Hierarchy of hard sided campers that handle the snow/winter?

[rruff]

Here is a data point from our composite panel camper. During our winter travels, the Webasto ThermoTop burns around a litre of fuel every 2 1/2 hours.

It would be interesting if you can convert that to an average W/F of heat supplied. That's Fahrenheit between indoor and outdoor temperature. I think our campers are fairly comparable in size. Mine is ~13 W/F in testing (For instance a 50F delta T, would be 650W) after saturating for 3 days, and it was 18 W/F the first day. That's with no one in it, BTW. Body heat can help a lot if the insulation is good!

 

[JSKepler]

Greetings. New on this forum. Based in Northern Utah. Hoping to buy/build a rig that I can use for winter camping and accessing backcountry and crosscountry trailheads. And, of course, the other three seasons. With family in Arizona I'll want to stay cool as well as warm and insulation accomplishes both. I'm new to 'RV'ing' but I have as much desire to stay in an RV park as I do to be hospitalized. I see now that I'm more interested in overlanding, something I already do on motorcycles.

My current vehicle is a 2004 Ford F350 Super Duty Crew Cab 4x4 ShortBox with the 6.0 liter diesel. My hope is (was) to 'get' a '4-season' camper and put it in the bed. However, I tend to research stuff before making a move (maybe I could have researched that 6.0 better 😁) and am finding 4-Season might not mean 4-season.

At the moment I'm looking at a 2018 Lance 825 and a 2018 Northern Lite 8-11. Both are in great shape. Both claim 4-season. They have overlapping and different features. My 'research' says the Northern Lite is a much better unit than the Lance. It's also overweight for my F350. Seems to be overweight for everyone else's, too. The Lance, btw, is right there in the payload sweet spot. NL has a cassette toilet. 825 doesn't have a stove. Etc.

Then, I find this forum and it seems the general consensus is that the pre-built 4-season units have a long way to go to be true 4-season. What's worse, most of the arguments make sense and come with numbers that also make sense. Maybe it's like I discovered with motorcycles: you have to buy one (sometimes two, three, or more) to know which one you actually want. I ride a GS now and do BDRs as well as a Husky 501 for trails and such. And BDRs. Also thinking a good camper will extend my riding while simultaneously destroying my marriage .

Does it make sense to buy a pretty nice camper to learn about all this, then sell and build one? I'd go with an old beater like @IdaSHO did but I really want my wife to enjoy it and she's not going to enjoy a smelly old beater. The smell alone would be the end of that project. But not being familiar with RVs, I really don't know how to choose or if I'd be better off just waiting. The NL is a better design and larger. The Lance would be more nimble. The NL is overweight on my truck. The Lance doesn't have a basement. The gedankenexperiment goes on. I don't plan on epic journeys (yet) but it is cold in the mountains in the winter and I would like to have heat and water. Not getting any younger. Just kind of spinning my wheels right now.

 

[klahanie]

Greetings. New on this forum. Based in Northern Utah. Hoping to buy/build a rig that I can use for winter camping and accessing backcountry and crosscountry trailheads. And, of course, the other three seasons. With family in Arizona I'll want to stay cool as well as warm and insulation accomplishes both. I'm new to 'RV'ing' but I have as much desire to stay in an RV park as I do to be hospitalized. I see now that I'm more interested in overlanding, something I already do on motorcycles.

My current vehicle is a 2004 Ford F350 Super Duty Crew Cab 4x4 ShortBox with the 6.0 liter diesel. My hope is (was) to 'get' a '4-season' camper and put it in the bed. However, I tend to research stuff before making a move (maybe I could have researched that 6.0 better 😁) and am finding 4-Season might not mean 4-season.

At the moment I'm looking at a 2018 Lance 825 and a 2018 Northern Lite 8-11. Both are in great shape. Both claim 4-season. They have overlapping and different features. My 'research' says the Northern Lite is a much better unit than the Lance. It's also overweight for my F350. Seems to be overweight for everyone else's, too. The Lance, btw, is right there in the payload sweet spot. NL has a cassette toilet. 825 doesn't have a stove. Etc.

Then, I find this forum and it seems the general consensus is that the pre-built 4-season units have a long way to go to be true 4-season. What's worse, most of the arguments make sense and come with numbers that also make sense. Maybe it's like I discovered with motorcycles: you have to buy one (sometimes two, three, or more) to know which one you actually want. I ride a GS now and do BDRs as well as a Husky 501 for trails and such. And BDRs. Also thinking a good camper will extend my riding while simultaneously destroying my marriage .

Does it make sense to buy a pretty nice camper to learn about all this, then sell and build one? I'd go with an old beater like @IdaSHO did but I really want my wife to enjoy it and she's not going to enjoy a smelly old beater. The smell alone would be the end of that project. But not being familiar with RVs, I really don't know how to choose or if I'd be better off just waiting. The NL is a better design and larger. The Lance would be more nimble. The NL is overweight on my truck. The Lance doesn't have a basement. The gedankenexperiment goes on. I don't plan on epic journeys (yet) but it is cold in the mountains in the winter and I would like to have heat and water. Not getting any younger. Just kind of spinning my wheels right now.

I imagine it's a lot of work building a camper. Never done it, but just getting someone to build a shell is "work", certainly time.

Makes sense to buy used first and see if it turns your crank and if it does, start making a punch list of wants as you go along. Building first, esp for more than only yourself ... that would be a gamble in my book ...

No expert, but 4 season often means heated tanks and a modicum of insulation. A heated basement is useful but not critical.

Back in the day my wife and I did our share of winter camping in a (now vintage) FWC. Still survived. Helped being younger tho.

As for being comfortable, that's what the furnace is for. Ours got a good work out.


I get the smell issue. We looked a nice, older layout, used NL and it didn't pass the sniff test. Too bad as was good price and ready to roll.

Thing of it is, there are a lot of used units out there. You don't necessarily need a particular type if willing to be flexible - even short term. year or two.

How to choose ? Go out an look at some campers for sale and imagine how they might work. You like research. Great.

Wait ? For what ? Winter will be over in 3 months and you'll have another year not to worry about it !

Good luck.

 

[B^2]

Another thing to keep in mind is your version of winter could be a lot different than mine. In lake tahoe it doesn't get the same kind of cold that it would get if I was still going up to Northern Vermont. Good thoughts none the less.

 

[klahanie]

Another thing to keep in mind is your version of winter could be a lot different than mine. In lake tahoe it doesn't get the same kind of cold that it would get if I was still going up to Northern Vermont. Good thoughts none the less.

Good point. And very true.

I recall one time winter camping when I woke up and looked at the thermometer which read -15C (5F). Inside.

Could be worse elsewhere but the second thing that came to my mind that time was that I wouldn't have said no to a camper that was warmer !