[VAC] Re: Reply insulation - heaters - cold climates

[John Brooke <aggressivecreative@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello Jill,

You are referring to me in this posting. I have spent three Winters
living in my Argosy. I moved aboard my rather dilapidated rig in late
October. Most of the copper pipes had burst, the wiring was weird, the
whole back section in the bedroom was completely dry rotted under the
carpet and hidden by the bunks, the converter was the wrong kind, etc.
etc. etc. I fixed the pipes, installed a new toilet and ripped out and
patched what I could before the onslaught of Winter. During  one
enormous howling blizzard, I stuck my head out the door and suddenly
realized that my internal environment was protected by  a shell of
aluminum and insulation only two inches thick. My home was just an
aluminum tent, really. That's why I call it the "Tin Tent." During
that first Winter I sent lots of Prayers to the furnace God. I was
lucky it was a mild Winter. Only one really cold night when the
temperature plunged down to - 18 F, that's 18 below. It did get chilly
inside down to +50. During the ensuing Summer, and with limited funds
I repaired the most serious problems, like replacing the floor in the
back end and the bumper box, removing and repairing the banana skins
and the belly pan and replacing all the insulation from the rear up
about the front third. I also rewired the internal system and replaced
the converter with a hi-tech Todd. The furnace was much happier about
this, and now I can have twelve volt lights, and built in radio on at
the same time as the furnace is operating a big improvement over the
previous Winter. So my second Winter was much more amenable, and it
was also pretty mild. Last summer I rewired the front end and did the
belly thing and repaired the whole front end including replacing the
floor, re-insulating with fiber glass and rigid foam. I also repainted
the exterior of my Argosy. This Winter has been the worst of the
three, continually cold and windy. However conditions inside are quite
habitable, and with the twenty-six year old refurbished Suburban
Furnace (the kind with a constant pilot light) and a ceramic AC heater
set on low strategically placed at the front end and another one at
the back-end the temperature is maintained at a constant 68 degrees.
Even when the temperature dipped to -25 C. I don't put skirting or
anything around the sides, and let the shape of the trailer allow the
snow to automatically create windbreaks all around the base. I do
build a small house of rockwool bats with a floor of thick plastic
around the bottom of the holding tanks, and use a sixty watt trouble
light inside to keep the valves from freezing. In the past my valves
have frozen, which can be embarrassing when your tanks are full . This
remedy works very well. Have had no real problems, but I don't intend
to spend another Winter in this climate. Looking forward to hauling
the "Tin Tent" to the Baja next Fall. These Airstream built units were
never intended to be used full time in Winter. But if you have access
to AC power and a couple of supplemental ceramic heaters, and a
reliable propane furnace, and if your insulation is in good dry
condition, and you apply heat shrink plastic film to your windows and
watch out for humidity problems, you should be able to be quite cozy
in your Airstream in a cold climate. This of course is just my
opinion, not a recommendation.