I return to the bus after my Dr visit and we actually get some sun! However, as I have learned, sun means cold weather!
The windchill and freezing temperatures made life a lot more difficult in the skoolie. However, as a team we came together to figure out solutions and thrive living off the grid.
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31 Comments
I know for the distribution of weight, etc. that folks build waterlines going lower as the tanks tend to be at the bottom of the vehicle. I wonder though if we should be thinking about a true 4 seasons design placing water tanks as high as possible and then running the lines higher up as well. The bottom of my rv gets super cold even when the rv heat is on. Also, heating solutions for tanks don't seem reliable with the stick on dc tank heaters.
Your power issues are an excellent example of why society isn't ready to go off grid and drive EV's like the governmental powers that be would like, it's just not practical…..yet.
Thanks for the updates
Looking forward to the next adventure. Thanks Don
Hey Chris,
It's great to see more videos ! I've been watching you since you first started on YouTube!
So many things to learn. The two of you are so good at figuring it all out and making things work. Very interesting watching your videos and learning how things are going for you!
You should come to the Skoolie Swarm in Florida next month!
Please make sure your items are pulled away from the walls, that they can ‘breathe’. As they frost in the severe cold, they will also eventually thaw and you could develop mold issues.
Glad to hear your bite is getting better, glad to hear that the pup's paws are being protected! I never doubted it for a sec! Keeping fingers and toes crossed that you and Linnea get to complete this "fun" journey!!
I’ve got to bing watch your other vids. I appreciate seeing your off-grid living situation & I’m going to look into that Neemo shower bag too. Stay warm & glad to hear the spider bite is healing!
Hoping the best for you
That is nuts!
I would say that resupply isn't a strike against the goal of staying put since you had a medical emergency. It counts as being resourceful.
Greetings from west central Wisconsin
Vary cool 🙂 we are in the middle of building out our bus in northern wi in the winter that has been fun. We ended up adding heat tape to our water lines that we can run when the generator is on to unfreeze the lines when that happens
Warmer states aren’t that far away
You need to look into the Bluetti power stations. In my experience they perform better in the cold than many other small stations.
I often wondered why you couldn't use some king of warming device to melt snow from solar panels
Kicken ass and takin names folks! Good work. Serious, hard core woods"person"ship!
How old are you? We in northern Wisconsin laugh at you. Surprised at frozen pipes…lol. Yes, temps dive when no cloud cover. Omg, you're like a newborn. Welcome to Wisconsin
Ever forward young man
Someone may have already commented on this. I live in an area that has brown recluse’s everywhere. They also love to hide out in your closet and in off season close that may not be used for a while. Always shake out boots, shoes, etc before you put them on!
So some clear plastic or some lattice on top of the solar panels might help it not get so covered… We live at -3 and this is what I do to my compost pile to be able to access it everyday to put scraps in there the lattice collect snow in such a way that when you lift up the lattice it just sort of bust apart and goes away… And then the plastic keeps the heat in … Just try not to let your plastic get so degraded then it's throwing stuff everywhere another thing is like canvas painters canvas or any type of linen it might get wet in Frozen but you could at least toss it over the top and so when you pick up the material everything underneath is dry and no ice..
heat tape
Why not move to save ruining things?
When I was a kid, our house burned down. That first winter we lived in a pair of modified campers while the new house was being built. My dad piled bails of straw, 2 deep and 2 high, around the entire base of the campers to block the wind and keep the warmth from the campers from escaping. We kept all the cabinet doors open to let the warm air circulate to the pipes at night. Our water didn't freeze as often or as bad but, we did have to set alarms through the night to keep the fires going on the coldest nights. We used all that straw in the garden the next year, we had a huge potato patch. Great memories….except for the house burning down part, that sucked.
find a way to skirt the bus so the air under it is not so cold you can use leatherette stuff with snaps you stick on the bus or pieces of insulation board cut, lots of people will then put a hot lightbulb or tiny heater there near the water lines to help keep them from freezing, it may be too cool now for the water but having skirting and some heat under where those batteries sit on really cold nights would be good.
New to your channel and Hello from Indiana. This winter camp will be one to watch. I gave up winter camping 10 years ago. I'm 70 now. I have slept on the ground with only a piece of canvas over head to keep snow off at -21. That was the temperature, not the wind chill. More than likely, you will not have running water till spring. If I was going to give any advice for winter camping it is to keep your feet clean and wear clean socks every day. Once you start to lose the battle against the cold with your feet you can't hardly recover. Merino wool socks are your best friend.
A good project for the winter might be a rope ladder for the roof hatch. Recessed hoops in the floor and eye hooks in the roof to connect it all when you need it. Easy to store, and a fun project, especially if you learn to weave eyes on stranded rope.
Why didn't you bring the snow in and let it melt for water?
Well I am pulling for you this is not fun. But you got to get through it positive. Trick with water is open the cupboards wrap all the pipes with black foam wrap. I don’t know what you trying to do but I would run the generator at night put small heater by the water system or even a 50 watt light will keep the water running. Awesome video you know I done it 2 years ago. Awesome video very cool 🛠️🇨🇦🛠️🇨🇦
Extreme cold wreaks havoc on electronic devices. We just recently hit -47°C/ -52.6°F. Both the internet provider and the cell phone tower in our community ceased functioning at that temperature. Apparently civilian grade capacitors have difficulty operating when it gets that cold.