RVs of any sort are notoriously fair-weather abodes. They’re generally designed for casual camping, which families usually undertake during the best weather. People who reside in commercial RVs have their tips and tricks for weathering cold, but skoolies can be a bit different from commercial RVs. As my family has only ever used a skoolie, I can’t really speak to what works in a commercial RV. However, we have had some brushes with colder weather in our skoolie and developed some of our own methods.
Differences Between Commercial RVs and Skoolies
The differences between commercial RVs and skoolies are many, but when it comes to surviving extreme weather, one major difference stands out: Skoolies are essentially tin cans. And if you’ve ever had the pleasure of working in an uninsulated metal building, you’ll understand when I say that they get very hot and very cold.
Our skoolie theoretically has 4-season insulation. Our first
workamping gig was the sugar beet harvest, and I knew that would get cold, so I wanted us to have a chance at comfort. However, even a well-insulated skoolie is still a tin can. So, what can be done?
Avoid the Cold
My preferred way to deal with cold is to simply avoid it. We go south for winter so that we don’t have to put up with it much. However, sometimes, despite your best efforts, cold weather finds you anyway.
Adjust Your Behavior
My family has been on the road about three and a half years now, and we’ve pretty successfully avoided winters. So much so, that my husband has a habit of saying we spent a
summer in South Texas. No, dear, that was winter, even if it did feel like summer most of the time.
Seeing as how we’ve been able to manage mostly living in perpetual summer weather, we have certain habits. We rarely wear socks (generally only for hikes), I spend my days in tank tops, and our minisplits are usually on “cool.” Altering these behaviors can go a long way to increasing comfort in cold weather. So, when your floors are cold, remember that you do have socks and put some on.
Take Advantage of Solar Heating
I mentioned that skoolies are essentially tin cans, right? Well, one thing a tin can does well is heat up in the sun. Take advantage of this in your skoolie by parking in the sun. If you can, face east so the morning sun comes in your large windshield to heat your rig up early, then the rest of the sun hits the broad side of your rig. If the weather is grey and cloudy, this likely won’t help much, but it works wonders on sunny days!
Cook Hot, Dense Meals
My family is from the Pacific NW, where it’s grey, cloudy, raining, and 40-60°F for about ten months of the year. So we got very used to cooking these hearty meals, and we’ve had to look for more
recipes better suited to warm, sunny days. Well, the occasional cold spell means we get to pull out some of our old favorites! Dishes like lasagna, thick soups, pastas, and chili. Dishes that use the oven help heat up your whole rig in a way the Instant Pot just doesn’t. And all these concentrated calories give you plenty of energy to burn to keep yourself warm.
Use Multiple Heating Methods
When
we had our skoolie built, we knew we would be boondocking a lot, so wouldn’t be connected to the grid very often. This is what I was thinking of when we had a propane heater installed in addition to our minisplits. However, it’s been helpful to have both, even in an RV park.
We like to turn our propane heater on when nights are going to be cold for a couple different reasons. I think the propane heater’s thermostat can be set lower than our minisplit’s, which works well to keep the bus above freezing but not actually warm. (Hey, some of us overheat at night but don’t want to freeze!) Our propane heater’s ducts are also routed through the same cabinets as our pipes. This means we have to worry just a little less about these pipes bursting.
A Warning About Wood Stoves
Many people in the skoolie community swear by heating their rig with a wood stove.
It’s true that wood stoves provide dry heat (as opposed to the potentially problematic wet heat of propane), but they also make your skoolie uninsurable. Some people add a wood stove after they initially get their rig insured, but this is technically insurance fraud and will cause your insurance company to drop you when they inevitably find out. Now, if you’re stationary and don’t need insurance, as long as you follow proper safety precautions, a wood stove can be a fantastic heat source.
Protect Your Pipes
Water leaks are never great news, but can be particularly disastrous in an RV. So, it’s important to protect your pipes from freezing. When we lived in our house, this meant we kept our faucets dripping any night expected to drop below freezing, but we weren’t dealing with water and waste tanks then. When we’re boondocking, we’re limited to the water we brought with us and the space in our waste tanks, so we don’t want to waste it all on just dripping the water on cold nights. Instead, we turn on that propane heater and open our cabinet doors. This lets heat into the cabinets with our pipes, preventing them from freezing.
Use Fans
Wait, fans are for hot weather, right? Actually, they’re also great for cold weather. Fans help to blow heat around so it’s not stuck in one location. Moving the air also protects against another cold-weather threat: moisture and mold. Many people close up their RVs tight against the cold, only to spend all night breathing out warm, moist air. This combination can lead to a build-up of condensation on cold windows and walls, and ultimately, mold. Running fans can help keep air moving to prevent this.
Close Gaps, But Not Too Many!
Our skoolie has an inner door to separate our living space from our driving space. Usually, it’s amazing, and also does help keep the living area more thermally comfortable. However, there’s a pretty sizeable gap along the floor. Usually, it’s not a big deal. But on really cold nights, it lets a lot of cold air in! So, we’ve learned to shove a towel at the base of that door. This makes a big difference for our rig. It can also be helpful to use insulated curtains to keep the cold from seeping in from your thin windows. One of our many favorite things about our skoolie is our skylight, but the first thing I made was an insulated cover for it. The cover prevents a LOT of heat transfer, in both the heat and cold.
However, you don’t want to go too far with this. Remember all that warm, moist air you’re breathing out at night? If you close your rig up too tightly, it won’t be able to escape. So we usually keep our kitchen vent cracked and running low. On really cold nights, we’ve been known to close it, but watch out for moisture buildup.
Skirting
My family has not stayed a full winter in the cold, so we haven’t tried skirting. However, the theory is that if you keep the cold wind from going under your rig, it can be easier to keep it warm. I’ve heard it works well. My biggest concern with skirting is how do you keep
rodents out? We use lights and traps to keep them from being a problem, and it just seems like skirting might negate at least the lights.
The other big concern about skirting is transporting it. If you’re not stationary through a cold winter, you’ll have to pack up and store your skirting on drive days. However, if you’re not able to run from most of the cold, skirting might be a huge help in your quest to keep your rig more comfortable.
So, there you have it: all my best tips to stay comfortable during cold weather. If you can’t run from it, start by adjusting your own behaviors. By utilizing these cold-weather tips, you, too, can stay comfortable throughout the winter. Happy camping!
