How Low Can We Go?

You sound like a Boy Scout with a drivers license. Good luck to you on your travels. I am still a year out on finishing my ham so I will look back for suggestions.

I spent two and a half years, four nights a week, living in Hamlet (ham style 10 foot Shasta Compact) while I commuted from Tacoma to Portland. For the Pacific NW, Portland can get quite warm in the summer and quite chilly in the winter. Both winters I was there, the thermometer dropped below we degrees for several days at a time. Several days were below 15. We also have 3/4” foam insulation and nothing under the floor. I used the smallest electric space heater we could find. That kept it above freezing at least. Our down comforter plus a knit hat kept me warm for sleeping. If you haven’t perfected the fine art of getting dressed inside a sleeping bag, you might want to give it a dry run. The other thing that helped on chilly evenings was having a couple coworkers over for dinner and a game of cards. It’s amazing how quickly and effectively four adult bodices can warm up 60 square feet! If you use a gas lamp, that’ll also help while you’re awake.

With Hamlet getting some maintenance and repairs, we are a little envious of anyone who can hit the road. Have a wonderful, safe trip!

The coldest I have camped is 30 degrees and the space heater did fine but the real issue was the wall by my feet. What I learned from that was,

-Sleep with socks on
-Take an electric throw blanket and turn on along the wall and it keeps the wall and bottom of the bed warm.

The only other issue is were your water or grey water is being stored and will it freeze and cause issues.

Good luck.

I found the wave3 worked well down to 30 degrees if it’s on for a couple of hours. If the camper is below freezing it takes time for the wave3 to catch up. As VIkx said, on the grid a small $25 electric space heater works really well. Off the grid in below freezing temperatures we use the Little buddy heater. It has 9000btu verses 3000btus for the wave3. But it goes through gas fast.

We currently use a popup.
For spring fall:
Wave 6
Small 12v desktop fan
Reflectix cut to fit all windows
At night:
Point the wave heater (radiant heat)to where we sleep, and use the fan to keep cool air from pooling around the perimeter of the sleeping area. The heater ends up on low even when the outside is 15deg or above. (wave6 on low = wave3 on high). The limiter then ends up being condensation. The floor is uninsulated.
Daytime:
Wave6 on high to keep temp near 70f, outside temps 15-25f.
The reflectix over the windows is a very noticable improvement, to the point of warming the place very comfortably - or not.
Thought I would give my 2cents, and listening intently while we work on its replacement.
4 people at the table will produce 4-600watts
Hoping our wave6 is not too large for our 15ft mobile scout. The way it sounds it may be, hmm, or maybe not. Fall is a glorious time to be outside.

Thanks Rod! 

This is a photo of a skirt. RVers and van-lifers use them but I am not going to do one on my camper. I will cover our windows and floor, and make sure we're air tight 'cept for the Fantastic Fan and the AC vent to reduce condensation. 


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