Snow and Ice questions

[mtnmanb]

Hi there, new to the forum. Ever since moving to WA, I've envied those who parked their RV in ski resort lots and stayed overnight. It's now time for me to be one of the privileged I live in the Seattle area, so the temps normally don't go below freezing very often (storage). The passes can get below freezing quite often though.

Does anyone have recommendations on doing this effectively?

A few questions come to mind:
What tires are best for driving in snow and ice?

What chains are the best on this rig?

Should I winterize and just use bottled water? Or can you heat the pipes effectively? Can you use the privy in freezing temps and not pop the tank?

Should I get an external propane tank and how do you hook it up?

Can I put a ski box on top or backside (on ladder)? Perhaps on the hitch?

What's the weight load on the roof (ie. snow and ice on the roof or ski racks)?

Ideas and thoughts welcome!

B)

[skater]

I can't answer most of those, but:

We used to camp in winter temperatures - in fact I've been in it on nights as low as 17 degrees F. You'd want to use the tank instead of city connection, but it's fine. The only two issues I've had doing it were:
--One time the one dump valve froze a bit. This could have been avoided by putting some RV antifreeze in the tanks.
--Another time a little water froze in the city connection. It was only a problem when I went to winterize after the trip, and it was just a matter of running some antifreeze into the line.

To hook up a second propane tank, you'd need someone qualified to add in a connection for you, assuming it's even possible - I'm not sure. This is something I don't like about motorhomes - that is, how the tanks are permanently mounted. I actually *enjoy* getting the tanks on our trailer filled now. But how long are you going to be staying? You should be able to handle two or three days on propane without a problem even with the furnace and water heater running.

You wouldn't be the first to do this with the B190 - there was someone in Colorado that did it, too. I seem to remember him saying that the B190 was actually pretty good in the snow, because of all of the weight. I have not tried it myself.

I don't know what the load limit is, but I've been up on the roof (~185 lbs at the time) several times without a problem, though I did try to spread out, too. Additionally, we had what we lovingly call "Snowmageddon" here in DC a couple years ago that left 18" or so of snow on the roof of our B190...no problem.

[sparky]

We have traveled in our camper in the winter and have encounterd snow. I live in wisconsin and have been driving a 1 ton dually 2 wheel drive truck for service for about 40 years. Been in lots of snow storms. Have absoultely no feargoing anywheres in the truck so am used to travel in snow. Driveing the B190 in snow is a whole different animal. Treat it with a great amount of respect when driving on snowy/icey roads. Once this thing starts to slide it goes where it wants to. Had it in Colorado, Winter Park. I was impressed at how it did in the mountains in a little snow. But took it very easy. I think we have been down to lower 20 at night with no freeze up. Days were above 30 so did not have to worry about freeze up. Drove back to Wisconsin from Colorado and wanted to see the badlands in the winter. Got my wish. Snowed 6" when we woke up. Had the park to ourselves. Absoutley gorgeous. You will have some expieriences!

[Keystone]

Hi,
We use our van for ski-resort camping all the time in Colorado. Ours has a 4x4 conversion which does give good traction on BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires. Because we live at 9200 feet, our winter excursions are all with the van completely winterized. Is is often well below zero overnight, so it's just not worth worrying about plumbing. We bring bottled (filtered from home) water, and buy more when we need to. For the toilet, we use clean waste bags since the indoor plumbing is not functional, or just use facilities at the resort.

Most importantly, the van stays cozy and warm with the furnace as long as we remember to top off the propane, and that lasts about 3 days max with heating and cooking when we're inside. We did run out once...also, we have learned to run the generator or start the van from time to time to make sure the batteries don't die from running the furnace fan so much. A good quality deep cycle coach battery is your friend. I like the odyssey. Sometimes we have to reposition the van in the middle of the night to allow the plow truck to maintain the parking lot, which is ok because it means we'll wake to a power day. Many times we've had hours of fresh tracks when others couldn't make the drive from town due to a storm. We keep the skis in the shower, and I don't know about using a box.

It's heaven winter camping this way. You are going to have so much fun! Keep in mind not every resort will allow you to do this, but there are many good ones that will.

[mtnmanb]

Thanks for the great tips! I've gotta ask though, what are "clean waste bags" and how do they work? Is that like blue bags when climbing a volcano around here?

Most resorts here in WA allow you to camp in the RV lots. Some have hookups, some don't. I've already done it twice this spring at Crystal, but it was always above freezing so far.

I'll have to look into a conversion to 4x4, but it sounds pretty pricey.

Cheers and happy skiing!

B)

[Keystone]

Learn all you need to know at http://www.cleanwaste.com. Happy camping!

[RCR]

Our B190 is our winter ski chalet also. Our home resort is
Mammoth, Ca and we always have awesome experiences when we use it.

We always carry chains and with a little pre-planning and flexibility have never been stranded.

Usually the nights are in the low to mid teens but well above freezing in the daytime here. I pour a bottle of the cheapest vodka I can find into our tanks and have not had a problem with freeze-ups. Our excursions are usually 2-3 nights max and even with cooking 2-3 meals a day and leaving the heater at 65 all night we don't usually run out of propane.

We also sometimes idle for a while to give back a little charge to the batteries. We have 2 deep cycle marine batteries of about 190 amp hours each (from Walmart). One is up front in the engine compartment and another we had put in a vented battery box under the couch.

We also carry a small electric cube heater that could fire up with the generator and as further backup we have a Mr Heat propane canister heater that we sometimes bring. It is rated for use in the rig as long as a window is left open a bit. I have 2 separate CO detectors as well just in case.

It's all overkill probably because with us in the rig and some 3 season sleeping bags -it can keep quite warm enough.

We also keep our skis and boards in the shower.

For further storage (boots, sewer gear, collapsible seats, oil, etc) we use a hitch mounted aluminum rack with an aluminum lockable chest - its perfect.

There is another B190 I've seen around town last winter that simply bungee corded a ski bag to the top aluminum rails. That's a pretty cool option.

On other tip- we bought one of those lockboxes for doorknobs when you sell your house and keep a set of keys attached to the rails. They came in handy last trip when I dropped my keys during a snowball fight.

[skater]

I pour a bottle of the cheapest vodka I can find into our tanks and have not had a problem with freeze-ups.

A friend of mine wants to try winterizing her camper using cheap Vodka. She and her husband just built a heated garage so they can keep both of their Airstream campers inside and warm all winter, so it'll probably never happen, but she still talks about it!

[mtnmanb]

Thanks for the great tips, I'll be doing a bunch of these! The "clean waste" idea is interesting, I ordered their trial pack to give it a whirl.

I already have an electric cube heater for when I have shore power, two 0deg bags for winter, and will be getting window covers for insulating soon. I already use the tub to transport the Honda 2000 generator and have built shelves in there, so I'll have to figure out where to store the skis. Maybe a swing out rack on the hitch for easy access, we'll see. Right now, they've been transported on the floor and upper bunk.

I'll have to buy good chains come October when they are back on the shelves. That is, unless someone has a good online place to get them.

I may look into adding a second deep cycle battery and put it under the couch, I've run low on power a few times now.

I've had the rig out 5 of the last 7 weekends since I bought it, lots of projects already! I hope I fixed the leak issue from the side windows/awning area, that one's a PIA.

[Marko Polo]

In regards to storing ski gear:

What if you get a hitch-mounted cargo carrier and build an upright aluminum locker on it? You could have a metal fab shop do it fairly inexpensive and then you'd have your stuff outside, water-tight, and you could lock it when you're away. If it's centered I don't think it would sway very much, but I've also never had one. Input?

I'm taking my ski gear and climbing gear and planning on keeping them in a similar set-up.