winterize or store south

[leslie]

Hubby and I started seriously planning for an RV about 18 months ago, discussing how we wanted to use the RV, looking at the variety of RVs, deciding to tow, and finally down to the Camplite, which we should have by this time next month. I WANT TO GO! However, hubby is not planning to retire until next May. I told him I will take lots of pictures as I travel with the RV. (He was supposed to retire this past May.)

So - I want to head out for several trips during the cold months. What to do? Store it up here where we live, and winterize and then undo it each month, or find a place to store it down south?

What plans do you have for winter?

[tinkeringtechie]

We don't camp during the winter months, but I've heard of people winterizing and then just using campground restrooms and bottled water. You could also rent an indoor storage facility near you so that you don't need to winterize at all.

[david]

You will need to winterize anyway in most locations "down south". Any place north of Orlando/Tampa, Florida or north of Corpus Christi, Texas to give two examples has the potential of freezing pretty hard- 25 degrees or below.

But winterizing is no big deal. I can do ours in ten minutes, excluding the time to let tanks and the water heater drain. Drain it down, open all taps, blow it down, break the water pump connection and run for a few seconds to blow out water, and put a couple of cups of pink antifreeze in the traps and you are good.

David

[admin]

A slightly more costly option would be to keep a heat source in the camper such as a small space heater. This wont do much to help your lines that run on the outside but if you don't keep them full it shouldn't be a problem. We would do this with ours if temps were going to be around freezing for extended periods of time but we didn't want to winterize the camper. Granted this is not a good option if the temps are well below freezing.

[funpilot]

I am in southern Virginia and I will winterize.

[pinstriper]

If you are camping anywhere near where you store it, un-winterizing it will only mean stuff breaks on your trip instead of in storage. A trailer sitting out at a campsite in 25 degs is just as likely as one stored to have the pipes underneath freeze.

In these parts, we're safe through about Thanksgiving, then will winterize until March.

If we desperately need to get away, we'll hotel camp.

[leslie]

Aha - I didn't explain that I want to spend about one week each winter month someplace down south. Last winter in Chicago taught me that I don't need 5 months of miserable.

Some people can't stand to be apart from their campers. I don't know if I will be one of those.

[pinstriper]

Oh, well then you take it down there, unwinterize, use it, then winterize before the trip.

Or store it down there if the location would tolerate not being winterized.

Have you considered buying a northern trailer for the summer and a southern trailer for the winter ?

[leslie]

Pinstriper, you got it exactly. I told my husband I wanted a Quicksilver pup. He asked instead of the Camplite? I said IN ADDITION. We're getting the Camplite.

[pinstriper]

Ummmm...I was being a wisea...I was joking.

Awkward.

[leslie]

But I wasn't joking! LOL!

[leslie]

Well... maybe I wasn't really serious. I knew hubby was going the extra mile for me with the Camplite. So I will go along with his wishes for using rv resorts.

[fasteddieb]

Karen and I are fortunate to have friends with a winter home on a landing strip near Lake Placid, FL.

They said they would not mind it if we kept our 21BHS there for the winter.

We plan on looking up the first average frost day here in the GA mountains, and trailering south before then so as not to have to winterize.

In addition, they have a very large hangar we might be able to store Campy in.

Then we'll be able to use that as a base of operations to points south - SW FL, the Keys, my daughter in Ft. Lauderdale, etc. Plus I just got back into biking, and riding on flatter, warmer roads in the winter will be a draw as well.

I know we have CampLite owners in that neck of the woods - we'll broadcast our intentions and trip dates here and try to hook up!

[leslie]

My husband, Al, and I plan to spend Christmas in Florida in our camper. He is thinking about taking AMTRAK back to Chicago so he can get back to work, allowing me to stay a little longer. Then I can leisurely go back north.

Once a month this winter, I would like to be in the camper somewhere the weather is warm. Since we have not yet taken delivery, I can't get too specific about where I want to go.