Winter is coming.
While I’m happy the speedy summer means we’re that much closer to the next season of Game of Thrones, it makes me anxious in many other ways. And while I love the freedom afforded us with camper living, sometimes having too many choices is as bad as none at all. Okay, maybe not as bad, but just as frustrating. It’s like having to pick between having ricotta pie, cheesecake or ice cream for dessert – how does a girl choose? Notice I didn’t include anything chocolate in that list, because the choice is always chocolate – even if it means getting funny looks when the waiter plops down three plates in front of you… *grin*
Before I get into our current dilemma, I’ll start with a few things we learned over the chilly winter months. Our dehumidifier was one of our best friends – I wish we hadn’t waited so long to purchase it (I think it was late December before we got around to getting one). Our Comfort Furnace was our other best friend. Vinyl insulating tape (specifically the Gorilla brand) seemed to do a slightly better job at keeping the windows draft-free, but the silver insulating tape that we bought to cover the seams in our pink foam insulation board skirting was much easier to remove in the spring. We weren’t sure if one length of heat tape would work, because it ended up being a few inches shorter than our water hose – however, we had almost no issue with freezing, and a neighbor who used two heat tape packages and super insulated their hose ended up having it melt. Here are a handful of pictures to help illustrate what I mean –
Soleus Air 25-Pint Dehumidifier
Comfort Furnace 1500-PX-UV Quartz Infrared Heater
One of the windows we sealed with Gorilla Tape.
One of the windows we sealed with silver insulating tape (same stuff we used on the seams of the skirting).
Hubby’s excellent job of fitting 2-inch foam board, jig-saw style, around the camper.
We didn’t insulate our stink pipe like our neighbors did, but had no problems with frozen poop.
Our water hose set-up – I don’t remember the specifics, but I’m sure hubby
could provide details, if anyone was interested.
Let’s see, what else? It’s amazing how much stability the foam insulation gave the camper – during the warm months, we put concrete blocks underneath corners, but the time in between de-winterizing and re-summerizing seemed almost boat-like (not quite as list-y, but enough we noticed). We got spoiled by Mother Nature, as New Hampshire had an extremely mild season, but even on the few sub-zero stretches we had, we managed nicely.
I can’t think of anything else to share, other than a preview of the gorgeous spot we ended up with for the summer – same campground, but it feels like we moved so much further than 1/16th of a mile!
Sid the cat, and Eddie the dog on moving day – yes, our cat is on a leash…more on that in my next entry.
Feel free to shout out!