True 4-season truck camper/travel trailer?

[Photomike]

You've already gotten some really good advice but let me toss in what I experienced.

I camped in some of the temperatures that you're talking about minus 30 - 40 Celsius regularly and I did not have any problem with the units that I had (class C, Truck camper and now a van). I did this by myself and with my two boys and it was manageable. A night or two and we had a blast when you got into the third and fourth night it was a challenge as things got wet and no good way to dry things out, no shower, damp, cool, lack of power, etc.

In a truck camper or a small trailer at -40 you will feel the cold from the walls because the units are so small and you are so close to the walls. They also cool off fast as you have such a low volume of air in the unit to hold heat. This means that your furnace will run A LOT!! This also means that you will need to carry a lot of propane for not only the furnace but for cooking.

On my units water could be used inside in jugs but not in the pipes. At -30 and -40 Celsius even if you have insulated sides, floor and tanks you're going to have issues. If you do try using the water system you will find yourself running the heat constantly and keeping cupboards open to let the heat get in so the lines don't freeze. The areas that have the pipes don't get heat blowing in them, even in units that are rated as four season. SO you will need to modify the heating system or not use the water system

Another issue that you're going to be looking at is power. Because it's going to be in the winter time solar is totally useless. You can get some power from the solar but you will not have enough panels on the roof in the short days of winter to be able to recharge to be able to stay at a place for any length of time with just solar. So that's going to mean that you're going to need a generator as well. Plus you're going to need a spot to store that generator. On top of that you're going to need the fuel to run the generator. All adding to the space requirements and the weight! Batteries will need to be moved inside the insulated shell to keep a good charge. I would go with triple what you think you will need for power storage. I would also stay away from Lithium in those temps unless they were fully inside and heated.

Many of the four season units are a pain to dump the tanks in the winter, if you can find a place to do so. They may insulate the camper but many of the dump valves are not heated and freeze solid at those temps.

Because you're looking at a unit that is able to be used in the winter you're looking at something that is going to be a lot heavier. A F-150 will not handle any unit that will be big enough for you guys and that you can use it in four seasons. I would say a 350 would be a good start but possibly even larger.

If I was going to do it again and I wanted to do something specifically for those temperatures and a family I would probably buy myself a box truck with a crew cab. Insulate with at least 6 in of insulation. Add in a wood stove for a second heat source that would not drain my batteries and either a propane, gas or diesel heater to go with it. I would then put all my tanks, water lines and batteries inside of the insulated shell. I would also have the heat blowing into the walls so that the walls would stay warm.

 

[simple]

You bring up an interesting point about air volume not holding much heat. Air has low thermal mass. I imagine foam walls and most everything else plastic and foam in an RV has a low thermal mass as well. What inside of an RV besides your body stores significant heat and radiates it back? A hydronic radiant floor would be nice but not light. Maybe a worthwhile trade off for a microwave and that collection of cast iron. LOL

 

[stevo_pct]

Not sure if this has been said in previous posts, but you'd probably want a camper that is made from composite materials (vs aluminum frame). They are much better insulated and there is no thermal bridging through the frame.

 

[trackhead]

I camped in some of the temperatures that you're talking about minus 30 - 40 Celsius regularly and I did not have any problem with the units that I had (class C, Truck camper and now a van). I did this by myself and with my two boys and it was manageable. A night or two and we had a blast when you got into the third and fourth night it was a challenge as things got wet and no good way to dry things out, no shower, damp, cool, lack of power, etc.

In a truck camper or a small trailer at -40 you will feel the cold from the walls because the units are so small and you are so close to the walls. They also cool off fast as you have such a low volume of air in the unit to hold heat. This means that your furnace will run A LOT!! This also means that you will need to carry a lot of propane for not only the furnace but for cooking.

I camp/ski with my kid every weekend in cold MT temps, previously Alaska. Diesel heater runs non-stop on low, everything dries out. We designed our interior to be able to hang our clothes and dry our ski boots. Short plumbing lines that get heat, dry flush toilet (no black/grey tank), 2" XPS walls. No issues at all in cold temps, ever.

We bring a 2kw gen, have two run of the mill RV batteries inside (warm), and only burn maybe a gallon of gas through the generator per ski weekend and we run it just to run it. We could get buy on 1/4 gallon easy. Gen stores either in camper, or back seat of truck on floor. Not an issue, easy, no hassle. No extra fuel needed. Just the fuel in the generator.

It's possible, if you build ground up, difficult if you buy commercial built rig.

 

[grindmonkey]

I always believe there is some expectation management with "off season" camping. If you have the ability to to get a fully insulated composite camper and truck capable of managing it then by all means.

We camp mostly in the winter in Colorado. We have a hallmark cuchara with a SRW F350. I went this route for ease of driving in terrible conditions on mountain passes and ability to still park at ski resorts. It is no where as insulated as some of the other builds we have seen here. There are 5 of us in the little space and that provides a lot of body heat.

We run it dry and use 3x 1 gallon containers for water.

When at a KOA (they are empty this time of year) we run a 110v space heater and use their toilets as a primary. It saves us from worrying about propane or battery life during our overnights. When we go to the ski areas we have a base camp with a propane furnace and use our camper toilet. We use RV antifreeze so it will dump when we get back to lower elevations with a dump station.

We are "camping" so we dont necessarily expect all the creature comforts. But the space is warm, comfy, and has enough beds so we can all sleep inside.

 

[carleton]

Camped out a number of times at around -20F in interior Alaska in a Transit with an Espar heater. It was a simple build, so we could keep the Espar going or remove all the water & walk away.
A few considerations for us, and GrindMonkey notes: Expectation Management.

1) While we could comfortable camp at that temp in the van, you spend a lot of time in the van. Doing outdoor activities for hours at a time at -20 is unpleasant. So, you probably have better solar gain in Quebec than AK, but for us camping overnight in that cold, while possible & reasonable comfortable, made it so that we didn't have many activities to do during the day (other than driving).

2) We were off grid, and starting up a gas rig at -20F or colder is doable, but not necessarily great for your vehicle if you are going to do it alot. We'd sometimes carry a generator to plug in our block heater/oilpan heater/trickle charger, but a block heater ideally takes 2-3 hours, so.....a lot of time on the generator. We would literally keep a honda generator warm in the van, then carry it out at 5am & plug in the van.