When we purchased Silver ‘Rita in September 2013, we made arrangements to store her for the winter. It was a smart move, as the winter or 2013-14 was quite brutal in Indiana. In April 2014 we brought her out of storage and began living in her. Remember- our original plans were to begin full-timing around May 2015 when Tom retired, but after we found just the right trailer, and after the house sold much more quickly than anticipated, we found ourselves accelerating the time table. We spent the summer and fall in and around Indianapolis and central Indiana, with trips to Michigan, Missouri, West Virginia, and Texas. As winter 2014 approached we decided we were experienced enough “trailerites” that we’d try to survive the winter in the trailer. We returned in mid-January from Florida and prepared ourselves for several weeks of winter in an RV park on Indianapolis’ south side.
The park had heated/insulated water pipes for our water connections; we purchased a heated water hose for our fresh water connections. Tom put a light bulb for heat in the hose connection compartment. We put bubble wrap pads over the skylights and fan vents; we lined the windows with bubble wrap. We added extra weather stripping around the door, and on really cold nights we draped a heavy blanket. All of these actions really did help reduce heat loss. When the sun shone, we peeled back some of the bubble wrap to wipe down the condensation. Exhaust fans helped, but never completely stopped, condensation on single pane glass. Whenever the weather allowed we opened windows to get fresh air in for as long as possible.
We propped open the cabinet below the kitchen sink, and held the shower door open an inch or so with a bungee cord. The wardrobe door was likewise propped open, to help keep the pipes to the shower valve, and the water pump, from freezing.
We didn’t experience trouble with running water until the temps got down below 10 degrees. Although the compartment for the water inlet had a light bulb in it, the brass fitting on the hose connecting to the trailer water line did freeze up. Fortunately, the fresh water tank was full, ready to go, and in the heated area below the floor. The same was true with the gray and black holding tanks. While the tanks never froze, the valves didn’t like temps below 10 degrees either. Most of the time we could simply wait until the temperature came up before dumping, but if we really needed to dump and the valve was frozen, we would take a pot of heated water, and pour it into the drain hose backward toward the valve, hold the hose up so that the hot water pooled by the valve, until it thawed out – presto, problem solved! There were also some days when we would leave the gray valve open, allowing the warm water from showers and dishwater to flow directly into the sewer drain.
On a couple of really cold nights we had water freeze in the shower drain trap. Rock salt in the drain prevented that from recurring, and in the black tank as well. If salt didn’t work for the shower, RV antifreeze did the trick.
We have two 40 lb. propane tanks. A tank would usually last about a week when we were using the furnace regularly from January to late March. When one was empty Tom would take it out, strap it into the truck bed and get it filled. We became good friends with the propane man at Flying J! We had two small space heaters that we used quite a bit as well. The one in the bathroom made getting out of the shower much warmer in the morning.
We didn’t have a lot of heavy snow and thought that we’d get through the winter without having to buy a snow shovel-our old ones went into the garage sale offerings after we sold our house. But, with only a couple weeks of March left, we did get a deep enough snow that we had to get a shovel. Not so much for us, but for our dog Jasmine, our short-legged, blind mini dachshund-she couldn’t find a place to do her business so Tom shoveled a doggy doo area for her!
Long Trailer, Long Trails 