Cold weather trip report

WilliamA

My partner, Kathy is out hunting this morning and I am in charge of keeping our 10 year old fed and watered so breakfast was a quick and dirty order of Crepes with Blackberry puree smothered in my brother's home made Maple syrup. Oh, the culinary trevails of youth. It was his choice, but not his first choice. His first would have been a steaming plate of melted tootsie rolls smothered in gummy bears with a 2" layer of fine white sugar on top. At least I wasn't trying to poison him with something green and leafy...

On to the cold-weather report:

My brother Joe, his son Ben and I went off for 10 days in the Mule deer country of extreme northwestern Nebraska. I'm no longer a hunter, but decided to go along and take in some of the local history and geology. I also charged myself with preparing lunch meals for the mighty hunters as well as (occasionally) keeping the wood stove in their tent going. And....Coffee of course....
The weather went pretty much as I had expected, with clear skies and cold temps. It snowed one day but not much. The remaining time is was just plain cold with lots of wind. I was interested to see how the T@G would fare out in all of that. My preparations included stocking up on mostly dry goods with the exception of eggs, milk and a few cartons of dairy products. I also took some meat. I put all of the liquid/freezeables in the refrigerator. I took my 7 gallon water jug and didn't bother to fill the fresh water tank. I kept the water jug inside the trailer. I could have left it in my Jeep, but it was handy to leave it in the trailer by the door so I could just open the door and pour out some water for coffee, cooking and dishes. It worked pretty well.
Heat:
I'm pleased to say that nothing in the galley froze during the entire stay. I didn't need to turn on the refrigerator but neither did I have to clean up any frozen eggs. I attribute this to the residual heat coming through the bulkhead wall enough to keep the kitchen area from freezing. As LuckyJ said, the bulkhead wall (walls) are un-insulated and pass heat without too much interference and while I don't know the exact temp back there, it seemed enough to prevent freezing in 6 degree weather. I did keep the galley hatch close and sealed when I wasn't using the kitchen. I suspect that had I filled the fresh water tank, it would not have been in danger of freezing due to the heat from the interior cabin keeping the under-floor warm enough to prevent that. Based upon what I found out, I plan to make a modification to the furnace system I have to allow some bit of heat to go through the wall and into the kitchen/galley area with a small forced air fan. I currently have a spare 12V computer fan and need only make a small 3" duct that passes through the 2 bulkheads below the converter so it will go next to the plumbing and water pump, then put the fan into that duct. That will pull a bit of warm air out of the cabin and blow it directly into the plumbing space below the sink. I don't need to put in a return air vent as the remaining pressure can vent down under the refrigerator and out, essentially keeping the whole kitchen/galley area from any danger of freezing.
My forced air furnace, as I have belabored at length many times, is far and away the best, most useful and essential modification I have made to my T@G. It works flawlessly and turns what would otherwise be a miserable experience into a merely inconvenient one. Even at 6 degrees with a 30 mph wind, it was warm and dry inside with no perceived need to run the furnace on "high". As those who have read my furnace write-up know, my installation provides for 2 settings; 800 watt and 1250 watts. As it turns out, the 800 watt setting was fine.
I had absolutely no issues with moisture buildup. Granted, the relative humidity in the high plains is quite low. In addition, there was only me in the trailer and not two people creating moisture. There was some minor buildup on the ceiling vent a couple of times, but I just cracked the vent open and inch and within an hour it was gone, leaving the walls and ceiling dry. During the entire stay, I had one side window cracked open to the "vent lock" position and kept the window shade open an inch or so. That provided plenty of fresh air and also allowed some moisture venting without having to keep the ceiling vent open, letting all the warm air out needlessly. The furnace was always able to quietly keep up with whatever temperature I dialed into the thermostat right up to 73 degrees. That tells me the T@G is adequately insulated as it is.
One thing that I did notice is that the floor under the mattress was cold, which meant the mattress was also cold. I have a queen-size double sleeping bag on the bed and a down comforter on top of that so I was warm and toasty the whole time, but getting in the bag at night meant a few minutes of warming up the bottom side before it was really comfortable. I found quickly that the best way to deal with that was to, rather than make the bed, simply fold back the top layer of sleeping bag and comforter so the bottom layer was exposed to the ambient air inside the trailer. I'm thinking about mitigating that in a couple of different ways: First, insulating the underneath of the trailer floor with foil-faced 3" urethane foam. Second, diverting some furnace air into the storage space beneath the mattress. I'll certainly do the first and will ponder the second. Kathy and I use a mattress pad heater at home and I've considered putting one in the trailer, but a good one is expensive and also, it's another large-ish power draw to use. If I find myself with an extra hundred bucks to spend, I might get one and try it.
I used the galley less this trip as we mostly cooked and ate in my brother's tent. Nevertheless, the times I used my own facilities, it all worked fine. That's to say, cooking and cleaning in 6 degrees is a miserable experience. Call it what you want, short of a Jack London novel, it's a crappy experience and I don't care for it. My 5lb cylinder continues to work great and I had no issues with low gas pressure. I may eventually spend some more money on a 5lb tank that has a gauge in it (not "on it") so I have a better idea of how much gas is in there. Now I just have it filled after a couple of trips to make sure I have enough without worrying about it.

Towing:

As to the "there and back again" part of the trip, my trailer towed well even in the devil's wind and I had no issues. I am growing to like my pintle more and more as I use it. On the road, it's quiet (quieter than the insipid ball hitch) and only makes noise when backing up off-angle hills or, occasionally, a clunk when I apply the brakes hard, causing the trailer to move forward in the hitch and clunk against the TV hitch. Otherwise, it's a gem and a blessing. In addition to being about 27 times stronger than the ball hitch, it also has tons more articulation and most pleasantly, is massively easy to hitch up, making the backing up/hitching part a one-shot affair. None of the previous shuffling back and forth, get out, check, get in, move 2 inches etc. I also had the presence of mind when I put my giant 11" head unit in the Jeep to install a backup camera as well. Helen Keller could now make the hookup in a single pass. I love it. For any clunking noise from the trailer, I've been planning to get a short piece of 2" radiator hose to slide over the ball on my pintle to quiet things down a bit, but to be honest, I keep forgetting about it because I don't notice any noise. I'll probably get to that......probably..... I did put in a rear-view camera on the trailer along with inside the TV monitor, but to be honest, I don't find it to be that useful. It's mostly useful for backing into a campsite but the ultra-wide field of view prevents it from being much good for seeing what's back there on the highway. Any bumper-sticking tailgaters need to be within 20 feet to even be able to see them. I'll leave it as it's in there, but had I to do it again, I wouldn't spend the money. I would love to know what effect the lift kit has on my trailer but don't have any useful data. I'm sure the roof rack has a lot of drag but my best data/guess is a mile or two per gallon. Even so, I am pleased enough with the top lights and antenna mounts so much that it's worth it to me. I also throw stuff up there from time to time so there's either getting rid of the whole mess or using it as is. I'm keeping it as is for now....

Moving a lot of significant tongue weight around hasn't made a noticeable difference in the way the trailer tows, but my Jeep tow vehicle certainly is much happier about it. There's none of the previous sag and no trailer "push" when going around high speed interstate curves. None of the oversteer it exhibited before, which makes for a much more pleasant drive. Particularly when I'm already fighting a quartering wind. Granted, the suspension system of Jeep Wranglers makes it more apparent, but even a solidly planted suspension system has the same trailer "push" whether the driver can feel it or not. It's still there in the tongue weight. I feel much more secure and safe knowing the tongue weight isn't also working against me.



Another inconspicuous but welcome addition that I'm growing to appreciate more and more are the large-ish back-up lights I wired on and the top front lights on the trailer. We arrived at Fort Robinson in the dark and, while I have a 3 minute unhook/setup time, my brother's wall tent takes some doing to assemble. Rather than the 3 of us doing the job in the dark with flashlights clenched between out chattering teeth, I back up to his tent site and turned on the backup lights and overhead lights, bathing the area in daylight for our setup. With the top-front lights, backup lights and porch lights all turned on, there's a 50 foot circle of bright light to work in. It was great. As I posted elsewhere, I have my backup lights wired through a switch and relay so I can either turn them on manually (with or without the trailer umbilical plugged in) or switch them so they come on when I put the TV in reverse. So far, the system is proving to be valuable and bulletproof.

I'll post this for now and perhaps add a bit more as I remember things.

WilliamA

LuckyJ

Very nice and detail report. Thank you for sharing all this knowledge fro your experience.

About your matress temp. Since the matress is already a foam, witch is basically insulation. Adding more under trailer or under matress insulation, will still result in cold first minutes in bed. The only way to take care of this, is really to have heat under the matress. Heater a few minutes from an electric pad of by having heated air from your system going under. And the benefit of the later, is that the heat going under the matress will rise inside the licing quarters of your trailer. In the same way that more and more new building use in floor heating.

Think about sanytory space in a house bassement. Even with concrete foundation, that space in that location will always be no more than ground temp and house fooor will always be cooler than the walls mid height, unless air is moving around.

When you want to heat a house with a basement, it is always easier to begin by heating even just a little bit, that basement.

Just a tought.

WilliamA

LuckyJ,
I've been mulling over what you said about insulating. We're pretty much on the same page there. I had thought about putting a layer of foil faced urethane foam an inch thick under the mattress but more important to me is providing some insulation for the water tank. That means putting the insulation under the trailer. It will be tricky to attach it under there. I can't glue it because of the fabric vapor barrier and can't just screw it to the floor without running the risk of screwing into the water tank. Putting bottoming nuts through the floor means removing the water tank to do it. Hmmmm.....
My furnace has plenty of beans to also heat the space under the bed frame so that's the first order of business. I'll run a duct down in there to heat the crawlspace. I suppose I could spray a layer of urethane foam under the trailer but then I'd need to put a protective layer on that to protect it from road chum. Bedliner over the urethane? I'll have to mull it over.
I'm thinking...I'm thinking....
WilliamA

Joabmc

Have you looked at radiant barrier products? Durable product with several applications that may fit the ticket. A single layer would isolate the bottom of the trailer from the elements. I've used in my home(double-bubble under my basement slab), seen it used in commercial applications and it is a very simplistic, impressive product. The heat loss underneath is tremendous IMO. Kinda like sleeping in a hammock in the winter... the draft underneath will chill you to the bone!

LuckyJ

What is nice with the XL is that you have about a foot of space left of the water tank to bring some duct ofr let air flow. You could

As for under trailer insulation, that would deff. Be the way to go, but since the frame is naroower than the habitat, you would still have and un insulated belt around it.

If you go with 1/2 in. Of the aluminized foam panel, you couls still get if not the best of both worl, an improvement, mixing circulating hot air and insulation. About unsulating that water tank, beside going from under the trailer, not much you can do from the inside. Not enough space from the tickness of it. What about going with a heating element, a bit like a water heater element inside the thank. Since you have to have shore power for the furnace, you would have it for the tank. They do exist for 110 v, i got one when experimenting for my nordic tub, but finding the termostat for let say 40 to 45 F might be tricky.

WilliamA

I've been thinking about the trip and reviewing my photos and wanted to give a heads up to Wrangler owners out there. I've had some trouble with hood flutter on my past trips and have done a lot of reading on the topic. WF (Wrangler Forum) has a lot of threads on it as well. After watching my hood bounce up and down an inch during my last trip across Kansas, I decided I'd not venture out onto the plains again without dealing with the cheesy Jeep hood latches. I put on some new Drake hood tie-downs and have not been sorry. It was massively windy this past trip and even as trucks passed me causing the top to pull up to the point I thought it was going to get sucked off, I had not a whiff of movement on my hood.
As a side note, when I took my old hood latches off to put these on, one of the stockers had already started to tear across the bottom of the rubber band. Dodged that bullet.

WilliamA