winterizing in rainy cold Western Washington

[clikrf8]

Okay, we will be winterizing our 2011 FWC Eagle. I have read a few threads so know to:
Drain water tanks (grey and fresh, no shower)
insulate water pump?
Fill propane tanks and one other step I forgot
Turn 3 way fridge off.

Some hazy unclear to dos:
Should we have wiped the fabric pop up with 303 preservative before we used it or can we do it now?
Should we store camper with top up? We have a very tall shop so height is no problem. Should we lower it occasionally?
Since it is so damp here, should we bring cushions in the house?
What about opening doors and windows including the fabric flaps and running a fan occasionally?
Not sure if we will use it a few more times before the real winter sets in. Temps here on our mountain can get to single digits, not for sustained periods of time but for a few days.


Anything else? I am a terrible researcher and have a hard time finding all I want to know in one post or one manual. Lazy, too, I guess.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[K7MDL]

You may want to look at your internal piping inside the counters. I believe FWC should have instructions on how to drain your pipes, and (I think) they started recently installing the piping to remove low spots and have a low point drain.

On my 2006 I removed the cabinet front and took a good look. I open the water tank drain on the back of the camper and the pulled the drain/anode plug in the water heater. That took care of most of the water. There was a small low point in the piping near the water heater inside the cabinet. It is PEX piping and somewhat flexible and I was able to reposition it so the water tank fitting is now the low point in that area. The last area I have to drain is the outside shower fittings accessible through a cabinet door. These can be removed by hand, drained, and put back on with some care, no tools required really. I find this fairly easy to do and I prefer dry pipes to RV antifreeze in this small system. I jog the pump a bit to help remove water from it as much as possible. I have found there is not enough water left to be a freezing problem. It is worth a look to see what you have and how it works.

Propane and appliances are off. I have a solar on top and as long as I do not cover it, it keeps my battery topped off, even in winter. Else I plug it in to the house. If you cannot keep it taooped off in teh camper while in "storage" bring the battery into your garage and put it on a battery maintainer or remember to periodically charge it (monthly).

I usually close up the windows and top vent and put is Dri-eze crystals in a container set in a plastic pan to catch caustic overflow. Around here there is so much condensation on open windows and vents it rains inside (on the vent interior or windows interior) if I leave them open. That was immediately followed by mildew. The dri-eze and closed system has worked well for my boat and camper for several years. Especially if you put a tarp over the top. If you have power and want to open the vents (in a way to keep the vermin and bugs out) consider a small fan to help move the air and minimize mildew chances. There are also RV/boat winter heaters, some with fans that help keep the air moving and dry(er). Look at RV centers (Camping World in Mt Vernon is not too far from you) and West Marine. Remember opening the lower access doors as vents makes a nice doorway for mice and cats.

If I put a tarp over, I try to place PVC pipe over the top, in combination with the load bars I have, ensure ventilation of the roof. The hard part is snow removal and rain puddle prevention. With my FWC metal roof I have elected to not cover it during the winter. My previous camper and boat had rubber or sunbrella roofs and it was better to keep them dry. Each spring and fall I have to lean off the algae that accumulates on the roof (mostly along the tracks and solar brackets, vent)in normal usage so covering for winter does not remove that effort.

You can apply 303 anytime, I prefer when the temperatures are not too cold. I store the camper with the top down, sides clean and dry. It should stay dry. Mildew primarly accumlates in wet area on the dirt on the surfaces. Clean dry siding fabric should not accumulate mildew.

During the winter I periodically check in on the camper and open the door and air it out. I leave the top down. I tend to bring in the towels and blankets and other soft goods. Given teh succes sof keeping the inside dry I have not needed to bring in the cushions. Bringing them in is one less thing to worry about though while you establish your success baseline.

I have visions of using my camper a bit during teh winter to spend a night on the coast winter storm watching (like Kalaloch). Since I tend to leave the camper on the truck longer these days, Covering it is not convenient and I keep it mostly ready to go, so closing it up and Dri-eze is the simple route for me. I use bottled or jugs of water rather than fill the tank for simple winter excursions. When I do take it off, I use jack stands supporting 4x4s under the floor with the camper jacks carrying minimal weight.

You might see my camper in the area as I freqent Walker Valley ORV park east of Big Lake and one of my daughters is in the dorm at WWU so we visit and deliver "stuff" periodically.

- Mike

 

[pods8]

Put a tub of damprid in there if you're worried about internal moisture. But if you have indoor storage I'd just park it in there and leave the door/windows open every so often.

 

[highz]

I put in a gallon of RV antifreeze and run the pump until it comes out the faucet. That has worked fine for protecting the entire water system. It just requires flushing it all out in the spring, which is easy enough, and I do the yearly water system sanitizing after I flush out the antifreeze.

I try to do the Formula 303 thing on the vinyl in the spring and autumn. I also use ProtectAll on the rest of the camper, because I don't have inside storage, and I hope it will help delay UV damage.

I use my camper some in the winter, plus the climate is drier here, so I don't do anything special to the interior, except cover the windows with Reflectix when not in use (to prevent UV fading/damage to interior fabrics). If the forecast is for snow, I'll throw a tarp over the camper to make snow removal a little easier. The tarp doesn't stay on long, because if there's snow on the roads, I'll drive the truck instead of my Civic daily driver.

 

[clikrf8]

Thanks so much for all the help, especially Mike (K7MDL). We do have the solar panel and the shop has side clear panels so the solar should trickle charge the battery. We will keep the top down; it was clean and dry the last time we had it up. We will probably keep it on the camper until December just in case an opportunity arrives for an adventure. The 303 will probably wait until next spring. The damprid/heater/fan idea will probably be alternated.

Thanks again.

PS,
Finally updated avatar/status to reflect the here and now.

 

[Jon&Sue_DeArman]

I would use it, not store it. This is NW Washington not Montana. Sue & I use our Ranger all year round including skiing in the Methow, where it really drops into the low teens. FWC's work fine, just watch the snow load at night.

 

[busboy66]

I store my Eagle on a cart in a very low garage. I leave the top vent and side window popped a little. The top is down obviously, but I prop it up a little with a 2x4 front and back to allow both sides of the fabric to breathe. The battery comes inside the house with a trickle charge. I also bring in the upholstery.

It is a shell, so no plumbing/propane etc.

 

[Kodachrome]

Huh, I thought this was going to be a post about using your pop-up in the Winter. We use ours a ton in Winter for all kinds of outings and paid photo shoots, heck it is not even cold here yet, 23 degrees. I guess I have never thought about storing ours, maybe if we left the country for a month or more...?

 

[K7MDL]

We get tons of rain mixed with the cold which takes the fun out of camping on the wet side of Washington here in the winters. Still some like to camp at the snowmobile and skiing areas, most are on the eastside of the state and much drier conditions. The west side is very steep and mild temps with limited depth of snow above 3,000ft. Trails and roads turn to mud. In my case I camp mostly to support my offroad motorcycling and that stuff slows down big time Nov-Mar in the state. The high mountain trails did not open until mid-August last summer due to late rain and smow melt rates. Unlike the rockies, the west side of WA is not cold enough so we get rain and mud.

 

[Kodachrome]

I suppose that is true. In 08 I spent from just before Halloween to nearly thanksgiving traveling from Astoria Oregon to the CA redwoods and just could not believe how dark it was. Even in mid day it was like a half hour after sundown in the Rockies.

 

[MarkBC]

I suppose that is true. In 08 I spent from just before Halloween to nearly thanksgiving traveling from Astoria Oregon to the CA redwoods and just could not believe how dark it was. Even in mid day it was like a half hour after sundown in the Rockies.

Yes, the west side of the Pacific Northwest -- for the wet 6 months -- is not a place to depend on solar power.
(In Bend we have clearer skies...but we're already down to less than 10 hours between sunrise and sunset)