just a thought.

 

Our Lance has the winter package so no problem keeping it warm, but the mattress didn't want to get warm with our body heat and it felt cold all night. So I put a layer of 1/2" blueboard under the mattress and it feels much better. This won't heat your camper but it is a good thing.

 

i managed to get the camper off the truck last nite. first thing i noticed when i looked under it was the floor has no insulation under it si am going to pick up some styrophome today and cover it and also will put a sheet under the mattress. Also going to make some storm windows.

 

Hey Herb, Check out this thread. Lots of great info and pics here.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fu...g/1/page/1.cfm