Winter Travel & RON Stop Tips?

Pubtym · 10-23-2006, 02:50 PM

This will be our first winter with a Class A (2006 Suncruiser 35U) and we plan to do MH travel from SD to MO and Washington DC starting Nov 5 thru Nov 27. I don't plan on travel through or stay the night in snow storms. But, I have allways planned for the worst contingency. I have read the sketcy Winnie Manuals but I know there are some experienced tips out there on this forum. I'd appreciate any experienced tips: Ie: slide retraction after unplanned overnight snow, TV Sat antenna storage after unplanned overnight snow ,use of cable chains , use of jacks...etc. Thanks.

Pubtym · 10-23-2006, 02:50 PM

This will be our first winter with a Class A (2006 Suncruiser 35U) and we plan to do MH travel from SD to MO and Washington DC starting Nov 5 thru Nov 27. I don't plan on travel through or stay the night in snow storms. But, I have allways planned for the worst contingency. I have read the sketcy Winnie Manuals but I know there are some experienced tips out there on this forum. I'd appreciate any experienced tips: Ie: slide retraction after unplanned overnight snow, TV Sat antenna storage after unplanned overnight snow ,use of cable chains , use of jacks...etc. Thanks.

smlranger · 10-23-2006, 03:13 PM

I am sure some of the forum members who have traveled in winter more than I will respond. I will offer the following tips learned from a trip last year that put us in temps of about 16 degrees and wind at night, right after a dusting of snow during the day:

If you plan to leave a place early AM and there is any chance of snow during the night, put your slides in the night before. My LR slide froze in the open position and we had to wait a couple of hours for some thawing to get the slide in.

Plan to use either a small space heater or light bulb in your water compartment if it is going to get really cold.

Have a good hair dryer available. I used mine to defrost the TV antenna so we could retract it and to free up the black and grey water dump valves.

skigramp · 10-23-2006, 05:21 PM

Pub ...

a) I put trouble lights in the bays containing the water pump and the dump valves when I expect the overnight lows to be in the teens or below

b) fill you fresh water tank and stow your hose in the afternoon

c) dump your holding tank and stow your dump hose ...

d) run your gas furnace so that you get heat in you bays

e)avoid having your slides out when it snows ... if it turns cold the bottom layer of snow will turn to ice and stick to your slide topper ... (I learned this from the school of hard knocks in Zion Nat'l Park)

f)when it is cold, bringing your slides in will decrease the amount of space that your furnace needs to heat

g)don't travel on snow covered roads unless there is a clear track for one of your wheels

h)your jacks will retract VERY slowly on cold mornings ... so either don't put them down ... or allow a long time for retraction

FrontRangeRVer · 10-24-2006, 03:31 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by skigramp:
Pub ...

a) I put trouble lights in the bays containing the water pump and the dump valves when I expect the overnight lows to be in the teens or below

b) fill you fresh water tank and stow your hose in the afternoon

c) dump your holding tank and stow your dump hose ...

d) run your gas furnace so that you get heat in you bays

e)avoid having your slides out when it snows ... if it turns cold the bottom layer of snow will turn to ice and stick to your slide topper ... (I learned this from the school of hard knocks in Zion Nat'l Park)

f)when it is cold, bringing your slides in will decrease the amount of space that your furnace needs to heat

g)don't travel on snow covered roads unless there is a clear track for one of your wheels

h)your jacks will retract VERY slowly on cold mornings ... so either don't put them down ... or allow a long time for retraction </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Great post...and if you need driving info in snow, PM me as we drive our motorhome all the time in snow up here in the Rockies....

Pubtym · 10-24-2006, 04:41 AM

FrontRangeRVR: I'd appreciate your snow driving tips by PM. Seems you are in the spot to know them. Thanks

Pubtym · 10-24-2006, 04:43 AM

Great tips from all. Especially about jack retraction. Last night I found a tech tip on Winnie website about jack retraction time...can be up to 26 mins 0-30 degrees and faster retraction is not necessarily better.

Pubtym · 10-24-2006, 04:46 AM

What about some (1/2 gallon?) standard RV winterize fluid in black and grey tanks?..Prevent valve freeze up?

rvcarpenter · 10-24-2006, 06:13 AM

Driving tips:
I use my MH to go skiing all the time so I have some experience.

1st thing is make sure you have good tires, If you are planning a lot of driving in the snow I would go for some Mud & Snow rated tires.

Carry a bucket of sand (or cat litter) it's amazing how many problems can be solved by throwing some sand under the rear wheels

If your really serious about driving in the snow get chains and pratice putting them on in your drive way, the side of the raod in a driving snow storm is no place to learn how to put chains on.

once driving drive SLOW, adjust stopping distance, my MH works great in the snow starts and stops fine. Increase following distance and give yourself more room to stop. Do everything slowly accelerating and deccelerating.

Hikerdogs · 10-24-2006, 10:41 AM

If you use your jacks be sure to put a barrier (like a piece of plywood) down before you extend them. The jacks may just get frozen to the cold ground if you don't. Early on I had to crawl under the coach with a bucket of warm water after they froze into the soft ground.

We also added shutoff valves to the outdoor shower. You can either drain the system and them shut them off, or leave some RV antifreeze in the lines.
We always put RV antifreeze in the fresh water system late in the fall. Then when we use it during the winter we just shut off the valves to the outdoor shower before flushing the system. The anitfreeze will keep the lines & faucet from freezing even in the coldest weather.

RVDriver · 10-24-2006, 07:59 PM

I have a "Remote" Radio Shack Therometer,(indoor/outdoor) one next to onboard water tank, and the other in my refridge. I now know how cold my food is, (in cold weather I turn the refridge to "1"), and I know my water is not freezing, have driven and stayed overnight with furnace running 8 above no problem. On board water stayed at 42 degrees with furnace set on 67.

Bruce

Pubtym · 10-27-2006, 09:30 AM

Thanks to all for the great winter travel tips. I will copy them all to my Owners File.

Re RVDriver and the Remote Temp Sensor: I went to Wally World and bought a Acurite Remote Sensor set for $9.88. I took one strip of velcro (female) and attached it to the receiver. Then I took two strips of "male" velcro and placed one in the compartment with the freshwater tank directly on one of the tank holding bracket..and then placed the the second velcro (male) directly on one of the holding tank gate valves in the dump & fill compartment. Now I can move the sending unit to either location to get real time temperature sensing in those critical compartments. The dump and fill compartment has the least insulation along the sides and bottom...so I'l initially expect coldest temps there but we'll wait and see. Worst conditions could require a trouble light augmentation in this compartment.

Re:RVCarpenter's suggestion about carrying some sand or kitty litter. I'l be off to the builder's store to buy some very heavy gage small opening galvanized wire mesh. I plan to cut it into four strips 12"X 36". Strips can be placed in front of duals for short distance traction/start. Storage of these strips will be easy..flat on a compartment floor.

Hikerdogs · 10-27-2006, 03:49 PM

I'd be awfully careful using something like wire mesh or expanded metal to try and gain traction. If the tires start to spin you can cause a lot of damage or injury with that stuff flying all over the place. Anything you stick under the tires is going to come out the other side. I'd rather be hit by kitty litter than screen, boards, or even a rubber mat.

Sand, kitty litter, or oil dry (Same thing as kitty litter without the scent. You can get it in 50 lb bags at farm, hardware, & automotive stores) are by far the best, cheapest, and least hazardous.

Pubtym · 10-27-2006, 04:02 PM

Good point...Thanks.