Wannabees Wanna Know: Staying Warm In Winter

An RV forum recently had the question posed: Can you live full time in your RV on $1,000 a month? We know some that do. While that question is too multifaceted to tackle in just one little blog, we thought it might be good to talk about one aspect: Heating your rig.

Being a fulltimer allows you the freedom to 'travel with the sun.' Sure enough, you'll find lots of fulltimers heading south as winter rolls in. Mexico for some--that's a lovely place; but for those who must (or want) to stay stateside, those sunbelt states are a good place to 'hole up' when the geese start flying.

But staying warm is important. Even in Quartzsite, you can wake up with below the freezing mark temps in the deep end of winter. Happily as Sol tracks across the sky, daytime temperatures rise up. But you've seen the news lately--those nasty fuel prices aren't going to hit just our tow vehicles--you can expect the price of ALL heating fuels will increase. What's to be done?

Many RVers have found that the efficiency of their factory provided RV furnaces is far from wallet friendly. If you fire up that RV furnace and stick your hand anywhere close to the outside breather port, you'll know an awful lot of your heating budget is flying outside. That's just the nature of the beast. So consider retiring your furnace and using a localized heat source in your rig--either a catalytic or 'blue flame' style heater.

"Cat" heaters use a specially treated catalytic "bed" or mat that allows heat to be produced from propane flamelessly. They're highly efficient, and most are equipped with a sensor that shuts them off if the oxygen levels in the RV become low enough to be of safety concern. They use no electricity--a real plus for boondockers. However, most cat heaters are adjustable only to the degree of "high, medium, and low," meaning you set them and they run continuously--they can be too hot or too cold.

"Blue flame" style heaters don't have a catalytic bed, but have a burner, the flames of which can usually be seen, kind of like a mini-fireplace. Some of these have a completely adjustable thermostat that will "turn off and on" to accommodate a steady room temperature. A close cousin, "brick" heaters don't have burners, per se, but have one or more ceramic blocks with tiny orifices. Some are completely adjustable, others like cat heaters are high, medium, low guys. You pay your money and take your choice.

In any event, all these fellows are "air breathers." Always follow the safety instructions that come with the product. That usually means cracking a window to provide plenty of ventilation. And since these are not 'outside vented' they will put humidity into your RV. If you're staying in high-humidity country, you'll have to take actions to contend with this. Down in the desert areas, the added humidity to some is a side benefit.

Photo courtesy US Catalytic

Thinking About Fulltiming: In the Galley

If you're considering the switch to fulltime RVing and already have RV experience, you know that the RV galley is a whole lot smaller than the one "back home." But for those jumping into the lifestyle without having experienced the "joys" of the micro-sized RV kitchen here's a tip:

Before you make the switch, determine what you "really" need to cook in your new lifestyle. Now, can you stuff all of it in a single kitchen cabinet in your land-based home? Physically try it! Now maybe your new RV will have more cupboard space than that single "home kitchen" cabinet, but then again, it's often a fair shake to size things up. Seems like a lot of RV manufacturers seem to think that folks who use RVs must "eat out" a lot--they galley cabinets on many new rigs are just plain minuscule.

Fulltime First Day on the Road

Many fulltimers were inveterate RVers long before they jumped into the lifestyle fulltime. However, we're finding a lot of young people these days who are selling off their homes, or getting out of rented homes and apartments and moving directly into an RV. Older ones too, on reaching retirement are ready to hit the road, and sometimes do so without prior RV experience.

If you can, "practice" the fulltime lifestyle by moving into your RV in the driveway or an RV park near your old home first. It'll give you an opportunity to learn how to get around in your rig, and establish what new ways of doing things you'll need to cover. If you have to move into your rig directly, make sure your "first day on the road," is a SHORT one--no more than just a few hours. Leave yourself plenty of daylight to get some of the immediate bugs worked out. Not only that, you'll feel a lot less pressured and you can enter the ranks of the fulltimers without unnecessary stress.

Fulltime RVer Provides "Get Ready to Fulltime" Checklist

One of the things that haunts a lot of fulltime wannabees is, "What if I forget something important?" There's nothing like a good case of the jitters, after all, you really are going out in a whole new adventure.

Enter "firedude," an RVer with a mind to lists. His "fulltimers checklist" could be just what you're looking for. A handy sheet, it carries you from dealing with utilities to health insurance, and information in between. You can download your own copy at no charge from his website, and print it with a Microsoft Word compatible word processing program. Here's the handy link.

Insomniac photo courtesy mayr on flickr.com