I am sorry if this topic has been covered before but i am curious to know if it is possible / practical to continue camping all year in a folding camper.
We have had a great summer (summer?) camping in our Penine and we are loathe to stop for winter. I know many sites are open all year round but is this aimed towards the caravan community.
On our last two outings in late October (both large Camping Club sites) we did not see one folding camper or trailer tent on site (all caravans)
Is it time too put the folding camper away in the garage for winter?
I would love to know how many of you carry on camping in the winter months.
So long as you are warm and comfy enough you can camp any time of the year.
We used to get an electric hook up and put on our fan heater,it has a thermostat and just automaticly clicks back on when the temprature drops.we were always lovely and comfortable and we were in a tent.
We have put ours to bed. John hates the early evenings and doesn't like camping when it gets dark so early. However we went out in her in February when it was literally freezing we had a 1kw fan heater and the electric blanket we were warm as toast The people next to us had a really posh telescope and we saw saturn. The only thing we would need to sort out is some system of protecting the aquaroll as I put it in the toilet overnight! and used a milk bottle for water.
------------- Good friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget.
Just to let you know we used oil filled radiators overnight and for a quick blast the fan heater. I also bought some of that laminate flooring underlay - you klnow the stuuf that looks like polystyrene on a roll. I put this under each bed between the wood base and the mattress and this made our nights a lot warmer
The main problem with our camper is the draught that blows up between the bed slides and along the canvas up into the camper. We solved this by scrunching up plastic bags to fill the gap that were easily removed before we packed away.
We went to Devon last week and took a camping fan heater and a small oil filled radiator for overnight. We were warm as toast. Lots of caravans there but only us and one other folding camper
In my previous camping life, I camped all year in an old Conway Cruiser that only had 12v electrics (no mains!) - it was great! OH and I are getting a new Pathfinder with blown air heater - I will be working on him to use it all year round - at the moment, he thinks March will be too early, but he has not camped before, so there's chance I can convert him yet! The trick to all-year-round camping is to make sure you are warm enough - forget about fashion and pile on the layers, and get some good sleeping bags. Also, consider insulating under the matresses (I had kitchen foil and ceiling tiles under mine) as cold comes up from underneath you too - you can also add extra warmth to your bed by putting a blanket or duvet under your sleeping bag. If the weather is really cold, don't be afraid to get into bed fully clothed - if you get cold taking your clothes off, you won't get warm again. Either get undressed in the sleeping bag (entertaining if there's two of you!), or just stay as you are till morning when you can change your clothes and get warm without a problem.
Well it seems we are not on our own camping in winter!
Thanks for all your tips on keeping warm.
Any tips on drying the canvas in the winter months?........our main concern now is drying the canvas if it gets wet on a winter camping trip. In summer we would wait for a sunny/warm day, open the camper and dry it on the drive, but the opportunity to do that has gone.
We have decided to carry on with the camping in the winter months but we will only go when the forecast is for dry weather. Then we hopefully can keep the canvas dry and mold free.
when ever we were packing up to leave a site,we would leave it until around 12 o`clock or later, to pack up so the morning mist had a chance to evapourate or at least most of it.
As well as waiting for morning mist to clear, don't leave it too late to pack up - the air starts to get damp enough to dampen canvas by about 3pm, so if the weather is good, bite the bullet and pack up early (obviously, if it's raining, it doesn't matter!). If you do have to come home with wet canvas, it doesn't really matter how long it takes you to get it dry as long as you air it out every two or three days - if the weather is not good enough to dry the trailer out, just open it up and let the air flow through it for a couple of hours - it is not wet itself that makes canvas go mouldy/mildewy, but wet canvas folded up and festering.
there you have it folks a lot of good tips and advice on winter camping so if you get the time and the chance GO FOR IT . the thing with camping it exploit any weather to your advantage good camping all
------------- geoff & annb,--
never lost just on tour
your just jealous of the little voices talking to me
Try Penine Sterling Folder Insurance topic above. Bernard's reply to my query about using camper in the winter months could be quite useful. A trip to Argus for a 800w oil heater may be in order. I'll probably be in the queue with you. Happy folding camping
Don't know about a folding camper ....... but would recommend a oil filled radiator, there's no noise and not dry throat in the morning ... which we found with our fan heater
Argos do a nice little one for £40 ........ worked a treat in our tent in October